Manufacturing Process Improvement
Challenge:
A successful UK based Chemical Manufacturing company were commissioning a plant that was manufacturing a new product. While the process was working, it could not produce the required volumes and lacked consistency, suffering from breakdowns and issues with product quality.
The site leadership team were concerned that there was no process stability and changes were made regularly, either with little or no data or without sufficient analysis of any existing data. This was creating issues with the customer, who was heavily involved on a day to day basis and was losing confidence in the manufacturing team’s ability to use the data to improve both volume and quality in a structured way.
Our Solution:
We worked with the plant team to understand the current issues, many of which were being driven by a mentality of chasing production volume. Our solution comprised of two main phases:
Phase 1: create a stable process. We analysed the data in order to measure the capability of the key process stages and create a baseline from which to develop. Our team then gathered all the process improvement ideas from everyone and created an “Optimisation Plan” to deliver these.
Phase 2: deliver the plan. This involved ensuring the rigour around data analysis was maintained and changes were made in a controlled way, using trials and then analysing the data for changes. Meaningful data was being produced and formed the basis for our decision making, all of which was being shared with the customer so they could scrutinise our journey. This process allowed the site team to focus on what they do best by delivering their ideas while we worked beside them.
Our Solution:
We worked with the plant team to understand the current issues, many of which were being driven by a mentality of chasing production volume. Our solution comprised of two main phases:
Phase 1: create a stable process. We analysed the data in order to measure the capability of the key process stages and create a baseline from which to develop. Our team then gathered all the process improvement ideas from everyone and created an “Optimisation Plan” to deliver these.
Phase 2: deliver the plan. This involved ensuring the rigour around data analysis was maintained and changes were made in a controlled way, using trials and then analysing the data for changes. Meaningful data was being produced and formed the basis for our decision making, all of which was being shared with the customer so they could scrutinise our journey. This process allowed the site team to focus on what they do best by delivering their ideas while we worked beside them.
Outcome & Benefits:
Through Phase 1 we created a stable process that enabled us to measure process performance so we could clearly see where issues and bottlenecks existed. This allowed us to conduct focused working sessions to identify our improvement ideas for the Optimisation Plan. Even in this initial phase, production doubled as a result of us establishing a fixed process.
Phase 2 saw a continued improvement in productivity as we were delivering the changes. More thorough data analysis meant that we could make informed decisions and were able to keep the customer updated on both progress and upcoming trials. Productivity increased by a further 50% in two months and, more importantly, was sustainable.
Some words from the client
“Neil and Maggi made a huge difference for us. They helped us ’see the wood from the trees‘ and allowed us to move from commissioning to proper production within the plant. We created a strong team, with everyone playing their part which regained the trust from our customer. The work we undertook has changed how we approach day to day issues, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their help.”