Following a successful project implementation to an important pigmentation process an international specialty chemicals manufacturer wanted to develop a global improvement programme

The business

The company had been struggling to consistently produce product within specification for many months. Having successfully demonstrated the DMAIC process using a specialist MBB, the business was convinced of the applicability of the methodology and immediately made plans to use the approach elsewhere. The organisation wanted to deploy the improvement methodology across a broad range of processes and at the same time, become rapidly self-sustaining

How we helped

We worked with the management team and deployment leaders to create a bespoke Lean Six Sigma improvement programme. We worked together for 18 months providing training in English and German languages to 60 GB’s and 40 BB’s through 5 waves of training. One GB wave was specifically provided for senior management and director level employees. On-site Project support was provided, working closely with the project teams and sponsors. The training material was customized for the client and provided for future internal use.

Benefits achieved

The certification projects alone delivered over £13million in absolute hard savings with another £6million of cost avoidance savings. Projects undertaken were from all areas of the business.

Increased capacity on a major production line producing yellow pigments Improved Quality of Inkjet product Increase output of solid flame retardant by 10% Reduce cycle time in critical reaction vessel equipment Reduce hot oil plant unplanned shutdowns Reduce variation & cycle time in key reactors by 15% Harmonise payment terms for largest raw material suppliers Optimise standard price maintenance in Switzerland Develop global energy tracking to reduce cost Reduce pigment dispersion bottling line reject rate from 9% to 2% Reduce late deliveries from Switzerland to Turkey by 75%

If you would like to speak to us about our case studies ...