Chemical awards for Rohm and Haas and Millenium

A PICME product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 15, 2004

Rohm and Haas, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, has received a national manufacturing improvement award - for batch or speciality manufacture - for its acrylic emulsion plant improvement.

Rohm and Haas, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, has received a national manufacturing improvement award - for batch or speciality manufacture - for its acrylic emulsion plant improvement.

Sponsored by the Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence (PICME), the award was presented to Dr Colin Scattergood, Rohm and Haas' Production Manager, by Mark Lewis, PICME's Chief Executive, at the 2004 CIA Awards Dinner, hosted by BBC News Presenter, Natasha Kaplinsky, at the Palace Hotel in Manchester.

The Dewsbury team received the award for fully utilising the investment made on site in 2000 despite a range of difficulties stemming from significant loss of jobs on site with the closure of older units.

The site has been making chemicals since the 1850's and has modernised its operations to establish Dewsbury as a key part of the European supply chain that includes five other Rohm and Hass operations.

As part of the process, a team of improvement engineers from PICME worked with the Dewsbury site in order to assist the manufacturing improvement there.

In his acceptance speech Dr Colin Scattergood paid tribute to the work done by PICME's Michael Glass, Ian Cavanagh and Greg Watts in helping to focus and catalyse the effort on the shop floor.

PICME Chief Executive Mark Lewis was delighted when the judging panel commented on the workforce involvement and the way the plant has built up its reputation with its customers and within Rohm and Haas.

"By making use of the skills of the team with some outside advice and coaching, Rohm and Haas has demonstrated how cheaply and quickly you can transform the performance of UK based operations in global supply chains".

"This is a leading example of how all in the chemical sector can work towards the productivity and resource efficiency goals of the Chemical Industries Association".

As one of its recent goals for sustainable development the UK's CIA has set a target "to become the most productive chemical industry in Europe by improving productivity by an average of six per cent a year".

CIA Director - Trade and Competitiveness, Stephen Elliott said: "The manufacturing improvements achieved by Rohm and Haas set an excellent example to the whole UK chemical industry of the type of practical actions that can help boost productivity, performance and secure long-term success and sustainability." Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, of Stallingborough, Lincolnshire, received the national manufacturing improvement award - for continuous or high volume manufacture, also sponsored by PICME.

The Stallingborough site is the largest titanium dioxide plant in Millennium outside the USA, and has been in operation for 50 years under a number of different owners.

The award was presented to Leon Zaal, Site Director, Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, by Mark Lewis, PICME's Chief Executive.

Millennium Inorganic Chemicals received the award for demonstrating sustained performance improvement across a broad range of measures.

This covered the whole organisation and addressed all parts of the supply chain.

The operation's understanding of customer needs and complaints handling stood out.

In addition Millennium had undertaken a product rationalisation programme that represents a best practice example of the value of product simplification to manufacturing.

PICME's Mark Lewis commented that all the short listed entries had shown an enthusiasm for improvement, which should be noted by all companies in the industry.

"The key to success is a partnership between everyone involved, and Millennium in particular have used this to drive improvement across the organisation".

CIA Director - Trade and Competitiveness, Stephen Elliott said: "Millennium's outstanding performance has demonstrated that a company-wide commitment to manufacturing improvement can result in real bottom line benefits".

"Productivity improvements can be identified in any organisation, and swift implementation can not only improve competitiveness in the global chemical marketplace but also help secure a sustainable future".