Kaizen 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. Quality Month: Oct 2011 Kaizen No. Page No.:
KAIZEN REPORT
Company logo Company Name: Emirates Aluminium Department: Cast House Section/Process: Sheet Ingot / Cast House
Maintenance
Improvement Title: SERMAS SAW STRAPPING POSITION MODIFICATION
Category: [x ] Quality improvement [x ] Health & Safety [ ] Environment [ x ] Productivity [ ] Office processes [ ] Product design improvement [ ] Service improvement
Before Situation Root Cause Analysis Improvement Measures After Situation
Automatic strapping of sheet ingots less than It cannot meet customer requirement A cross-functional team from Cast House was - This Kaizen has helped in eliminated in lots of
4200mm was not possible as per customer because the runner position falls exactly formed which involving Cast House manual work by Operators.
requirement. same as of support. Maintenance Sections and Sheet Ingot - 08 FTEs were made available for other
From Operations, 02 FTEs per shift were Manual strapping require lot of extra labour Production. important tasks in Cast House, so savings of
unnecessarily dedicated for this manual task and as operator has to pick it from strapping The team brainstormed the problem and came FTEs per year + savings of Maintenance Man
05 Man days of Maintenance were also wasted machine and put it in manual strapping area up with the solution that “by reducing the Days in one year = 0.5 Million AED (Estimated).
per month. where operator does manual strapping with distance between two supports and modifying - Safety risks were eliminated fully after this
Manual handling and rework posses high safety no proper facility (again high risk activity) the control logic we shall be able to design change.
risks and creates unsafe work condition because and after strapping take it back to stock accommodate 4000mm sheet ingot and strap it
yard. as per customer requirement.” - Additional Metal movement due to incorrect
of 50T forklift movement (biggest forklift in auto strapping of smaller length sheet ingots has
EMAL). Due to slow manual operation there used to To implement solution, Cast House obtained been eliminated too.
1 Medical Treatment incident occurred due to be pile up of sheet ingots on the shop floor design drawing from OEM.
causing unsafe work environment. - Fork Lift usage was eliminated hence reduction
this manual strapping and one operator suffered Implementation was done totally in-house by of Fuel and availability of Fork lift for other tasks.
a cut in his left arm when he was cutting the Cast House maintenance team with Internal Quality issues arising from forklift handling were
metal strap of one sheet. labour COST! eliminated also.
Hazards creating potential for injuries: Complete automation and control logic part was - Zero Cost on Project as it was done IN-
• Handling of heavy wooden runners designed and implemented in-house by Cast HOUSE, whereas if OEM could have done it
repeatedly– muscular injury and forced House maintenance team. then it would have costed a huge amount of
postures money to EMAL. ($$)
• Positioning of runners underneath ingot in - Quality of stacking starts meeting customer
conjunction of 50mt FLT operation – crush requirements, and no complaint related to
injury and forced postures. Stacking were raised by Customer.
• Handling and inserting steel banding - Demurrage Costs related to shipping delays
under runner and over ingot – hand pinch / was reduced because of strapping issues were
laceration injury resolved and now the Sheet Ingot are not
• Handling of heavy manual banding delayed for shipment.
machine and air hose– muscular injury, - This Kaizen has eliminates the following
tripping hazard and muscular-skeletal wastes:
disorders. - Inventory - Motion
• Insertion of band wire and positioning of - Waiting - People
banding machine – hand pinch / injury
- Over processing - Transportation
• Aerosol Cans in Operational areas –
molten metal explosion hazard
Benefits: Participation
Increased Safety, Zero Incident due to this improvement, No. of FTEs were made available for other tasks, Quality, No Rene Flores, Shailendra Choudhari, Heinrich Botha, Amit Parikh, …
Demurrage Cost due to this problem, Waste Elimination, Savings of 0,5 Million AED ++
Standardization: Similar exercise has led to bring more improvements related to Rework Reduction in similar production line. Horizontal Deployment Opportunities (Replication): systems are getting modified to achieve lower manual work esp. where
safety of Employees is at risk.
Single Point Lesson: Innovative Systems Design & Modification can help in reducing Safety Risk ! Remark / Management Comments:
Sign
Copy Distribution: Date of Starting: Date of Completion: Control No. (by DQG)
Declaration: We are submitting this Kaizen case voluntarily to DQG for participation in Kaizen Blitz competition. We are glad to authorize DQG to share this information with the Business community at large to promote Continual Improvement and good practices.
We confirm that the improvement has been initiated and completed during the Kaizen Blitz week.
Signed by Authorised signatory: _______________________Name:________________________________Designation:_____________________________________ Date: ____/____/________