Practical examples - Production & Health, Environment, Safety and Quality

Production management in a textile factory. Span of control: 360 FTE.
Production was lacking behind market growth (15%) and resulted at the worst point in a delivery reliability of less than 10% …
By focussing on activities that mattered and ‘doing what we promised’ scale up was accelerated and delivery performance was significantly improved. The future was secured by creating a balance between short-term flexibility (flex workers, all rounders), investment (education and maintenance), cost control (due to productivity increase) and value creation (quality improvement, delivery performance).

Production management in a factory producing clinical and baby food. Span of control: 75 FTE.
Product innovations resulted in growth, but work floor behaviour required a culture change towards customer focus and delivering quality.
By introducing best working practises (i.e. OEE, HACCP-HON), as well as growth and development of operators, production increased by 7% within a year.

Optimising demand and supply of a fast growing pharmaceutical multinational.
Because of new product introductions business complexity increased dramatically.
Differences between Commerce and Supply were bridged. The explosion of product variations was channelled through multifunctional communication and decision making processes. Internal processes and organization were altered to increase service levels.

Productivity improvement of pharmacists by improved human - and machine interaction
A developer of robots for automatic medicine distribution, despite having a good product, was fazed with disappointed customers.
An improved lay out of the work floor, stock policy and other logistical processes, together with a clear organization structure, standardized working procedures and training of new staff resulted in a strongly improved productivity.

Doubling of capacity / 50% lead time reduction at a bio-medic research institute.
A yearly doubling of demand resulted in serious supply problems.
With the use of limited additional manpower, the organisation strongly improved their supply capability through customer alignment, process improvements and automation.

Development of a waste management plan for a chemical multinational.
Environmental regulations stipulate such a plan every 4 years. In addition, industry has committed to reducing energy through the MEE/MJA Plans.
Data has been analysed; interviews and brainstorm sessions are held with internal experts. Based on the insights, a concrete plan has been developed, defining the companies starting point, improvement potential and (financial and technical) viability.

Improving efficiency in the process industry by loop control in order to:

1. improve quality and safety
2. reduce material-, production- and energy costs
3. debottleneck capacity and reduce throughput times.

1) Objective of a chemical factory was to reduce flaring with 50%.

• Defining the point zero proved to be difficult: there was no visible flame, nor a flow meter. Using a methodical approach showed that flaring hardly happened during normal operation.

2) Objective of a chemical factory was to increase reliability of production.

• Using simple statistics and dynamic modelling proved that cooling water could function as well at 15 degrees °C lower temperatures. This resulted in energy reduction, less trips and quicker start up after show downs.

3) Objective of a chemical factory was to reduce energy costs, without investments, by 10%.

• Using the same approach the temperature of 3 ovens was reduced, without jeopardizing the output. Pay back times of 3 months were achieved.

4) 20% energy savings realized at a textile manufacturer.

• By reducing the openings of the ovens and heat conversion 20% energy has been saved with a payback time of less than years. Installation of a process control system and moisture meter is likely to result in further process control and optimization. See article Validatiemeting warmtevraagbeperking in de textielindustrie.

5) Improved quality control at a paper manufacturer.

• General processes control recommendentions included translation of objectives in KPI’s and KOP’s, as well as standardization of work methods through SOP’s and OCAP’s. 20% variation in steam usage can be explained by (undesirable) process variations (10-15%) and changes in outside temperatures (5-10%). For more information see article Operationele procesbeheersing papier en kartonindustrie.

6) Energy saving potential in the ceramic industry.

• Energy saving potential has been identified at two brick producers, being: 1) optimizing airflow in the oven (5%), 2) local heat recycling (10-20%), 3) isolation (5-10%) and 4) optimizing process loop controls (5-10%). For more info see article Warmtevraagbeperking in de keramische industrie.

7) Energy savings at a concrete manufacturer.

• Gas saving potential has been identified through process modeling and simulation. Main areas of improvement identified are: 1) improved raw material management (pre-drying), 2) introduction of a feed forward and feed backward loop control based on moisture meters before and after drying. For more info see article Energiebesparing in de cementindustrie.

Theoretical and practical training in Loop Control, aimed at the process industry.