Invitation to manufacturing fitness
It's not often that a single day provides an opportunity to look and learn from eight different but relevant manufacturing operations. But Manufacturing Chemist readers will have the chance to do just that on Thursday, 5 June, 2003 when the Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence (PICME) holds its second annual conference at the Cranfield Management Development Centre.
The PICME event is entitled 'Manufacturing Fitness - making it happen, and sustaining the gains', and the 5 June conference will open up key elements in process manufacturing improvement, as developed by PICME and its key clients over the past 12 months.
The main part of the conference will focus on detailed case-study examples from process sector companies who have successfully improved their methods of manufacturing: Rhodia Pharma, Wrafton Laboratories, Great Lakes, Jotun Paints, Associated Octel, Gerberit UK and Ondeo Nalco will all develop and illustrate various and different aspects and lessons from the manufacturing fitness spectrum.
The pharmaceutical companies presenting on 5 June will provide an exemplar focus for that sector, and the other process sector companies will have analogous manufacturing lessons to show.
Wrafton Laboratories, for example, has been working with PICME for several months across a number of lines and process operations at its plant just outside Barnstaple, Devon. The pharmaceutical manufacturer won Britain's Best Process Factory award in 2000 and the 5 June presentation will show how it sought and achieved further improvement in its manufacturing performance, assisted by PICME. Earlier in the day, Rhodia Pharma Solutions will talk about how the company has used operational improvement to help the company in a highly regulated environment.
PICME champion Lord Sainsbury will once again make the keynote address. The Government Minister played a key role in the recent extension of PICME's support from the DTI until the year 2006 and has long been a supporter of the results produced by the Middlesbrough-based organisation. 'All the companies PICME has worked with,' he says in the programme notes 'have seen a direct and measurable improvement on their bottom line.'
For those who wish, the conference package includes a free delegate dinner the previous evening; this is to allow networking and to hear some lighter material provided by PICME and Cranfield. PICME chief executive Mark Lewis says: 'We realise at PICME that many companies need to be provided with a good 'taster' of what manufacturing improvement is about, and this process includes a good deal of peer networking. Our 5 June conference is the best possible place to be - for novices and experts alike.'
Lewis hopes that the conference will encourage pharmaceutical manufacturers to take advantage of the PICME funding window. 'We are primarily appealing to those process managers and directors who are tasked with reducing costs and shortening lead times and who also need to increase flexibility and output,' he says. 'Now is the time to use PICME and PICME funds to help achieve those aims. Anyone in the process sector with a remit for lean manufacturing stands to profit from joining us at Cranfield on 5 June.'
Conference delegates will also get a first look at the PICME portal for readily locating UK and European grants that are available to support company improvement processes. In addition, delegates will hear how to join branches of the PICME Club - an informal network of PICME support, organised at local level.
Middlesbrough-based PICME is funded by the DTI and is currently administered by the Chemical Industries Association. Since launching at the DTI in March 2001, PICME has seen a steady stream of chemicals-based companies enquiring about the services and tools that help measure and benchmark various industrial processes and work activities. In February of this year, the PICME grant was renewed
Since its launch, PICME has succeeded in saving six figure sums for every client it has worked with. These savings currently total £60m in immediate and longer-term costs. Client-bookings are increasing; and the organisation is taking on more staff, expanding its work in the UK regions while developing speciality support for niche areas such as pharmaceuticals, plastics and packaging.
PICME's manufacturing clients come from all walks of the process sector - pharmaceuticals chemicals, polymers, fine chemicals, and agrochemicals. All UK-based process manufacturers qualify, and can apply to benefit from PICME's diagnostic and performance measuring/benchmarking activities. These are measures that save manufacturers money in areas such as stock management, machine utilisation, lead-times, process variabilities and supply chain efficiencies.
Places at the 5 June, 2003 conference have been limited to 100. The delegate fee is £185.00, which includes a free dinner the night before.