Date:
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Time:
2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location:
Henry B. González Convention Center, Room 303B
Organizers:
Barry A. Sadler, Net Carbon Consulting Pty Ltd; Eric D. Schmidt, Vallourec Star; Robert W. Hyers, University of Massachusetts
The minerals, metals, and materials industries have used a proliferation of methodologies for business improvement over the past 20 years or so. These have included Six Sigma in various forms, Lean manufacturing principles, Six Sigma and Lean combined, Theory of Constraints, statistical process control and derivations such as "in control and capable", continuous improvement, Kaizen, total quality management, total quality control, and so on. More recently, approaches such as big data analysis or analytics have been applied.
In this session, invited speakers will review the different approaches taken for business improvement in the minerals, metals, and materials industries and share best practices. The session will conclude with a panel discussion involving the speakers.
Featured Speakers:
Adrian Deneys, Praxair, Inc.
Presentation Title: "Business Development Strategies and Approaches in Minerals, Metals and Materials—an Industrial Gas Supplier’s Perspective"
About the Presentation
Business development is the function which aims to grow our business through two main approaches. These two approaches include commercializing new applications which drive the uses of our products (ideally to identify and secure new customers), or developing new uses of our products through the customized development of enhanced technologies which complement existing processes at existing customers. The strategies and approaches, which were used with several minerals and metals customers, are analyzed (with the benefit of hindsight) to identify which approaches delivered good results compared to the effort expended while briefly alluding to approaches which stagnated. Examples will include references to copper, molybdenum, gold extraction (and the unique challenges of widely varying flowsheets), with complementary comparisons to steel and glass production. The emphasis will be on previously published references.
Cynthia K. Belt, Metals Energy Management LLC
Presentation Title: "Case Studies of Continuous Improvement Projects in the Metals Industry"
About the Presentation
The continuous improvement methodology of Six Sigma and Lean include tools such as: 6s team projects, Kaizen events, recommissioning projects, and Gemba walks. These are useful in all industries, but are critical in the materials industry. This paper gives case studies from several projects emphasizing energy savings and melt loss from the secondary aluminum and casting industries. Some projects worked well while others fell short due to specific issues. The example projects and their issues will be discussed. Measurement problems will be reviewed. Some data analysis can be different with energy data in the metals industry. These analysis concerns will be discussed.
Keith A. Sinclair, Sinclair Associates
Presentation Title: "Process Stability – the Key to Improvement in Mining, Smelting and Process Industries"
About the Presentation
Mining, smelting, and metals companies have been striving to improve quality, cost, and throughput for decades. Many approaches have been undertaken such as Six Sigma and Lean and older initiatives such as SPC. Organizations have achieved significant improvement using these approaches and their toolkits, but few have made the methods and the results sustainable. This presentation proposes that organizations can achieve more cumulative, sustainable results if efforts to improve are based on first principles. Principles of process management and improvement put forth by icons like Shewhart, Deming, and Ohno all profess a single, essential element for lasting success: process stability MUST be achieved and maintained before capability improvement can be expected to succeed. This presentation will define process stability and what is required to achieve and sustain stability in process performance and examine several case studies illustrating the necessity and benefits of stability in mining, smelting and process operations.
Nicholas E. Cherolis, Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants
Presentation Title: "The Value of Investigating and Trending Minor Failures to Prevent Major Incidents"
About the Presentation
Catastrophic or major incidents are typically investigated immediately, but what about the near misses or minor failures that might be precursors to major incidents? Are they investigated? Major failures often do not occur as one isolated issue or event; there are often less severe precursors to a major event. This paper presents a best practice and reasons for reviewing minor equipment failures in order to avoid major events as demonstrated through the judicious analysis of minor failures. Case histories and the lessons learned from these minor equipment failure investigations are presented to encourage investigation of what may initially appear as insignificant failures, for their value in prevention of major incidents.