THE FUTURE, - Solvay

209541
THROUGH THE WALL AGAIN?
YES WE CAN!
The right quality
at the right price
THE PROJECT. It all started with client surveys
conducted in 2003 and 2006, which showed that
in the business of allylic products (used for
producing epoxy resins) Solvay’s performance
is well above that of its competitors.
Hence the question: in this typically commodity
business, are we not offering “over-quality”,
in other words generating unnecessary
performance in the eyes of the client, that he
is not willing to pay for, and resulting for us in
costs that could be avoided?
It is not easy to sell such an idea into a company
that for many years has been cultivating
excellence.
The matter was referred to 35 managers from all
disciplines and all continents and the result was:
yes, there are multiple opportunities to drastically
reduce these costs of “over-quality” in almost all
production and support processes.
Activated for the fi rst time in 2003, the 2009
“over-quality” cost reduction program has been
an excellent opportunity to adapt to the current
economic crisis. Specifi cally, in 2009 the
equivalent of EUR seven million a year has been
saved in this way, and ultimately we can expect
an annual recurring gain of EUR 10 million.
SBU EDS
> Bruno Jestin; Pedro Aguiar;
Mangkonkarn Boonchana; Michel Friesewinkel;
Fabienne Georges; Michael Klumpe; Philippe Krafft;
Hellen Pham; Moura Pinto; Christine Roy;
Arnaud Valenduc; Alain Vanstrydonck.
209908
MODULAR APPROACH FOR PLASTIC FUEL
TANK WELDING MACHINES TO REDUCE BY
A FACTOR OF FOUR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE
IN LOW-COST COUNTRIES
Standardization
for bespoke manufacturing
THE PROJECT. The manufacture of plastic fuel
tanks ends with a fi nishing stage of fi nal cutting
and welding. The procedures and corresponding
machinery are decisive to the economics of the
overall process.
In a fi rst step, a multicultural group of employees
defi ned standard working conditions: that is a
common way of designing, building and using
equipment. This is the heart of the business
that guarantees all customers the same levels
of reliability, quality and safety anywhere in
the world.
In a second step, all these data were used to
defi ne three different levels of equipment and
machinery, depending on the prevailing cost
structure. Thus three types of machinery, with
very different levels of automation, permit an
optimization of total costs: the most automated
– and expensive – machines in high labour cost
countries, the simplest machinery where cheaper
labour permits.
This division respects in every case the
requirements of human safety and workplace
ergonomics. It systematically includes risk
analyses, process control parameters and training.
It allows Inergy to optimize its investments and
also reduce engineering costs, lower the
time-to-production of new programs, be more
effective in problem-solving and maintenance and
fi nally, reduce the costs of poor quality.
SBU INERGY
> Stéphane Toutain; Philippe Convain;
Denis Jacqmart; Alain Potier; Arnault Thiebaut.
Solvay Solvay live live - JUILLET - JULY 2009 - 59