The 4 Key Levers in the efficiency of ceramic plants
Research | 08/07/2023 | 12 minutes read
Our analysis of 20 years of plant optimizations in the ceramic sector reveals where optimization actions can increase business value - and, just as importantly, where they can have low impact and erode projects.
The manufacturing of ceramic tiles is considered a semi-automated process with a high sensitivity to a significant number of critical variables. All those variables have more or less influence on the results and stability, and they need to be considered for proper plant management.
Nowadays we can find ceramic tile plants everywhere on Earth, so in addition to the intrinsic factors of the process, must be considered geographical aspects such as specific constraints of raw materials, distinctive environmental conditions, different cultures and access to training, …
All this makes up a complex system of variables and interactions with a chemical and technological base – and constantly evolving.
According to Dredex’s experience in international projects we can assert that, given this complexity, it is usual to find improvement aspects of significant value in the ceramic processes. Only as reference, the average savings potentials found related to process inefficiencies were upper than 2 M$/year in a business unit of 4-8 Msqm/year and 8-digit potentials for more complex production structures.
Approach: hidden potentials in daily routines
Our method of identifying improvement levers is based on a structured system that covers both technical and organizational aspects. The system used has the advantage of combining the most proven audit techniques with a deep knowledge and specialization in ceramic process operations. This allows the Dredex team to perform an in-depth analysis of process operations through an external and aseptic view.
Naturally, organizations, on the other hand, have a high knowledge of their operational structures from an internal analysis of plant results. As a consequence of this, it is common to have identified aspects of improvement or weaknesses of its process, which should not be forgotten during the assessment.
Taking this into account, the previous analysis must assess all the factors that describe and condition the company’s performance, analyze current yield and routines, and bring to light the origin of the organization’s greatest saving potentials: the basis of the subsequent improvement plan.
Where are the potentials in the tile manufactoring
As a conclusion to the analysis carried out, we are able to establish a list of the main levers found in the tile sector. The most common concepts are shown below based on the frequency with which they have been considered as a lever of interest and with their average impact for a business unit of 10 Msqm/year.
Based on this, we can conclude that the following are the focal points with our clients undergoing process optimization and comprise, at the same time, a useful frame to understand how enterprises drive their efforts:
Rugged Operational Control
Keywords: defect cause detection, control system definition, anticipating trends, quality rates improvement, process stability, scraps reduction, etc.
Workforce Involvement
Keywords: motivation, team goals and challenges, sense of belonging, welfare, personal fulfillment, career advancement, training programme, etc.
Suitability of Materials
Keywords: performance, costs, availability, application range, losses, material coupling, properties and composition stability, etc.
Information Management
Keywords: communication flows, operational control system, execution times, KPIs definition, organizational structure, etc.
As it has been shown, this doesn’t mean that main levers of interest in every organization are always these at all, but in each case some actions or others will have greater weight. This is precisely where the importance of a complete initial process audit lies.
How those levers drive value
Our research shows that the development of each of these levers was at all times correlated to the enhancement of business results. We examined the impacts of each individually and also in various combinations to understand which combinations could yield the greatest value—and which could yield the least. Several distinct patterns emerged:
From the incoming raw materials stage to the sorting-packaging of the finished tiles can be identified about one hundred process variables with unequal influence on the production stability. It’s common to find the influence of a large number of these variables on the same final property of the product, which in many cases prevents clearly establishing a principle of causality in the event of irregularities in the final product. That’s the reason why the establishment of a solid and proven operational control system is critical.
From the study carried out, it is confirmed that whenever a tile factory reviewed and strengthened its operational control system, it directly obtained an enhancement in the results. The degree of improvement obtained was always related to the original state of the process, the degree of staff involvement and further external factors (breakdowns, batch lengths, etc).
According to our findings, the average improvement potentials found in Opperational Control implementation projects were above 2,1% of global OEE, which usually makes it a priority lever.
There is a maxim of industrial organizations, which we should not lose sight of, which says that the first client of the company is the worker.
From our personal experience we have been able to corroborate that a worker satisfied with their working conditions and motivated is predisposed to continuous improvement. On the contrary, in a ceramic plant with a widespread presence of dissatisfied workers, the journey towards continuous improvement will encounter numerous obstacles along the way.
There is a clear direct relationship between the well-being and happiness of workers with the productivity of companies. In fact, according to an analysis of the results of ceramic factories obtained by the Dredex team, reductions in general plant OEE have been detected in ranges above 1,8% – and up to more than 30% in certain plants – due to lack of staff involvement. This represents outsized potentials for improvement and, according to our experience, is often overlooked by organizations as it is not considered a specifically technical aspect.
In any ceramic manufacturing process, one of the focal aspects for the optimal results of the plant are the properties of the materials and their stability.
The properties of the materials used must be adjusted as best as possible to the characteristics of the final product that we wish to obtain and to the installation. Although this is a basic principle, the development of new products, the entry of new suppliers, the prioritization of other factors (logistics, costs…), changes in facilities or working conditions can make this principle pass to a second term.
Based on the analysis of historical data for more than 20 years, the problems of lack of suitability of materials can be related to average losses greater than 1,4% of total production in the case of plants affected by this situation. On other occasions, energy losses due to the use of inappropriate materials average ratios greater than 15%.
The management of data and information can be understood as the infrastructure used to collect, analyse, preserve, and deliver information. The guiding principles that allow information to be available to the right people at the right time.
A wrong communication flow, an incomplete reporting, a cursory analysis, or a late instruction among others, can be a key stumbling in the journey to continuous improvement.
With no doubt, Industry 4.0 can became a key tool to optimize this lever. It can play a prominent role through a process of technological change, with the aim of promoting and optimizing these flows while simplifying the analysis of results.
However, in those organizations that have not yet opted for this technological transition, information management is in any case a process with a substantial optimization potential. According to data collected through tile ceramic plant improvement projects, the potential from improvement actions related to information management is on average higher than 2.6% of the plant’s productivity – related with access to information, quality of reporting, incomplete analysis of data…
The upshot of combining actions
A clear behavior observed in all the organizations in the study has been that the development of the levers Operational Control, Information Management, and Suitability of Materials has always brought beneficial results both individually or combined with each other, without interfering with each other.
Our analysis revealed, however, that the workforce involvement lever is the wild card: its status can affect the performance of other levers and reduce expectations about organizational returns.
We found evidence that the development of Information Management and/or Rugged Operation Control levers without the Workforce Involvement results in a significant erosion of expected performance. According to our study, the average losses are 40% of the potential expected from the development of the other levers. In fact, it is the most negative combination, posing a yield erosion risk equivalent to $1.5 million for a medium-small plant size (10-15 million meter/year).
How is that possible? How is the influence that certain actions have to create an outsized return and in turn minimize other leverage potentials when they are not properly developed?
The experience shows that both the Information Management and Rugged Operation Control levers require adaptation to new work systems, with greater demand, more participation, commitment and, in general, willingness to change: a predisposition that requires a certain degree of involvement in order to be executed successfully. As observed, the factors hindering greater employee engagement included: lack of appreciation of workers’ performance, lower salary conditions than local competitors, absence or insufficient internal training, low effective possibilities for internal promotion… All of these factors showed us a lack of the sense of belonging related to an organizational climate that, ultimately, promotes work motivation, commitment, pride and worker happiness.
The change: Where to start
Our research shows that the actions listed are aspects that every organization must analyze and develop due to the substantial changes that any of them can have on the plant’s performance. As a priority, an optimal state of Workforce Involvement must be ensured due to the synergies established with the levers analyzed here and with many others involved in the optimization of a plant.
However, it must be recognized that their implementation is not an easy task since unlocking each one requires significant time, effort and, above all, experience. So for companies not leading on these issues today, what can executives do to meet the challenge? The results of our research point to four actions:
- First, prepare yourself. If you decide to embark on the journey to plant improvement, the first stage should always be to have the best information: a good definition of your starting point. This will allow you to have a better understanding of your strengths and shortcomings. To do this, a specialized audit of the plant should show you an assessment of the highest-value improvement potentials of the organization, which will greatly facilitate taking the path of greatest profitability and establishing a well-defined action plan.
- If we want to grow, we have to get involved. When taking deliberate steps to advance your plant optimization strategy, be sure to first understand how critical factors – such as Workforce Involvement – complement and reinforce each other. Without that alignment, your investments may not generate the returns they could be generating.
- Training, training and training. Regardless of the aspects to improve, training is a sure value in every organization. Regardless of the mandatory training required in your country for workers, technical training is not only synonymous with quality but also with motivation and a feeling of belonging. And if you want to take it a step further, do not hesitate to design an internal training program, including an onboarding plan, a worker flexibility system, etc.
- Communicate to progress. We believe that one of the pillars of success is communication. In an improvement process this maxim cannot be left aside. Communicate the objective pursued, continuously communicate and involve collaborators related to improvements, involve them, encourage joint analysis and the search for solutions… Our experience tells us that the best decisions made just from the office will never settle in the same way as the improvements agreed upon with the last operator.