Chemical Case Study

Achieving operational excellence - in a polythene business
In early 2007, a major petrochemical company embarked on a key strategic project to develop and implement a global operations excellence programme.
Background The programme aimed to reduce costs, increase plant availability and reduce waste through introducing world class manufacturing practices in a sustainable way. ABB was selected to complete an initial high level benchmark assessment at 10 of their 150 plants. The assessment identified the gaps between present and world class performance, quantified the financial opportunity for improvement and established momentum for action. Building on the learning from the benchmark, ABB worked with the organisation to develop their global operations excellence programme. ABB were then selected as the programme implementation partner, providing ABB’s leading operational excellence methodology and proven delivery experience. ABB’s approach to operational improvement is based on our i2i model. The approach delivers improvement through 3 phases of work; − Investigate (performance, practices and opportunities) − Implement (diagnose problems and identify solutions) − Integrate (embed solutions into normal business) Improvement is driven via 3 ‘streams’ of activity, all of which must be aligned and normally progress in parallel; − Leadership stream (business direction and focus) − Operational stream (manufacturing improvement teams) − Organisational stream (people and culture) This case study outlines the success on the polythene plant that piloted the roll-out of the operations excellence programme. Management activity in the business focussed mainly on the short-term and was largely reactive.

The client recognised that management attitudes and values must undergo a dramatic shift in order to develop a capacity for continuous improvement.