Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest aluminium company in the United Arab Emirates has announced that a record 34,419 ideas were submitted by individual employees through its suggestion scheme in 2017, leading to AED 36 million in cost savings in the year.
EGA has been operating an employee suggestion scheme since 1981, based on the belief that individuals related to a work process are the best people to spot required improvements in the process and implement simple solutions. The cost savings from such suggestions are shared with the concerned employees who propose them and the best suggestions are recognized and implemented in the company.
Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Continuous improvement is a foundation of our global success and we believe everyone has a role to play in making our business better every day. Our suggestion scheme enables all 7,000 of our employees in the UAE to contribute their knowledge and experience to improve our operations.”
EGA won two gold awards for continuous improvement from Dubai Quality Group in November, and has received many international awards for its suggestion scheme and individual ideas including at Ideas America 2017.
Under EGA’s ‘Tamayaz’ programme, mid-level managers bring together their teams to understand problems and conduct detailed analyses so that potential improvements are found and then implemented with the help of improvement experts.
EGA has also developed its own technology to continuously improve the aluminium smelting process and to upgrade all its older production lines in each of its expansion projects. EGA’s latest technology is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry. EGA is also building the country’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah. The refinery will supply 75 per cent of the Al Taweelah smelter’s needs and reduce UAE’s dependence on imported alumina.
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