Reduce transport costs
The goal for the Six Sigma team at Eaglescliffe, UK, was to reduce the transport costs for raw material, soda ash, and finished product, sodium sulphate, to and from the plant. Under the leadership of Frances Eglon, the team used Six Sigma qualitative tools to identify inefficiencies in the logistics process. By working with the Elementis Chromium logistics partner, the team was able to optimise delivery and distribution performance of the fleet, resulting in variable transport cost reductions of 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Reduce organoclay production change over time
The Elementis Specialties facilities in Livingston, Scotland and St. Louis and Charleston in the US, work on a campaign basis to produce different grade organoclay products. The shutdown and clean out necessary at the changeover between products had been identified as a cause of inefficiency. A Six Sigma project to reduce the cost of grade changes at all three facilities was led by Elaine Young. The analysis and redesign of the change process focused on time, quality and customer needs and resulted in significant improvements; for example, the time taken to complete the most frequent grade change at Livingston reduced by 90 per cent.

Reduce variable production costs
The objective of the Six Sigma project at the Linatex manufacturing facility at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was to reduce variable costs of production on the new continuous rubber process by improving plant optimisation and reducing material losses and rejected products during the manufacturing process. The Six Sigma team, led by Stephen Frendt, identified, optimised and controlled the key manufacturing inputs into the process and reduced variable costs by 12 per cent.