Waste minimization in paint manufacturing

Waste minimization in paint manufacturing

A stepwise approach and pilot

Waste minimization in paint manufacturing

A stepwise approach and pilot

Thesis on behalf of graduating

MSc Technology Management

17 September 2008

Author:

D.L.

Tuinstra

s1579428

Study: MSc.

Technology

Management

Faculty

of

Management

&

Organization

University

of

Groningen

Supervision:

dr. ir. D. J. van der Zee

dr.

ir.

N.

Faber

Organization of study: AkzoNobel Wapenveld

Supervision:

dr.

T.

Bartels

Preface

This thesis is the finish of the HBO-flowthroughprogramme of Technology Management at the faculty Economics and Business of the University of Groningen. It is the end product of my graduation internship that I have performed at AkzoNobel Coatings B.V. in Wapenveld in a waste minimization project.

During the graduation trajectory I have enjoyed working as a team leader in this project. The complexity that is involved in dealing with technical problems and enabling change with people on the work floor was a challenge, and to me, very energising. The culture at

AkzoNobel had a positive attitude towards change which was very stimulating and enabled a prosperous waste minimization project.

During the project many persons have aided in realising the eventual result. To start I would like to thank the waste minimization project team, Jos, Johan, Hans, Aalt, Bert, Karel, Gerard and Wim, your dedication to think off and implement changes was key to the success of the project. Special thanks to my supervisor Tamme Bartels for the pleasant cooperation and providing the necessary management support. Furthermore special thanks to Egbert

Rechterschot and Bert Brendeker for the many discussions on varying topics. Thanks to all others who have supported me and the project.

Besides the people from AkzoNobel I would like to thank my graduation coach Durk-Jouke van der Zee for the critical feedback, discussions, support and pleasant cooperation during the writing of this thesis. Furthermore I would like to thank my second supervisor, Niels Faber, for having a critical review on the thesis. And finally my wife, Maike, for the ongoing support and being so lovely.

Abstract

This research is performed to finish the study Technology Management at the University of Groningen. It is executed at the paint factory of AkzoNobel Coatings B.V. in Wapenveld. At AkzoNobel Wapenveld, about 1,3 % of the material leaves the factory as hazardous waste. The annual cost of disposal and product loss associated with this is about 240 k€ which equals about 4% of the total production costs. This cost together with the increased awareness that one must operate sustainable made the management decide to start a waste minimization project. Since it is not easily understood where the waste is generated and how much improvement is possible a systematic approach needed to be developed to address the problem. The goal of this research is twofold, and formulated as:

1. Development of a method that can be used for waste minimization projects in paint manufacturing. It should be a stepwise approach for analysis, redesign and

implementation.

2. Application and evaluation of a pilot of this method with the aim to realize the potential for hazardous waste minimization.

This thesis can be split up in two parts each addressing a research goal:

1. The theoretical part where concepts are chosen that can be combined to form one stepwise approach that can be used by a project leader.

2. The practical part where the results of the application of the method, at the paint factory of AkzoNobel Wapenveld, are described and evaluated.

The complexity of a waste minimization project lies in that it touches upon product and process design and people are involved who could resist change. This method addresses this complexity by combining three concepts;

• To address the need for a structured approach, “Project wise working” is used. This gives a general description of how a project is managed and provides a framework of phases.

• To provide content activities for these phases the “Integral approach to waste minimization” is used.

• To “get things done” at the people that are involved the “Stage process of creating major change” is used.

From these three concepts a stepwise approach with 17 Steps is constructed that can be readily used in any paint factory.

The method is applied at the paint factory of AkzoNobel Wapenveld. First a team of operators, who work throughout the factory, is composed. With this team an assessment is made that identifies all waste streams and quantifies these in Euro’s. From these waste streams eleven focus areas have been selected with a Pareto analysis. Finally nine improvements have been designed and realized. These improvements include;

• Enabling the blowing empty of a pearl mill so it can be cleaned with 50% less solvent. • Improved cleaning methods for tanks so cleaning solvent can be used in a following

batch, or reused for cleaning.

Seven out of nine improvements have already been realized. The others are still in the realization phase. The expected results of the project are an annual reduction of;

• 25 ton hazardous waste, 23% of the total; • 55 ton of waste water, 55% of the total; • 63 k€ hazardous waste costs, 25% of the total.

Finally the method and pilot are evaluated; most important findings are mentioned here. In the method extra attention should have been paid to the workability of improvements to prevent operator resistance. Also labor cost should be included in the improvements

calculation. Overall the method was powerful enough to generate good results in a short time. At the pilot two issues of importance where uncovered. First the working of the suggestion box is discussed and it is proposed to change this to improvement box. So realized

improvements instead of suggestions are rewarded.

Index

1.2 AkzoNobel Decorative Coatings B.V. Wapenveld... 9

1.2.1 Sector Synthetics ... 9

1.2.2 Sector Paint ... 9

1.3 Motivation for research ... 10

2 Problem definition and research design ... 13

2.1 Research background ... 13

2.2 Research objectives ... 13

2.3 Research questions ... 14

2.4 Research conditions and system boundaries ... 15

2.5 Research setup... 15

3 Waste creation in paint manufacturing, an introduction ... 17

3.1 Hazardous waste flows characterization ... 17

3.2 Overview of production sections... 18

3.3 Sources of waste... 19

3.3.1 Paint production ... 19

3.3.2 Tinting ... 21

3.4 Waste control... 21

3.5 Waste disposal... 22

3.6 The cost of waste... 23

4 A waste minimization method for paint factory’s... 25

4.1 Construction of the stepwise approach... 25

4.1.1 Introduction ... 25

4.1.2 Project wise working... 26

4.1.3 Integral approach to waste minimization in process industries... 27

4.1.4 Eight stage process of creating major change ... 30

4.2 The stepwise approach ... 32

4.2.1 Introduction ... 32 4.2.2 Initiation phase ... 34 4.2.3 Definition phase ... 39 4.2.4 Design phase ... 42 4.2.5 Realization phase... 45 4.2.6 Aftercare phase... 46 5 Initiation phase ... 47 5.1 Pilot introduction... 47

5.2 Step 1: Process Flow Diagram ... 47

5.3 Step 2: Scoping audit... 47

5.4 Step 3: Benchmark ... 49

5.5 Step 4: Assess company policy on waste minimization... 49

5.6 Step 5: Present findings to management for the go/no go decision. ... 50

5.7 Step 6: Make a project assignment... 50

6 Definition phase ... 52

6.1 Step 7: Project start up with team members... 52

6.3 Step 9: Pareto Analysis (meeting 3)... 54

6.4 Step 10: Develop objectives for minimization (Meeting 3)... 55

7 Design, realization and aftercare phase... 56

7.1 Step 11: Generate idea’s to improve the focus area’s (Meeting 3,4) ... 56

7.2 Step 12: Assign idea owner... 56

7.3 Miniprojects ... 57

Step 13: Make a project design for every idea ... 57

Realization phase... 57

Step 14: Realize the project design... 57

7.3.1 Empty tinting paste tubes ... 57

7.3.2 Dirty solvent at PM ... 58

7.3.3 Dirty water for cleaning Suéde taptub... 59

7.3.4 Dirty solvent at cleaning Akzo paint tanks ... 61

7.3.5 Dirty water at cleaning Malmö tanks ... 62

7.3.6 Dirty solvent at cleaning Matpasta tanks ... 63

7.3.7 Dirty solvent at cleaning machine... 64

7.3.8 Dirty solvent at cleaning tanks ... 64

7.3.9 Drums for refilling the Klieverik ... 66

7.4 Step 15: Launch of redesign... 67

7.5 Step 16; Determine project result... 67

7.6 Step 17: Celebrate the project success ... 68

Aftercare Phase ... 69

7.7 Step 18: Control project result ... 69

7.8 Step 19: Optimize improvements... 69

1 General

description

At the moment material is classified as waste, it is wasted. Until that time it can be used as raw material. The waste created at paint manufacturing consists of a mix of valuable raw materials. The cost intertwined with this are twofold, the los of raw material and the cost of disposal, this can ad up to as much as 5% of the total production cost!

There is much potential to use, what is now classified as waste. However this demands a structured and critical rethinking of the production process. In this thesis a method is

developed that does this for paint manufacturing and which can be readily used by a project leader. Furthermore, the results of a pilot of this method at the AkzoNobel Decorative Coatings B.V. Wapenveld are shown.

To place the development of a waste minimization method into context the organization is first described in this chapter. It starts with a description of the AkzoNobel organization which is followed by a description of the organization in Wapenveld. In the last paragraph a motivation for the research and a short description of the problem situation is given.

1.1 AkzoNobel

AkzoNobel is one of the worlds leading industrial companies. It is the largest global coatings manufacturer and the number one in decorative paints and performance coatings, as well as being a major worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals. It is committed to developing innovative products and cutting-edge sustainable technologies, which has led to the first place on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the Chemicals industry.

Based in the Netherlands, AkzoNobel is a Fortune Global 500 company and is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

In 2007 around 43.000 people in more than 80 countries are employed and pro forma

revenues for 2007 totaled €10.2 billion and a net income of 580 million (AkzoNobel, Annual report 2007).

On 2 January 2008 the acquisition of ICI was completed, this company is also specialized in coatings and chemicals and in 2007 around 26.000 people where employed and pro forma revenues totaled around 4 billion Euros.

Figure 1; Organizational Chart of AkzoNobel (Company presentation 2008).

Decorative paints

AkzoNobel is the worlds leading decorative paints company, home to global and household brand names such as: Sikkens, Dulux, Hammerite, Sico and Flexa. The products cover the full range of internal and external wall paints and lacquers, wood care and specialty products and adhesives for the building and renovation industries. The activities are divided into 7

geographical regions, the location Wapenveld is part of Decorative Paints, Continental Europe.

Performance coatings

AkzoNobel is the worlds leading company in performance coatings sector and has earned a global; reputation for producing reliable, top quality brands, unrivaled technologies, first class service and flexible distribution solutions. Brand include global and household names such as International®, Sikkens® and Interpon®. The activities are divided into 5 businesses:

Industrial finishes, Powder coatings, Car refinishes, Marine and protective coatings and Packaging coatings.

Specialty chemicals

AkzoNobel has a long tradition in chemical industry and is one of the worlds leading

chemicals producers. A wide variety is supplied of base, specialty and specification chemicals which are used as raw and intermediate materials. With a portfolio of more then 2.000

different products and an extensive customer list, including some of the world’s biggest companies, it holds leading or strong positions in many markets. Not only is AkzoNobel a key supplier to the polymer production and processing industries, but it is also the world leader in pulp bleaching chemicals, important producer of salt and a key player in the areas of

functional chemicals, specialty polymers and surfactants.

1.2 AkzoNobel Decorative Coatings B.V. Wapenveld

AkzoNobel Wapenveld is a multi business unit site and part of the segment Decorative Paints, Continental Europe. It is the smallest of tree factories located in the Netherlands and it is specialized in producing smaller batches and specialty products. Not only products for Decorative paints are produced, also several products for Performance coatings are made here. Around 130 people are employed and annual sales are around 45 million Euros. AkzoNobel Wapenveld B.V. is divided into 4 sectors:

• Sector Logistics • Sector Distribution • Sector Synthetics • Sector Paint

The sector Logistics Planning Management (L.P.M.) is a staffunction that involves the long term planning for AkzoNobel Wapenveld. The Sector Distribution has a small tinting department where cans of raw material are tinted on order. However, the main business here is picking orders and loading trucks. The two production sectors, synthetics and paint, will be further described next.

1.2.1 Sector Synthetics

The sector Synthetics has a production department with 22 employees, the raw material magazine with 7 employees and 3 staff functions; Technical service (T.S.) Short term

Planning (S.T.P.), Product and Process Control (P.P.C.) totaling 5 employees. Steering of the sector is done by the sector leader. The raw material magazine supplies the needed raw materials for production to both the sectors Paint and Synthetics. The production process of synthetics starts by combining and mixing the raw materials. After which this is packaged and send to the distribution centre.

1.2.2 Sector Paint

The sector Paint has a production department with 42 employees and a tinting department with 10 employees. Furthermore, there are three staffunctions; Technical service (T.S.); Product and Process Control (P.P.C) and short term planning (S.T.P.) totaling 11 employees. Steering of the sector paint is done by the sector leader. The production process of the sector paint starts with mixing and grinding the raw materials of which paint is made, tinting the paint accordingly and finally packaging the products. The finished products are send to the distribution centre.

Figure 2; Organization AkzoNobel Wapenveld.

1.3 Motivation for research

For the production of paint raw materials are mixed after which it is packaged in cans, in this process, no byproducts are formed so theoretically this can be done without the creation of waste. However, it is known that in the paint industry in general 4,6 % of production volume leaves the factory as waste (VVVF Coatings Care Jaarverslag 2006). This consists of 3 general waste streams of which the percentages are shown in table 1.

Household waste 1,4 One time packaging 1,9 Hazardous waste 1,3

Total 4,6

Table 1; Waste as percentage of production volume (VVVF Coatings Care Jaarverslag 2006).

Household waste is all waste that is not hazardous and that can not be recycled. The overall cost of this stream is low.

One time packaging are drums and plastic and paper bags used for the packaging of raw materials. This is recycled and the costs involved are low therefore this waste is not considered problematic.

Hazardous waste is all waste that is hazardous for man, animal and environment (VROM, 2008), it is by far the most expensive waste streams and it has the most impact on the environment. Furthermore much hazardous waste has the potential to be reused as raw material, this way it generates profit instead of costs. For these reasons the focus of this research will be on hazardous waste.

is made up of 3 smaller waste streams, named powder waste, filter mats, and other. For ease of calculation these 3% have been added up to the paint waste. A special case is the waste water, this is a hazardous waste, however due to the low toxicity this it is not administrated as such. Since the cost of this stream is high and it has the potential for reuse, waste water is included in this research.

Cost of waste

Hazardous waste has several costs tied to it. First there is the cost of waste disposal, second the cost of loosing product and solvent and third the cost of extra handling and regulations. This last cost is hard to determine and therefore will be discussed in a later chapter. For AkzoNobel Wapenveld the costs of waste for the year 2007 are shown in Table 2. It is assumed that half of Paint waste and all Sludge is material loss, for Waste water this is 1/20.

Material los

cost (€/kg) Disposal cost (€/kg) Total cost (€/kg) Amount (ton/year) Cost (k€/year) Paint waste 2,5/2 = 1,25 0,30 1,55 67 103

Sludge 2,5 0,80 3,30 34 112

Waste water 2,5/20 = 0,13 0,20 0,33 100 33

Total 102* (202) 249

Table 2; Amounts and cost of waste at the sector Paint in 2007.

* Quantity without wastewater, between hooks is the quantity including waste water.

The total annual cost of hazardous waste for the sector Paint is about 245 k€. This is about 4% of the total production costs. Besides the economical aspects also the environment and the increased awareness of the society that one must operate ‘sustainable’ is of importance. So there is both an economical and an environmental incentive to minimize waste.

Waste minimization trends

Since 1990 there has been a target of reducing hazardous waste with 10% annually (Cleaning water is not included in this calculation). The target was always met until 2005, this is shown in Figure 3.

% waste compared to productionvolume

0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Year % W as te of pr oduc tio n

In 2006 however there has been an increase in the percentage of hazardous waste with 0,5% to 1,4% of the produced volume. Since the waste streams are only measured at the exit door of the factory it is not known what the cause of this increase is.

Initiation of the project

2 Problem definition and research design

The problem definition starts with stating the objective of the research, this is followed by the central research question and sub-questions. Each sub-question is answered in a separate chapter in the rest of this thesis which structures the way to answering the central research question. The research conditions and boundaries are stated and the chapter is finished with the research setup that describes how the research will be executed.

2.1 Research background

At AkzoNobel Wapenveld, sector paint, about 1,3 % of the material leaves the factory as hazardous waste. The cost of disposal and product loss associated with this is about 249 k€ which is 4% of the total production costs. This, together with the increased awareness that one must operate sustainable has made the management decide to start a waste minimization project. Since it is not easily understood where the waste is generated and how much improvement is possible a systematic approach is needed to address the problem. 2.2 Research objectives

To determine the goal of this research a choice had to be made between focusing on the cost or on the sustainability side of the waste problem. The choice was made to primarily focus on the costs because this can be expressed in Euros which makes it much easier to measure, set targets and compare than using environmental impact. Furthermore cost it is a strong indicator for the streams’ toxicity, liability and environmental impact; since the greater these factors, the greater the stream cost (Blomquist & Brown, 2004).

The goal of this research is twofold, first a suitable method for waste minimization at a paint factory has to be developed. Second, the method should be applied at AkzoNobel Wapenveld which should result in minimization of the cost of waste. The goals of the research are::

1. Development of a method that can be used for waste minimization projects in paint manufacturing. It should be a stepwise approach for analysis, redesign and

implementation.

2. Application and evaluation of a pilot of this method with the aim to realize the potential for hazardous waste minimization.

By the end of this internship the first goal should be realized.

For goal two the redesign should be finished and a good start should be made with the implementation of the redesign. However some part of this is most likely to be still in progress by the end of the internship.

2.3 Research questions

The research question formulates the knowledge product that the research is aiming to

produce. It consists of two central research question and some sub questions which are used to realize the objective. The central research questions and sub questions act as a direction for the research. The central research questions are:

1. What waste minimization method suits AkzoNobel Wapenveld?

2. In what way can the organization and/or technology at AkzoNobel Wapenveld B.V. be redesigned in order to realize the potential for short term waste minimization? To be able to answer the central research questions sub questions are formulated to structure the research. By answering these sub questions individually there will be a systematic

progress towards the objective. Each sub question is part of the research and will be answered in a separate chapter. The sub questions are:

1. What aspects does waste creation in paint manufacturing have? 1.1 What characterizes hazardous waste flows?

1.2 What are sources of waste? 1.3 How is waste controlled? 1.4 How is waste disposed off? 1.5 What is the cost of waste?

2. Theoretical framework, What stepwise approach for waste minimization suits paint manufacturing?

2.1 What concepts should be used?

2.2 How is the stepwise approach constructed? 2.3 What is the content of the steps?

3. Initiation, What are the main causes of waste at Wapenveld? 3.1 How much waste is formed in the previous years? 3.2 What are the project boundaries?

3.2 How is the project organized? 4. Definition, What is the area of concern?

4.1 What is the cost of every waste stream? 3.3 What are the focus areas?

3.4 What is the potential for minimization?

5. Design, realize and aftercare, What improvements should be made and how realized? 5.1 What improvements are available to reduce the amount of waste?

5.2 Which improvements are feasible?

5.3 How should the improvements be implemented? 5.4 How can the changes be secured for the future? 6. Evaluation

2.4 Research conditions and system boundaries

The product boundary conditions show the demands at which the result of the research has to comply with. The process boundary conditions show the demands at which the progress of the research has to comply to.

Product boundary conditions:

1. The pilot is limited to the paint factory of AkzoNobel Wapenveld B.V.

2. A fair, holistic approach would be to do a life cycle assessment of the products that are produced. This includes the assessment of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product's existence. However manufacturing plants can only

influence the manufacturing part. Other stages that stretch throughout the supply chain are therefore left outside of the scope of this research. The focus will be, only, on optimizing the manufacturing part of the life cycle.

3. The research focuses on hazardous waste.

4. Scientific product boundary conditions for the research: truth, testable, controllable, objective, explicit, precise, consistent, informative, systematic, transparent, unselfish, general.

5. Practice product boundary conditions for the research: relevant, well founded. Understandable, timely, payable, complete towards the problem, accounting for sensitivities and interests, unique.

Process boundary conditions:

1. The research has to be representative for 18 working weeks.

2. Conditions set by the faculty of business and economics for the master thesis project. 3. Conditions set by AkzoNobel for the master thesis project.

2.5 Research setup

The path to answering the research questions is structured by the sub questions. Each sub question is answered in a separate chapter.

The first two chapters address the theoretical part of the research. In the following three chapters the pilot of the method is described. The research ends with an evaluation chapter, which is again a theoretical part. This is schematically shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4; Schematic representation of the research.

paint factories will differ slightly from this, however the production process is generally the same. The chapter starts with defining hazardous waste. Then the production process is described including all places and handlings where waste is formed. Followed by how it is controlled and disposed off. Finally the cost of waste is discussed.

In Chapter 4 the waste minimization method is developed. First the three concepts that are used to construct the stepwise approach are introduced. This is followed by a detailed description of every step from the stepwise approach, such that it can be readily used by a waste minimization project leader. The method has five phases that are addressed in the following three chapters.

Chapter 5 describes the initiation of the project, it provides motivation and boundaries for the project. Chapter 6 covers the analysis of waste at the paint factory in Wapenveld, this

3 Waste creation in paint manufacturing, an introduction

Figure 5; Aspects of waste creation.

In paragraph 3.1 hazardous waste is defined, this is followed by a description of the sources of waste in 3.2 and 3.3. In paragraph 3.4 the means to control the amount of waste are described. In 3.5 the ways to dispose of waste is described and finally in 3.6 the cost of waste are

calculated.

3.1 Hazardous waste flows characterization

There are several ways to classify waste; the classifications that AkzoNobel Wapenveld has to use for external reporting are mentioned here. The external parties that are reported to are;

1. AkzoNobel Corporate; 2. The government;

3. The Environmental management system certifier ISO 14001; 4. The branch organization;

AkzoNobel corporate wants to know how much reusable/non-reusable waste is formed. The government, ISO 14001 and the branch organization want to know the amount of hazardous waste that is formed. These two classifications will be discussed further.

Reusable/non-reusable

AkzoNobel classifies waste in reusable/non-reusable. The annual amounts of non-reusable waste are monitored and the long term target is to reduce the amount of non-reusable waste with 30% by 2010. In Wapenveld paper, plastic and tin are classified as reusable. All other household and hazardous waste is non-reusable.

Hazardous/non-hazardous waste

digits give the source that the waste comes from. Each source is a different chapter in the Eural. There are 20 chapters of which 08 is the most important for Wapenveld. It is named: “Wastes from the manufacture, formulation, supply and use (MFSU) of coatings (paints, varnishes and vitreous enamels), adhesives, sealants and printing inks”. This chapter has 5 paragraphs of which 01 is most relevant it is named: “Wastes from MFSU and removal of paint and varnish”. This contains all the waste streams that leave the site in Wapenveld. These are shown in Table 3 hazardous waste streams are marked with an asterix.

Eural code description

08 01 11* waste paint and varnish containing organic solvents or other dangerous substances

08 01 13* Sludges from paint or varnish containing organic solvents or other dangerous substances

08 01 20 Aqueous suspensions containing paint or varnish other than those mentioned in 08 01 19

Table 3; Waste streams that leave the factory in Wapenveld

Besides these waste streams there are also streams of household waste and the reusable

wastes, these are not further mentioned here because they are out of the scope of this research. 3.2 Overview of production sections

The place in the supply chain of the two production sections is shown in Figure 6. Here the relevant parts of the process are shown sequentially.

Figure 6; Supply chain of paint and synthetics factory.

The supply chain starts with the suppliers of raw materials and packaging, this is transported to the raw materials storage and the packaging storage at AkzoNobel Wapenveld. When an order is printed the raw materials and packaging are picked and transported to the Synthetics or Paint factory. In the Synthetics factory products with very high viscosity, such as fillers, are made. These products only flow when under pressure so the filling equipment is adjusted to this. The paint factory can be divided in two departments a production department and a tinting department. In the production department complete paints are made of raw materials. In the tinting department paints are tinted on customer demand. This is a special craft where products are tinted automatically or by hand.

In this supply chain all hazardous waste is formed in the Synthetics and Paint sectors. Since this research focuses on the sector Paint, the paint production and tinting process will be described in more detail in the next paragraph.

3.3 Sources of waste

In this paragraph the process of paint production and tinting is described using process flow diagrams (PFD). This diagram shows the general process steps and other main activities that are involved in producing a product. Here, these are supplemented with the major waste streams. In the first paragraph a PFD is made for paint production, in the second for the tinting department. At paint production there are several functional area’s, which are signaled with a number in the PFD. The PFD is followed by a description of the process and the wastes that are formed.

3.3.1 Paint production

In the paint factory annually 9 million kg of paint is produced. Realizing a turnover of 22 million €/year. The factory is specialized in small batches and specialties, also scale up test for new products are done here, 800 different products are produced annually. Products have different production demands and therefore follow different routings through the paint production. Some products only need to be dissolved. Others need further grinding with a pearl mill. The batch size changes so different volume tanks are used. Finally, there are several ways to package the products. A general distinction can be made between filling at the etiquette tap line (ETL) and filling directly from the tank. In total there are 6 dissolvers, 13 pearl mills and 5 filling lines. The different paths that are possible are shown in Figure 7, the major waste streams are also drawn here.

Figure 7; Product flow diagram for paint production.

The processes shown in Figure 7 are numbered in accordance with the functional department that is involved. Next the PFD will be discussed in further detail and the waste streams will be mentioned.

1. Picking

When an order is printed the powders and small amounts of fluids are picked by the raw material magazine. This is then transported to the production department.

2. Production

2.1 Weighing and mixing/dissolving

At the production department the products are mixed, dissolved and grinded. Production starts by dosing the large amounts of fluid in a tank. The powders and small amounts of fluid are added to this. It is then dissolved, dissolving gives high shear that makes the powder disaggregate into a finely dispersed suspension.

• Empty fluid bags. • Empty powder bags.

• Fly powder that is sucked off and filtered. 2.2 Grinding

For some products the powder has to be grinded further, this is done by connecting the tank to a pearl mill and process the product with this. A pearl mill has a large dead volume, this has to be flushed first until clean product comes out. After using the pearl mill it has to be cleaned with solvent. After grinding the product is placed in a mobile tank and transported to the tapping department.

• Product loss when flushing.

• Dirty solvent and product loss when cleaning. 2.3 Put in mobile tank

When the product is ready a sample is send to quality control, when they have approved the product it is ready to be tapped. This is done on the label tap line (ETL) or directly from the tank. When the ETL is used the paint has to be transported in a mobile tank to the ETL where it is further processed by the tapping department. After filling the mobile tanks the dissolver tank has to be cleaned by the production department. It is often

possible to clean the tank with solvent that is used in the paint so the solvent can flow into the mobile tank and be further processed in the paint. However, this is not always

possible, than the tank has to be cleaned with solvent.

When the product is filled off directly the tank with finished product is left for the tapping department. Waste at this stage;

• Dirty solvent from cleaning tanks. 3. Tapping

3.1 ETL tapping

When products are tapped at the ETL, the mobile tank is connected to the ETL. After emptying the container it is disconnected and transported to cleaning. The tapping machine is connected to a cleaning system; this pumps solvent around that cleans the pump and hoses. When the products are tapped and palletized it is send to the distribution centre.

• Dirty solvent to clean the tapping system. 3.2 Direct tapping

Direct tapping is done by connecting the tank directly to a tapping machine. When the tank is empty it is scrapped out and cleaned. Cleaning is done with solvent and a brush.

• Dirty solvent from cleaning the tank and tapping system. 4. Cleaning

The empty mobile containers are cleaned with a washing machine. The container is placed in the machine in which it is first cleaned with dirty solvent and at the end rinsed of with clean solvent. Every washing some solvent is added to the system so thus must be regularly tapped off. Finally every 5 weeks the machine is completely emptied.

• Excess dirty solvent that is tapped off.

3.3.2 Tinting

Tinting is a department of the sector paint. Small amounts of paint and lacquer are tinted here to specifications. This is done partly automated and partly by hand. The process for both is about the same. A product is almost completely produced by one person. The product flow diagram of this is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8; PFD for Tinting department.

1. Tinting

1.1 Production

The process starts with planning printing an order. The base materials are weighed into a can or mobile tank. Then color paste is added according to recipe. Next the product is tested on color and other properties. When the product is not right it is adjusted by adding extra color paste. When the product is finished it is send to filling. When the containers with color paste are empty they are refilled. Refilling leaves empty containers.

• Product test waste;

• Empty refilling containers. 1.2 Filling

There is one person who packages the produced products in cans.

The used tanks are mostly washed in a small cleaning machine. Product left over due to adjustments;

• Dirty solvent from cleaning machine. • Product loss due to adjustments. 3.4 Waste control

There are several provisions to control and reduce the amount of waste that is produced. These will be discussed next.

Standard operating procedures

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of instructions having the force of a directive, covering those features of operations that lend themselves to a definite or standardized procedure without loss of effectiveness. SOP’s are made for most operations that are to be performed. These are used by new employees to learn the craft. Employees that have a steady job hardly ever use the SOP’s because they know the operations by experience. The SOP’s should ensure all employees to work identical. However, in practice there are large

Planning

Cleaning is only needed when a product is not compatible with the previous productproduced. Planning tries to prevent the need for cleaning by planning series of the same product.

However this is often not possible because of all the small batches that have to be produced and the large variety of the products. Large products are produced in dedicated tanks, this enables that the tank doesn’t have to be cleaned anymore.

Result Dependant Reward (RAB )

There is a result dependant reward of 5% annually. For the operators 1 of the 5% is tied to a reduction of hazardous waste compared to the production volume with 10%.

Suggestion boxIdea bus

There is a suggestion box where improvement suggestions can be dropped. If a suggestion is found to be useful it is rewarded with 10% of the annual profit of the suggestion. Waste minimization can lead to much profit so having suggestions in this area can be rewarding. These tools to control the amount of waste lead to incremental steps for waste minimization and a general focus of operators to limit the amount of waste. However it does not provide a thorough diagnosis of the waste streams and structured approach to reduce the amount of waste.

3.5 Waste disposal

Every waste stream that is formed in the factory has its own packaging. This ensures the waste is always packaged appropriately and no mistakes are made with the subsequent processing of the waste. The waste streams and corresponding package are shown in Table 4.

Waste stream Packaging

Paint waste 25 L can or 200 l lid drum Dirty solvent 200 L drums

Dust 200 L PE drums Waste water 1000 L IBC

Table 4; Packaging used for the waste streams.

The packaged waste is placed at waste collection points outside the factory. From where it is collected by the waste manager who transports it to a hangar. This man has a full time job in collecting and storing the waste of the entire site.

To specify where the waste comes from and to assign the subsequent cost of the waste a distinction is made between the waste that comes from Synthetics sector and the Paint sector. This is done by the waste manager by weighing all waste that goes to the waste disposal. Every month his measurements are used for the waste administration.

3.6 The cost of waste

The cost of waste are often 5 to 20 times larger than the actual cost paid for the disposal (Philips et al. 2002) There are many hidden costs associated with waste. The cost of waste is made up of loss of material, the cost of disposal and the cost of extra handling. These costs are calculated here for the paint factory for the year 2007.

Waste disposal

It should be possible to determine the exact cost of disposal however the computer

programme that administrates all waste streams was lost at the beginning of 2008. Therefore the exact amounts of waste for the different waste streams were not known. It was therefore chosen to combine several hazardous waste streams under the general name Paint waste. The cost of dirty solvent is split up into the cost for distillation and the cost for sludge disposal. The total disposal cost for the site is shown in Table 5.

Waste Amount (kg/year) Cost (€/kg) Cost (€/year)

Paint waste 67.000 0,30 20.100 Dirty solvent distillation 68.000 0,24 16.300 Sludge 34.000 0,30 10.200 Waste water 100.000 0,20 20.000 Total 66.600

Table 5; Disposal cost of waste for the year 2007

Product loss

Product costs 2,50 €/kg on average, so when product is wasted this is accompanied with cost much higher than just the disposal cost, as a matter of fact product loss contributes most to the cost of waste.

Determining what percentage of waste is product loss is difficult but an estimate of it is made for the major waste stream, these are: paint waste, sludge and waste water.

Sludge is what remains after distillation. Solvent is distilled off to the point that the sludge is just fluid. Since all thickness comes from the filling powders in paint it is assumed that sludge is all product loss. For paint waste the percentage of product is estimated by looking what is in the drums and cans. This looked like about 50% of it was product; the rest is cans, drums, packaging material etc.

In the waste water about 5% of product could be seen.

The calculation of cost of the annual product loss is shown in Table 6. Amount (kg/year) Product loss (%) Product loss (kg/year) Cost (€/kg) Cost (€/year) Paint waste 67.000 50% 33.500 2,50 83.750 Sludge 34.000 100% 34.000 2,50 85.000 Waste water 100.000 5% 5.000 2,50 12.500 Total 72.500 181.250

Cost of handling

On the site there is one person working full time to collect and process all the waste. He works about 50% of the time for the paint factory. The standard cost of a full time employee is 50.000 €/year, half of this is thus dedicated to the paint factory this is 50.000 * 50% = 25.000 €.Another cost is the hanger that is used to store the waste. For this research the hangar cost are not taken in to account since this is a set cost and thus can not be reduced. Total cost of waste

The total cost of waste is the sum of the 3 waste costs that where calculated above. This is shown in Table 7. k€/year Waste disposal 67 Product loss 181 Handling 25 Total 273

Table 7, total cost of waste for the year 2007

4 A waste minimization method for paint factory’s

Development of a method that can be used for waste minimization projects in paint

manufacturing. It should be a stepwise approach for analysis, redesign and implementation. In the first paragraph the construction of the method is discussed. In the second paragraph the resulting stepwise approach is described in such detail that it can be readily be used by waste minimization manager.

4.1 Construction of the stepwise approach

4.1.1 Introduction

A waste minimization project touches upon several aspects that make it quit complex; To start; it is not easily understood where waste is generated, it involves both product

composition and production process, and finally people are involved who have to execute the project and often resist change. Because of this complexity waste can not be minimized in an ad hoc fashion, a systematic approach is needed.

An example for the method was taken from the New Improvement Method (Berkman, 2004). This method was developed to increase the efficiency of the production process and

implement a continues improvement structure. The method addresses complexity with three concepts; a project cycle, an improvement cycle and a management cycle. Although the subject is very different the basic idea of combing several concepts could also be used in this method. The method that is developed here combines three concepts that are needed to address the area’s of importance for waste minimization, the following three concepts are used;

1. To address the complexity and the need for a structured approach the Project wise working structure of Wijnen, Renes and Storm (1998) is used. This gives a general description of how a project is managed and provides a framework of phases that can be used for a project.

2. To provide content activities to address the product and process assessment and redesign the integral approach to waste minimization of Petek en Glavič (1996) is used. This is further supported by tools from several literature sources.

3. To get things done with the people that are involved and leading the change the eight stage process of creating major change of Kotter (1995) is used. When these stages are followed changes can be successfully implemented.

The resulting stepwise approach accounts for product and process redesign and the influence of people that are involved. The steps can be readily used as a guideline for the project manager involved in a waste minimization project.

stages are relevant are shown with a red beam in Figure 9. They will be described at the point where they first become relevant.

Figure 9; Construction of the method.

4.1.2 Project wise working

To address the complexity and the need for a structured approach the Project wise working of Wijnen, et al.(1998) is used. It divides the project in several phases that need to be finished with a decision document before the next phase can be entered. This provides control and a structured framework for the project. The phasing is based on some principles; these are described and explained next;

• Think before you act; First a planning is made and goals for the phases are described before the project starts

• Thinking from front to back and back to front; Think back from the goals: how is this goal to be realized?

• From crude to fine; First a crude sketch of the situation is made and then it is determined what improvements to make to reach a desired state. The goal of the project is known, the steps to get there are looked for.

• Hierarchical and simultaneous working; Project phasing has to do with maintaining the insight and overview of the complete content of the project. When there are several part projects the phases can be executed both hierarchical as simultaneous.

A phase starts with an input, for the idea phase this is the idea/initiative, for the other phases this is the decision document of the previous phase. The decision documents are shown with a triangle, they contain the project result and the planning for the following phases. The

document has to be approved by management before the project can continue to the next phase.

Between the input and finish of a phase are content activities, they aim to enable a founded answer to the question that has to be answered in that phase. These questions are shown in bold letters in Figure 10. Next each phase is described in more detail:

Initiation phase - Idea, go/no go -

In the initiative phase the decision is made whether to approach the issue at hand as a project. It also functions to get the same image of the project to everyone involved; this includes choosing one global project result as desired.

Definition phase - What? -

The aim of the definition phase is to get a complete and tangible package of demands of the desired project result. A detailed assessment of the situation is made and target areas are selected.

Design phase - How? -

The goal of the design phase is to acquire detailed, worked out solutions/designs. Creative solutions are thought of for the target area’s selected in the previous phase and a design for it is made.

Realization phase - Do -

In the realization phase the project result is realized through making and implementing the technical and organizational changes.

Aftercare phase – Maintain -

The goal is to ensure that the use, control and maintenance of the project result goes as planned.

4.1.3 Integral approach to waste minimization in process industries

The phases mentioned in the previous paragraph should be filled with activities that enable the answering of the question of the phase at hand. Several waste minimization methods can be found in literature ( Petek et al., 1995; EPA 1991; Blomquist et al., 2004). The choice is made to use the “integral approach to waste minimization in the process industries” of Peteket al. (1995) as a guideline to fill in the phases because of its general applicability in process industry and its completeness in describing the process.

This approach specifies the activities that should be done. The tools to execute these activities have not been specified in detail. These tools are selected from various sources on the basis of criteria that will be further explained at the activity where the tools are selected.

working. The distribution is made on the basis of the question does this activity aid in answering the question of the phase at hand. Furthermore two green blocks with assessment tools have been added in, first for a pre assessment and second for the detailed assessment activity.

Figure 11; Integral waste minimization approach in project framework.

The activities from the integral waste minimization approach and the selection of tools is discussed next. The content of some activities is obvious, this is then not further discussed. Initiation phase - Idea, go/no go -

• give a rough estimate of the cost and benefits of a waste minimization project; • It should be performed with little investment.

A selection of tools is made from the comparative study of assessment tools made by Blomquist et al. (2003). Three tools where found to meet the criteria mentioned and thereby are used for the pre assessment, these are: Process Flow Diagram (PFD), Scoping audit and a Benchmark.

2. Company policy and strategy for waste minimization

According to Petek et al. (1995) The first step in a waste minimization program is the setting of realistic goals and timescales which are consistent with the policy adopted by top

management and can be part of the environmental and quality assurance policy of the company.

3. Senior and lower management commitment Definition phase - What? -

4. The assessment phase

5. Production of exact mass balances

The assessment phase includes: data collection, organization of data, flowsheet production, identification of significant waste generation practices and site review, this is used to eventually produce an exact mass balance

The tool used for these two activities is a combination of the aspect and impact analysis (AkzoNobel, 2008) and the calculation of the true cost of waste (Blomquist et al, 2003). It first identifies al waste streams and then quantifies these streams according to waste generated and resources used. From this the total value of a waste stream is calculated. These values are used as input for the Pareto analysis, where focus area’s are identified. The production of a precise mass balance demands extensive measuring and thereby resources, while it does not provide a much better answer to the question; what are the focus area’s? It is found that these can also be found using the less precise Aspect and costs analysis. So a precise mass balance is not produced.

Design phase - How? -

6. Generate waste minimization options

The project team proposes improvement options. Tools like brainstorming may be used for this.

7. Ranking of options 8. Feasibility analysis

The economical, environmental and technical feasibility of the proposed options are analysed. Realization phase - Do -

9. Implement trivial options

Trivial improvements which do not demand investment costs can be introduced immediately. 10. Install equipment

The options which require improved technological discipline could be introduced through Total Quality Management while for the options, which need larger investment costs, an appropriate funding must be found.

Aftercare phase - Maintain -

11. Maintain waste minimization project

If the conditions change (new environmental regulations, changed costs of raw materials, utilities etc.), the optimization of the process has to be carried out again to reach the

The eleven activities from the integral waste minimization approach will be translated into steps in paragraph 4.4. It is now clear what activities should be done. Next it should be looked at ‘how to get things done by the people that are involved?’ This question will be addressed in the next paragraph

4.1.4 Eight stage process of creating major change

During the waste minimization project a transformation process takes place. The success of changing an organization demands much attention for the human aspects involved such as motivation, commitment, reward and appreciation of employees. This is a critical success factor for a change project. To integrate the human factors in the waste minimization method, the eight stage process of creating major change of Kotter (1996) is used. Succesfull change usually goes through all eight stages, usually in the given sequence, skipping of steps to speed up the process could lead to failing change projects. The steps are shortly discussed next: 3.1 Establishing a sense of urgency

• Examining the market and competitive realities

• Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities. 3.2 Creating the guiding coalition

• Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change • Getting the group together to work like a team.

3.3 Developing a vision and strategy

• Creating a vision to help direct the change effort • Developing strategies for achieving that vision 3.4 Communicating the change vision

• Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies • Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees.

3.5 Empowering broad-based action • Getting rid of obstacles

• Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision • Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities and actions. 3.6 Generating short-term wins

• Planning for visible improvements in performance, or “wins” • Creating those wins

• Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible 3.7 Consolidating gains and producing more change

• Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision.

• Hiring promoting , and developing people who can implement the change vision • Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes and change agents.

3.8 Anchoring new approaches in the culture

• Creating better performance through customer- and productivity-oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management.

• Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success • Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession

Figure 12; Introducing the eight stage process of creating major change model.

Since the stages can not be readily performed in a step but more likely stretch several phases they can not be dealt with in a step or phase of the method. The use of a change stage in the method is therefore described, in a red frame on the place where it first becomes relevant. This approach is on the basis of rational change strategy. It is an approach where an unavoidable need or desirability of the change is argued by explicit, logical reasoning. It is also called the explanation strategy. The method is completely focused on this. Each phase is focused on the explanation strategy, there is much communication and there is the necessity that there is clarity at all the times.

Yet in some cases there are too many different, conflicting views of the reality. People in dominant representation have no response, but also do not agree. Than there is the necessity to use the power-force strategy. This strategy uses negotiation and force to press changes

4.2 The stepwise approach

4.2.1 Introduction

In the previous paragraphs the theoretical background for the waste minimization method is given. The product of this, the stepwise approach, can be readily applied in any paint manufacturing facility. It is written for the project leader of a waste minimization project. Every step from the method should be accomplished subsequently. Passing out a step or phase to speed up the process, could lead to an unsuccessful project. The success of a step depends on the proper execution of the previous steps.

The strength of the method lies in paying attention to both process and human aspects. The process aspects are addressed with project wise working and the integral waste minimization approach. The human aspects are paid attention to through the eight stage process of creating major change.

The phases from project wise working are taken as the basis for the method. The steps that are used to fill the phases come from;

• Organizational aspects of the project approach;

• Activities from the waste minimization approach that are translated into steps;

Next an overview of the stepwise approach is given. First the start and goal of every phase is described. This is followed by a table, which shows the activities from the waste minimization approach and the project wise working in the first column. In the second column follow the corresponding steps.

After this overview the steps are described in detail in a separate paragraph for each phase. Initiation phase – Idea, go/no go-

The initiation phase starts with the management or some external party having the idea that there are possibilities for waste reduction. So a go/no go decision has to be made, Furthermore this phase includes everyone involved in the project getting the same image of the project and choosing a global project result.

Definition phase - What? -

The definition phase starts with an approved project assignment. The aim of this phase is to get a complete and tangible image of the focus area’s and project result. This phase is performed by the project team and the project leader.

Design phase - How? -

Realization phase - Do -

The inputs for the realization phase are the approved project designs from the previous phase. In the realization phase the project result is realized through making and implementing the technical and organizational changes.

Aftercare phase - Maintain-

The goal is to ensure that the use, control and maintenance of the project result goes as planned. And to ensure that in the future the cost of waste remains minimized. Also an evaluation of both the project result and process is made.

The overview that is provided here is worked out in detail in the following paragraphs where each phase is described in a separate paragraph. The activities from the waste minimization approach are not mentioned anymore since these are captured by the steps of the stepwise approach. The stages from the change process often stretch several phases, as can be seen in Figure 12. Since these stages can not be dealt with in a single step they are addressed in a blue frame, at the place where they first become relevant.

4.2.2 Initiation phase

benefits that are to be expected in a waste minimization project. Furthermore when the decision is made to do a project everyone involved should have a similar image of what the general project result is. This phase is performed by the project leader in cooperation with management.

The pre-assessment is the initial step in starting a waste minimisation project. It consists of three tools that demand little time and resources and give a rough overview over the waste streams and the cost and benefits of a waste minimization project. The pre-assessment enables a go/no go decision and gives arguments to establish a sense of urgency. Furthermore an estimate of the improvement potential is made and the scope of the project is determined. The first three steps are the tools used for the pre-assessment:

Step 1: Process Flow Diagram

A PFD shows how materials flow through a process operation. Mapping of the process explains where raw materials are used, and where known wastes (gas/solid/liquid) are generated. A PFD is constructed for the factory as a whole where each process is mentioned. An example of such a PFD is given in paragraph 5.2, Figure 19. At this point only a

qualitative analysis of the flows is made. So the waste streams are only mentioned and no data is collected about flow rate, composition and cost data. The diagram can be used to identify broad focus areas for improvement such as whole processes or departments or alternatively for marking specific areas for optimisation, such as process streams or utility use (Envirowise, 1996)

The PFD forms the basis for further assessment such as the Aspect and cost analysis. Step 2: Scoping audit

A scoping audit involves the collection of annual cost data and the quantity of material used for all input streams, including all waste streams (Barclay et al. 2000). The waste streams include solid, liquid (effluent), hazardous and general waste streams. An estimate of the true cost of waste is calculated by adding up these costs.

The figures that where used at the pilot in Wapenveld can be used as an indication of the true cost of waste at paint manufacturing. The cost of three general waste streams should be calculated, these are: Paint waste, Sludge and Dirty Water. The costs of these are made up of the disposal cost and the cost of product loss. The values that where used in Wapenveld are shown in Table 8.

Change stage 1; Establish a sense of urgency

In this phase the first stage of the change process is made by establishing a sense of urgency. This happens at three levels, first in this phase at the management, second in the definition phase at the project team and partly at all operators and finally in the realization phase at all operators that are involved in the

Disposal cost (€/kg) Product in waste (%) Product cost (€/kg) Product cost (€/kg waste) Total cost (€/kg) Paint waste 0,30 50% 2,50 1,25 1,55 Sludge 0,80 100% 2,50 2,50 3,30 Dirty Water 0,20 5% 2,50 0,13 0,33

Table 8; Cost figures for the paint industry.

General guidelines exist as to the savings that could be expected in all areas through the implementation of a waste minimization programme, these are given in Table 9. From these values, areas for improvement can be identified and ranked according to the maximum scope to save. This gives an indication of potentially important focus areas for waste minimization. It should be noted that the ‘scope for savings’ percentage mentioned in Table 9 are those calculated for a range of U.K. industries based on the results of previous waste minimization projects (Environment Agency, 1988). The applicability of these percentages to paint

manufacturing needs to be ascertained, further the figures are 20 years old so it is possible that changes over time has changed these figures, it can therefore only be used as an indicative scope for savings.

Utility Scope for savings Raw materials 1-5 %

Packaging 10-90 %

Water 20- 80 % Solid waste 10-50%

Sludge 20-80 %

Table 9; Scope for savings (Environment agency, 1988).

Step 3: Benchmark

Benchmarking involves the setting of a desirable consumption level for an operation or process (Barclay et al, 2000). A benchmark compares a key performance indicator (KPI), as an indication of the efficiency of a process (March Consulting Group, 1999). Benchmarking further allows comparison of a company’s performance with similar companies on a global scale. External benchmarking is often coordinated through industry associations.

The vereniging voor verf en drukinkt fabrikanten (VVVF) annually produces a report named Coatingscare, this includes figures about average waste generation in the coatings industry, these figures can be used for a benchmark. The results of the benchmark indicate how the company is performing and if there is a need to improve the current situation. The figures for the generation of waste for paint manufacturing sector are shown in Table 10.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Household waste 1,2 1,0 1,4 2,0 2,2 Hazardous waste 1,8 1,5 1,3 4,8* 1,4 Once only packaging 0,6 0,9 1,9 1,6 1,6

Step 4: Assess company policy on waste minimization

Assess the company on activities that are already in place to minimize waste so when possible these activities can be used to jumpstart the project. These activities should be looked for in environmental management programs such as ISO 7001 or KPI’s that are used in the organisation.

Step 5: Present findings to management for the go/no go decision.

When the go/no go decision still is to be made the results of the pre assessment can be discussed with management to enable this decision.

Step 6: Make a project assignment

When the project has a “go” the project assignment is made. This document is the last step of the initiation phase and needs to be approved by management in order to continue to the next phase. The aspects of a project assignment as described by Wijnen et al. can be divided in content activities and control activities. The points that are mentioned in the project

assignment are shown in Figure 13. In this document a start is made with four change stages, they are written at the point in the document where they become relevant, the change stages are described in detail in red frames after the project assignment document.

Figure 13; Points of a project assignment.

Project assignment Project content

• Preliminary result of the initiation phase • Goal of the project

• Strategy and vision development

Change stage 3; Developing a vision and strategy

• Summary of upcoming content activities, detailed for the design phase, global for the other phases

Control activities. • Time plan • Money plan • Quality plan • Information plan

Change stage 4; Communicating the change vision. • Organizational plan

Change stage 2; Creating the guiding coalition.

Change stage 5; Empower employees for broad based action. The team of operators should be assembled in cooperation with

management and a group leader in order to select the right persons for the team. The size of the team may vary depending on the scope of the project. For the team the following aspects should be kept in mind: 1. The team members must represent all functional area’s of the factory. 2. The area’s where most minimization possibilities are expected should be represented by more operators.

3. They must be capable of enabling change on the work floor. This includes thinking of and realizing improvements and having the social power to make it happen.

Change stage 3; Developing a vision and strategy.

A vision for change is made and preliminary goals are set. Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future. A good vision clarifies the general direction for change, it motivates to take action in the right direction and it helps to coordinate the action. The project mainly effects production so it should be formulated to appeal to the operators working here. It is our goal to stop the wasting of raw materials by more carefully using cleaning agents. Reusing where possible and developing techniques that improve working conditions and use material more efficiently. The resulting waste reduction improves the sustainability of the company. The environment is less harmed, there is more profit and working conditions improve.

The strategy to realizing the vision is worked can be seen as the remainder of the Change stage 4; Communicating the change vision.

Key elements in communicate the change vision are: simplicity: metaphors and analogy; multiple forums; repetition; leadership by example; two way

communication. This can be communicated with a project news letter and some posters. Amounts of waste can be captured in verbal pictures.

Change stage 2; Creating the guiding coalition.

Composition of a group of people that have enough power to lead the change. The team is composed here in cooperation with management. Four key characteristics seem to be essential to effective guiding coalitions: these are; 1. Position power: key players must be involved, this doesn’t have to be in the project team but this can also be as sponsors from top management

2. Expertise: Are there experts on board regarding the process, an operator from every department should be represented in the team. This can be supplemented by experts that can be consulted regarding issues of technology and HSE aspects. 3. Credibility: People with good reputations are needed in the group so

improvements are taken serious.

4. Leadership: The group needs proven leaders; the project leader should be one of these. A group leader with this quality would be very useful.