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February 1, 2010
Alcoa Metallurg Rus opens Center of Excellence Affiliate for Alcoa Business System
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Belaya Kalitva – In January Alcoa Metallurg Rus, Alcoa Russia’s metallurgical plant located in Belaya Kalitva in Rostov Region, opened an affiliate of the Russian Center of Excellence for the Alcoa Business System (ABS).
The Alcoa Business System, or ABS, is an integrated set of principles and tools to advance continuous improvement, cost reduction, and exceptional labor safety. ABS tools are used to organize and manage Alcoa businesses worldwide.
Centers of Excellence represent a united network of Alcoa training centers around the globe. They provide theoretical and practical training for Alcoa employees and facilitate implementation of lean production principles of the Alcoa Business System.
The Alcoa Business System has been implemented at Alcoa Russia locations (Samara and Belaya Kalitva) since 2006. In 2008 Alcoa SMZ opened Alcoa Russia’s Center of Excellence (COE) in Samara to train Alcoa Russia employees in ABS tools. The Center of Excellence in Belaya Kalitva is an affiliate of the Samarian COE.
In January the Belaya Kalitva Center of Excellence trained 32 leaders of business- and resource units. They were trained by certified trainers from the Samarian COE.
The first training course lasts for 4 days and includes both theoretical and practical classes. The training participants study six out of seven stability tools that comprise the first level of ABS implementation:
- Daily Management
- Problem Solving
- TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and 5S (workplace organization system)
- Reward and Recognition
- Suggestion System
- Communications
Having completed the first level of the training, the trainees get a home task to implement at their own business unit (BU) the methods they have learnt at the COE.
Until the end of 2010 the Belaya Kalitva Center of Excellence intends to train all BU leaders of the location – BU directors through shift foremen of production areas and resource units.
Yuri Anurov, ABS Manager, Alcoa SMZ: “ABS tools are aimed at helping leaders to engage people in improvements. The tools represent a structure that emphasizes and directs employee initiative. If every BU leader who was trained in the COE applies his energy to revert the knowledge into practice his operational area, department, production shop will start changing very soon through eliminated faults, increased productivity, reduced inventory, increased yield, decreased downtime. I would like to wish all the trainees of the Center of Excellence success in improvements – it is crucial for the company, especially during the economic downturn”.
Evgeny Lazin, Deputy Director, Flat-Rolled Products, Alcoa Metallurg Rus: “It is the best training I have ever had. It is organized at a high level, the trainers are well-prepared, a lot of thought is put in the agenda. Theory is taught in the morning, after lunch we had practice in the operational areas. New topics were offered every day, we had very lively and energetic communications. I have learnt a lot of useful information. I am looking forward to attending the 2nd level of the training in the same group”.
Nataliya Kanshina, Manager of Spectral Analysis Laboratory, Alcoa Metallurg Rus: “The training was busy and thought-out in terms of learning the material. The practical part was a great way to memorize the theory. Slides, videos, game tasks facilitated studying. The material was offered in various forms: interview, discussion, question-answer. The teachers lead the training in an understandable and interesting form. Thanks to the trainers and organizers for this training, wish you success in the future”.
Vitaly Udodenko, senior foreman of casting and furnace mix department, Casthouse, Alcoa Metallurg Rus: “After the training I have conducted 2 ABS-trainings in two shifts. We have submitted 10 suggestions, 2 of them can grow into large projects. I sent two assistants – foremen of casting and furnace mix department – to the training in the Center of Excellence. I think that together we will be able to complete the task faster and with better quality. I am looking forward to the second-level training of ABS implementation.
At the initial stage the Alcoa Business System includes seven elements, “seven stability tools” that are closely connected with each other. Five of them – TPM, Kaizen, Daily Management, Suggestion System and Problem Solving – help advance production performance. The rest two – Reward & Recognition and Communication – have to do with employee development. ABS helps to improve operational management and increase performance of employee, their desire and readiness to make the changes as soon as possible.
ТРМ - Total Productive Maintenance. According to this principle each employee shoul take care about his workplace. The rules are simple: do not avoid preventive visual checks; no need to wait until an equipment unit breaks down or until maintenance people arrive especially in case you can solve this issue at an early stage; do not throw trash around your workplace.
Problem Solving provides employees with a single action scheme in any difficult situation during the production process.
Kaizen (“Continuous improvement” in Japanese) – directs each employee to team work in their continuous search for improvement solutions and their implementation. Kaizen suggestions target both productivity increase and improvement of working conditions and safety.
Daily Management prescribes to each manager to conduct daily meetings with his or her team to inform the personnel about current objectives of the BU and the company as a whole. Thus, the people start seeing their objective as part of the common business and feeling like they are part of the team.
Communication is an information transfer via any channel with emphasis on personal “face-to-face” communication. Exchange of ideas and issues with colleagues, managers and leaders in real-time mode helps us to understand the business better and contribute to its improvement.
Suggestion System allows each employee to offer some improvement. The innovation can deal with labor safety, cost reduction, material savings, elimination of faults, improvement of communications.
Reward & Recognition is based on the idea of rewarding employees for their success in a short term, during a month. In this case an employee can see a direct connection of performance and reward. The form of material reward can be different – bonuses, souvenirs with the corporate trademark., etc.
ZAO Alcoa Metallurg Rus is the leading producer of fabricated aluminum in the South of Russia. The plant produces a wide range of flat rolled products, extrusions, tubes and forgings in compliance with international and Russian standards.
The facility traditionally supplies aerospace, automotive, building and construction and other industries.
The plant’s quality management system is certified to comply with the following standards: BS EN 9100:2003, ISO 9001:2000, EN 9104:P1 for aluminum and fabricated aluminum production - ingots, plate, sheet, coils, profiles, tubes, forgings and extrusions.
About Alcoa
Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa® wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems. The Company has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for eight consecutive years. Alcoa employs approximately 59,000 people in 31 countries across the world.
Alcoa first entered Russia in 1993. In 2005 the company acquired two fabricating facilities in Samara and Belaya Kalitva. Since 2005 Alcoa has invested over $750 million to upgrade its Russian facilities.
More information can be found at www.alcoa.com, www.alcoa.ru
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