Starting in October 2021, we’ve had the opportunity to work with Şişecam, the world’s largest glass tableware manufacturer, to implement Lean manufacturing by enforcing different methodologies such as the 5S+1 and 6 sigma strategies.
Şişecam was founded in by İşbank at the directive of Atatürk to meet Turkey’s need for basic glass products, and now, 87 years later, Şişecam is one of the world’s leading glass producers, with production operations located in 14 countries and spanning over 4 continents with a massive workforce of 24,000 employees and sales in over 150 countries.
Şişecam is also the only global producer operating in all 3 main pillars of the global glass industry, Ranking among the best in the production of Flat glass, Table glassware, glass packaging and automotive glass, as well as in Soda and Chromium compounds business lines.
Back in 2017, as part of Şişecam’s expansion plans in glass manufacturing, it acquired a manufacturing plant in Egypt, It’s first and only production unit in Africa, thanks to Egypt’s unmatched quality of Silica sand. Immediately afterwards, the daily output of glass from the manufacturing plant was monitored, and just 1 year later, it recorded a whopping 500% increase to reach 75 tonnes per day. Now, just 5 years later, Thanks to Şişecam’s excellent leadership and superior quality standards, the production output has reached 120 tonnes per day, with plans to rise by 12% next year.
At Symbios, we’ve had the fantastic opportunity to work with the wonderful team at Şişecam, to implement lean methodologies and strategies to further enhance and maximise effectiveness, and thanks to the amazing work by both parties, the desired outcome was successfully achieved yielding vast improvements in key work areas around the plant. Starting off, the deployment team was reformed, segmenting the plant to 16 mini business units, with each business unit being led by a supervisor. Following up, over 30 hours of training were provided by Symbios, covering topics such as 5S+1 and 6 sigma methodologies, 8 wastes identification, and SMED (job change) awareness. Soon after, 5S+1 dashboards were added to each business unit, SOPs were glued onto machinery, Single min. information retrieval (SMIR) for data management was applied, Floor demarcation and pipe paintings were introduced, and the cultural awareness on how to organise the workplace was immensely enhanced. Inevitably, the direct results included a 30% decrease in search time for tools and gadgets, a massive reduction in the number of lost items and the ramifications they imposed, a 25% increase in space utilization for production areas and warehouses, and a 32.5 % improvement in 8 months to reach an excellent score of 84.5% in the 5S+1 monthly audit score, a grading system introduced by Symbios to interpret the company’s compliance with the 5S+1 methodology into percentage scores.
Check the full journey here
https://symbios-consulting.com/
https://ettcegypt.com/products/pasabahce/
