Making PIGs fly

How do you bring the process of continuous improvement to life within a business?  We spoke to Peter Corfield, Director for Regional Strip to find out more.

Many companies pay lip service to the concept of continuous improvement but for Corus continuous improvement is a key part of the business’ working philosophy. 

The successful integration of five different strip processing businesses at one location – Steelpark in Wednesfield – is an impressive example of what can be achieved by making continuous improvement an everyday reality.

To appreciate the impact of Corus’ continuous improvement programme we need to go back a few years.  In 2004, the Steelpark strip processing centre was the amalgamation of people, machinery and customers that had previously been based at other sites.  The different sites were brought together at Steelpark to create the ultimate strip processing facility, a centre that would deliver a world class slitting service to its customers.  But to achieve this objective, Corus had to embark on both a problem solving and ongoing continuous improvement programme.

The first step was to conduct a full consultation with employees at every level.

“We recognised that we had to involve everybody at Steelpark Strip if we were to pay more than lip service to the process of continuous improvement.” Says Peter Corfield.   “We wanted to question the way we did everything and felt it was vital to get the views of all of our employees regarding problems, issues and potential solutions.”

In-depth feedback sessions requesting a ‘wish list’ of improvements from employees were set up, providing Peter and his leadership team with invaluable insight into the problems and issues that were hampering business performance while helping to identify better ways of working. 

These initial feedback sessions highlighted some major areas for improvement which lead to the restructuring of the plant and a £400,000 investment in improvements to the ‘Stamco’ line to speed up production.

At the same time another key issue was tackled: communications.

“Our commitment to clear, ongoing communications and to adopting a visual approach to operational management has been instrumental in our success” says Peter.   “We looked at the ways other Corus sites and our customers managed this process, adopting and in some cases adapting their visual management methods as well as developing our own.”

A new communications programme was devised to ensure every employee could see the contribution their team was making to the business and to engender a much stronger sense of team spirit.  The new programme also facilitated the sharing of best practice working methods.

Key initiatives included the creation of a quarterly ‘Health & Safety Focus’ newsletter to provide clear targets, advice and best practice notes regarding every aspect of health and safety in the workplace – a key area of focus for every Corus site.

‘Credit cards’ printed with the business strategy and each team’s objectives were also given to all employees, while each work station was given a team notice board.  Communicating objectives, monitoring team performance and recording key achievements, these boards continue to be updated on a daily basis by team members, giving them a sense of ownership with regard to the attainment of objectives while helping to engender team spirit and healthy cross team competition.   

"By setting clear targets that are owned by each team and which are visible on a daily basis, we have been able to build teams that want to perform.” Says Peter. “Teams take pride in their achievements and also understand the impact they’re having on the business as a whole.”

So where do the PIGS come in?  PIGS or, to give them their full name Process Improvement Groups for Slitting, were created for each operational area of the business.

The PIGS meet on a monthly basis with colleagues from other Strip sites as well as other Corus businesses. Meetings aim to share best practice initiatives and identify better ways of working, driving the continuous improvement process throughout numerous Corus operations.

Should anyone doubt the benefits of such initiatives, the results of Corus’ continuous improvement programme are nothing short of impressive. The business’ slitting capacity has improved dramatically thanks to a series of initiatives implemented following the first employee feedback sessions and more than £3/4-million of investment in new equipment during the last two and a half years.

The supply chain has effectively been re-built to the benefit of Corus customers as well as Corus’ own mills.  Customers are benefitting from the 30 per cent improvement in capacity which was achieved in just 12 months and the business has seen a 34 per cent growth in the amount of steel it processes.  There is a much greater focus on machine productivity, selective growth and profitability.  Visitors report a “real buzz” among the workforce and productivity increased by a further 30 per cent during 2006 alone. 

So what next?

“Continuous improvement is by its very nature continuous and questioning every aspect of our operation has become a habit we intend to keep.” Says Peter. “We’ve just completed the latest of our regular employee feedback sessions and many of our initiatives are now being rolled out across other Corus Distribution and Building Services operations.”

“The workforce, however, are the real heroes in this story.” He concludes. “They should be congratulated.  They’ve truly made PIGS fly and are ensuring that continuous improvement remains at the heart of our business.”