8th September 2010 1:18
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Supply and Operations Improvement at UCB Cellophane Plant, Bridgewater
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Problem Statement
This Belgian film manufacturer identified an urgent need to examine their operational procedures and associated business practices to improve their customer service, whilst reducing losses currently running at £10,700 per employee, per year. |
Improvement Approach
After a PICME benchmarking exercise, findings highlighted the need to reduce production changeover times to improve customer service, UCB Bridgewater commissioned a PICME Masterclass to analyse the problem in detail & make recommendations for improvement. |
Benefits
UCB identified 33% downtime, due to reel changes, on machine 1 that was costing them £443,300 per annum. A 1% reduction in downtime would save £13,400 per annum. A new reel-changing regime, developed in the Masterclass, showed a 40% reduction in downtim |
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Company Contact Information
The Print Warehouse
Business to Business Marketing and Communications, 10-14 St George's Place, Cheltenham, GL50 3JZ, UK
Tel.
01242 269166, Fax. 01242 227474
E-mail
iain@theprintwarehouse.biz
www.theprintwarehouse.biz
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Slitting Plant at UCB Films, Bridgewater
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The UCB Group is one of the largest enterprises in Belgium with a global presence in the pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals sectors. Amongst its surface specialities businesses is the manufacture of cellulose films – the subject of this Test Case at the UCB plant at Bridgewater, Somerset,
The company is focused on maintaining a leading position in its chosen markets, capitalising on their unique technologies backed by strong research and development, delivering high- value, differentiated products.
Operating in a mature market, UCB Bridgewater were trading at a loss and were concerned at low levels of customer satisfaction, that they felt were of their own making. The company sort a process to identify problem areas and set themselves on the path to self-improvement.
UCB commissioned the PICME benchmarking exercise in 2003 to study all aspects of operations at its Bridgewater plant and to use the recommendations and comments to stimulate thought across the business.
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The recommendations and comments were based on conclusions drawn from the scores and results of the benchmarking exercise, which in turn were based on the data supplied by management. These were made with some limited knowledge of UCB’s operations at Bridgwater and relate to the business as it was at the end of 2002.They also put the UCB Bridgwater performance into context with that of other businesses that manufacture film products and that are part of the larger the Chemicals, Plastics and Ceramics sector.
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The approach used was to bring the main elements of the Cellophane Films manufacturing team together for group analysis of key aspects of their achieved performance. The assembled team provided a vertical cross-section of the full squad, extending from top management levels down to process operatives. The PICME “Masterclass” training approach was used and the Masterclass team were charged with taking back “messages” to their colleagues and stimulating new working procedures at all levels. Data was gathered and information prepared by PICME for convenient access by the team, who were encouraged to compare their performance to world best and begin the process of understanding where improvements were found to be necessary, and how they may be brought about.
The PICME masterclass, designed for the process industries, is structured around 13 days of data gathering and analysis, workshops and presentations over a three to four-month period. A key part of the process are the further 3 Follow-up days where progress is reviewed with the team.
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This aspect aims to increase the chances of sustaining and building on the improvements made in the Workshop.
In selecting the team it was important that the members were experienced operators in the Slitting department, the area to be studied. By working with those directly involved in running the pant or providing essential support, such as IT services, the masterclass process achieves the necessary ‘buy-in’ from the team members, who effectively have the wherewithal to determine their own destiny by prescribing new ways of working.
One of the measures of the value of the team was in the collective number of years of service between them – 185 years in a team of nine.
The techniques taught and the tools introduced by the PICME moderators will enable the UCB to continue the process of self-diagnostics and improvement. UCB will have to develop their own process to make improvements and process changes sustainable.
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The UCB Masterclass enabled both qualitative and quantitative improvements to be made in their slitting operation.
Taking the qualitative benefits first, the entire programme brought about a new way of thinking amongst the team that should lead to the necessary culture changes throughout the organisation required to sustain continuous improvement. The personnel in the slitting plant began to think more as a team, looking objectively at the overall operation and taking collective responsibility for the creation and implementation of new ways of working. This in turn has lead to internal generation of ideas to sustain improvements in the Five Cs - Clear out, Clean and check, Configuration, Conformity, Custom and Practice, and to transfer the newly tested reel-changing regime to a permanent operating procedure.
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Qualitatively, UCB measured total losses due to performance, waste and quality by percentage and value. They calculated potential savings from a reduction of 1% of total in each category.
The Masterclass team identified 33% downtime, attributable to reel changes, on machine 1 that were costing them £443,300 per annum with similar losses on machines 2 and 3. A 1% reduction in downtime would save £13,400 per machine per annum.
The new reel-changing regime showed a 40% reduction in downtime.
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