Inside the Alcoa Business System (ABS)
The Alcoa Business System, or ABS, is an integrated set of principles and tools used to manage Alcoa businesses. The three overarching principles of ABS are:
- Make to Use,
- Eliminate Waste,
- People Linchpin the System.
Make to Use
The Make to Use principle begins with Alcoa customers and is based on the ideal of:
- Single-piece production
- On demand
- Defect free
- At the lowest possible cost
- Made safely
The principle is based on customer usage, as opposed to making to inventory.
Eliminate Waste
The Eliminate Waste principle is our drive toward the ideal of exposing and solving problems, when and where they occur, to continuously improve the cost, quality and speed of all our manufacturing and business processes.
People Linchpin the System
This third principle is the drive to create the people environment, engaging all our associates in identifying and solving the problems linked to our transition from "make to inventory" to "make to use" and the continuous improvements in costs, quality, and speed.
ABS and Cost Savings
ABS has helped to deliver substantial savings, and there are significant opportunities ahead in both savings and in extending the entire business system of the company. Alcoa will continue to use our years of experience in applying ABS and systemically capturing improvements faster and transferring knowledge across the organization more quickly.
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Alcoa's Vision & Values
Alcoa's vision is to be the best company in the world. Read about how its values are tied to its vision.
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