On the way of improvement

On January 25 Metafrax Chemicals had an internal conference on lean production with the participation of company managers, chief specialists, heads of structural divisions, representatives of project teams and supervisors.

The conference participants summed up the results of the Lean Production System (LPS) implementation project, discussed the results of the work, and got acquainted with the experience of implementing lean production in other companies.

According to Armen Garslyan, deputy of the Legislative Assembly in Perm region, first deputy secretary of the regional branch of Edinaya Rossia Party, the introduction of LPS makes it possible to increase the sustainability and competitiveness of business.

"Under the national project Labor Productivity, which is being implemented based on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, an infrastructure has been created that helps to introduce lean production, improve management, logistics and product sales. The aim of companies is to maximize the available opportunities, actively adopt and scale successful practices in this area, widely involve employees who see "bottlenecks" and are ready to offer optimal solutions to local issues. Metafrax Chemicals consistently follows this path. We see positive results and further prospects for the implementation of the project," highlighted Armen Garslyan.

During his speach at the conference, Alexander Eske, Director of Repairs at JSC Metafrax Chemicals, head of the LPS implementation project, noted that 3 directions were identified under the project: technology development, increasing automation, digitalization of production; improving operational efficiency and labor productivity; preserving and developing human resources.

Oksana Panchenkova, Head of the Operational Efficiency Department at Metafrax Chemicals, recalled that the first experience of lean production by Metafrax was in 2019, when the company joined the implementation of national project activities. The practices developed at that time served as the basis for the company's next project to implement a lean production system, which started in February 2023.

"We have created a methodological foundation, an organizational structure for project management, started collecting proposals for improvements and in December summed up the first results of the economic effect obtained from simple improvements. So far, as a part of the production system development, were already implemented the bank of ideas, the institute of supervisors, also regulatory documentation has been developed," said Oksana Panchenkova.

In 2023, the project participants improved their competencies in the field of operational efficiency. Under the School of Management, 22 managers were trained, 79 line managers mastered lean production at the School of masters. During the training, the participants developed 11 projects, of which 7 were accepted for implementation, the rest are in the stage of completion. The total expected economic effect from the implementation of the projects is more than 55 million rubles. Lean production programs and tools were mastered during the year by representatives of project and working groups, auditors and 22 supervisors. The LPS implementation team visited several enterprises in the Perm region to share their experience.

425 proposals were submitted, of which 235 were approved. The cost of implementing the approved proposals is 79 thousand rubles, the economic effect is 1.2 million rubles. The originators of the imporvement proposals became 142 employees of the company. Some of the proposals shall be considered as innovation and investment projects. In 2023, there was an increase in rational proposals, 16 of them were submitted, 11 were approved, 7 of them under the project.

Oleg Ozhgibesov, Deputy Head of the Development Department of the Continuous Improvement System of LUKOIL-Perm LLC also shared his successful experience in implementing LPS at the conference.

The Regional Competence Center (RCC) is engaged in the implementation of the national project Labor Productivity in the Perm region. Vladimir Zhvakin, Project Manager of the RCC, spoke about the progress of the national project.

"There are two main factors for the successful application of lean production tools: start from the problem, act to solve it, and the personal involvement of the company's top person. Colleagues from JSC Metafrax Chemicals have both of these factors. Over the past year, they have made significant progress and will be able to further develop a lean production system at an even faster pace," said Vladimir Zhvakin.

The panel discussion was attended by Artem Ksenofontov, Deputy General Director – Director of Finance and Economics at Metafrax Chemicals, Andrey Yeremeev, Director of the AUM plant, Nikolai Putilin, Deputy Director for Technical Support at Metadinea, and guests Oleg Ozhgibesov and Vladimir Zhvakin. The result of the conference will be an adjusted program for the development of LPS for 2024. The project participants face a number of tasks: the development and implementation of performance indicators of the system and a unified methodology for lean production, continued training of LPS participants, automation of the process of working with proposals and the creation of a Process Factory based on the Ural Chemistry and Technology Colledge.