Innovation case study submitted by Emirates Aluminium during 3rd Continual Improvement & Innovation Symposium organized by Dubai Quality Group's Continual Improvement Subgroup to celebrate World Quality Day 2011.

1. Innovation Storyboard
[Emirates Aluminum]
[SRSS Weigh Scale Optimisation]
[May 2011 - July 2011]
[Amit Parikh, Mohan Kumar M.V, Vilas Sangle, Kishore
Bhatt, Boopathy Jayaraman, Shaji Kuruvilla]

2. 1. About the Organization
• Brief introduction to the organization
• Mission/Vision statements
• Products/Services offered
• Locations

3. • Problem: 2. The Idea
– All the metal produced in the Casthouse has to be weighed accurately to ensure customer
satisfaction & to have precise control of the process
– Casthouse receives molten metal from Reduction department in crucibles. The weighing of
Hot metal supplied to the Casthouse is carried out in the SRSS using weigh scales. The
weight of the molten metal is the difference in weights between the Full crucible weight
less the Empty crucible weight.
– Internal customer complaints related to molten metal discrepancies.
– This can lead to major process parameter discrepancies & impact process efficiency due to
wrong weight calculation for molten metal.
• The Top Management was really concerned and they put together a cross functional
team to resolve the issue within a time frame of 1 week.
• The cross-team jointly discussed & brainstormed the problem & researched various
solutions to improve the process and then an idea for capturing automatically the
weighing & calibration verification of the weigh scale on a daily basis was raised. A
pilot study was carried out in one of the 8 Bays.

4. 3. People Involvement
• Cross Function team from Cast House Maintenance, Sodium
Reduction Station, Engineering – Automation was formed
• In the morning & weekly meeting, The progress of the project
was discussed and top management encouraged the team to
come up with innovative ideas.
• Vice President Operations, Senior Manager Cast House &
Senior Manager Engineering sponsored the project and
followed the progress regularly.
• The budget and resources were identified and all the
necessary financial support was provided by Top
Management.

5. Root Causes
• No control system or interlock available which can guide SRSS
CTV operator to ensure correct positioning of empty crucible
for weighing purpose.
• Wrong positioning of empty crucible can lead to major
discrepancies in metal accounting; CTV operator repeats the
activity to reposition; unsafe with CTV to verify positioning,
delays in production.
• No system to capture weigh scales calibration data.

6. 4. Process
• Our team brainstormed the problem and came up with the solution by installing
photoelectric sensors at the exit weigh scales, to ensure accurate crucible
positioning on weigh scale. Also, an automatic system to capture daily calibration
data was implemented. The system is designed to generate alerts in case of out of
calibration or discrepancies in weight.
• Installed visual indicating lamps to guide the operator to place crucible in correct
location
• If the Light is OFF, the Empty crucible is not positioned correctly on the Weigh Scale
and the system will not allow the operator to print the weight at the local HMI. The
CTV operator has to reposition the empty crucible until the Warning Light is ON.
• The feasibility & pilot study solution was discussed with Top Management and they
gave the go ahead for testing.
• The team put this new solution as a pilot study in one of the exit weigh scales for
checking the results.
• Necessary risk assessments were carried out to ensure there were no Health and
Safety risks and to mitigate any other financial & operational risks.

7. 4. Process (contd.)
• Full Scale Implementation for both exit Weigh Scales was carried out and
successful results were achieved.
• After each step in the implementation, The Casthouse and Reduction
Management Teams were informed of the improvements and daily & weekly
reports were sent to them with accurate numbers. It increased the confidence
level for weigh scale results and correct weight data was achieved.
• Management monitored the improvements closely with regular meetings, They
advised and supported the team on every step.

8. The Innovative Solution !
• The team proposed to show on a screen in each HMI of Bays 1 to 8 & Exit
scales 1 & 2 the captured calibration test weight . The weight will only be
captured if it is in the range of +/- 5 KG. Otherwise it will give wrong
calibration & a red signal will be shown on the HMI.
• All the data for in range and out of range calibration checks will be stored
on the system & can be seen on the Cathouse SCADA.
• 100 records of each bay can be seen at any one time on the SCADA which
includes Time of capture, Actual weight , Deviation & standard weight.

10. Results!
• The plan was implemented by the team and had an immediate
effect. Now all the scale are calibrated twice a day & data is
captured on the SCADA .
• Operations can easily check the calibration & if any deviation
from the Standard is found they call maintenance to calibrate
the scale before continuing the weighing of crucibles.
• After the implementation of the project there were no
complaints from Reduction for metal weighing discrepancies.
• This innovative solution has eliminated the problem of
incorrect positioning of empty crucibles for metal accounting.
• The unsafe CTV manoeuvring during positioning & verification
has been avoided by the provision of the warning light.
• CTV operator delays have been reduced. The CTV operator’s
time is utilised more efficiently.

11. Results & Benefits !
• Present cost of Aluminum according to LME is in the range of
2345 USD/tonne. Wrong metal accounting can lead to
financial losses over time.
• By implementing these solutions management has full control
of the internal process which will help to obtain the desired
process efficiency.
• This solution was implemented by utilising in-house resources
resulting in cost savings instead of contracting the project to
an external service provider.
• This innovative solution eliminates the following wastes:
 Inventory
 People
 Motion
 Over processing
 Waiting
 Transportation
• Mistake proofing in the system ensures that out of range
crucible weights will not occur.

12. 6. Learning
• Good Communication and Team working among
Cross-functional team members helped in
eliminating the problem with an innovative idea.
• Management Sponsorship & support encouraged the
team to come up with an immediate solution & the
team implemented it without any red tape or
bottlenecks. Management Commitment is important
for such improvements and this was a good example.
• Single Point Lesson: Mistake proof the system &
process with the help of technology !

13. 7. Way Forward
• The team were recognized at Casthouse and EMAL
level as well, it was recognised as the “Idea of the
Month” and team was rewarded accordingly.
• The same idea will be standardised and implemented
at other weigh scales in the Casthouse to ensure
weigh scale accuracy and mistake proofing.

14. Q&A

15. Thank You