BIS Industrial Services was engaged to provide interim management for the engineering department of a fabric manufacturing company. The department included 11 personnel and had an annual budget of £500,000. Processes undertaken at the plant include fabric bleaching, dyeing, coating and printing.
BIS-IS accountability included formalising the care of assets, improving work management practices co-ordinating subcontractors and providing external consultancy advice.
SCOPE OF THE CONTRACT
Given the close proximity of neighbours to the plant and the onsite water treatment plant discharge to the local river, environmental protection was of the utmost concern. BIS-IS was responsible for all IPPC matters, liaising with the Environment Agency to ensure all reports and emissions testing were returned on time and within consent, and completing improvement condition actions.
After eight months, the emphasis was redirected towards cost saving through several BIS-IS initiatives.
Now familiar with site production activities, we highlighted key areas for improvement through the introduction of OEE measurement, 5S priniples, TAKT time, KPI's and cellular manufacturing principles. Value stream mapping was introduced to identify deficiencies in productivity.
Brainstorming sessions with both departmental managers and industry consultants enabled us to produce a prioritised list of remedial actions that would improve OEE. We developed a Gantt chart to schedule execution and to estabish estimated costs and financial returns before implementation.
THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
With an annual energy bill of £1.1M, increases in tariffs had a dramatic effect on the bottom line. BIS-IS conducted an in-depth audit of key utilities and produced site distribution drawings to understand usage trends and Pareto key users. A summary of low or no cost actions, that would provide immediate returns, was then presented to and accepted by the client. Other long term cost-saving investments were also presented, accompanied by projected payback calculations of 10%.
Other BIS-IS initiatives delivered over £120,000 saving per annum in effluent treatment operations.
