EGA observes 40th anniversary of employee suggestion scheme

On 27th July 2021, Emirates Global Aluminium observed the 40th anniversary of its Suggestion Scheme, which motivates employees to share their ideas for operational and technological improvements. As of yesterday, EGA employees have made over half a million suggestions for improvements, delivering cost-savings of some AED 416 million.

The Suggestion Scheme of EGA is integral to the organisation’s culture of innovation and continuous improvement that has for decades been a foundation of its growth and success. In the summer of 1981, it was founded by then-Head of Industrial Engineering, Glyn Ashley, and a team of industrial engineers. However, the Suggestion Scheme today remains of the longest-running employee-engagement programmes of its kind in the world.

The Suggestion Scheme accumulated 43 suggestions during the initial year of its commencement, submitted by employees on printed forms. Every year saw a significant rise in the number of suggestions, with EGA rolling out an online platform in 1999 to accommodate the ingress.

It has been recorded that all together, more than 9,800 EGA employees have collectively submitted over 546,000 suggestions, which have enhanced every aspect of the business, from reducing energy consumption to improving operational efficiencies, workplace safety and sustainability performance.

Out of these suggestions, EGA’s desalination operation in Jebel Ali is the one that has contributed most significantly to the Suggestion Scheme saving hundreds of millions. The breakwater has generated cost-savings of AED 6.68 million every year, which was suggested first in 2003 and implemented in 2006 and through greater power-generation efficiency, it has also delivered a 245-tonne reduction in EGA’s CO2 emissions every year.

In 2016, another top idea was suggested and implemented in 2017, incorporated the in-house building of a remote-controlled cleaning machine from scrap material, eliminating an arduous manual task and saving over AED 809,000.

The company shares the savings from implemented suggestions with the employees who generate them and are also recognised at company events.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA said: “The Suggestion Scheme is part of our heritage at EGA and continues to deliver great value each year. It is founded on our belief that those closest to a work process are often in the best position to both spot improvements required and implement them. Innovation and continuous improvement are part of our culture at EGA. The Suggestion Scheme is one part of this, along with our Tamayaz programme, as well as decades of investment in technology research and development.  All of us together make EGA one of the UAE’s most innovative companies.”

Tamayaz is EGA’s reward-and-recognition programme launched in2016 that inspires mid-level managers and their teams to find solutions to overlooked problems through the regular examination and analysis of their work processes and output. Tamayaz teams are also coached by EGA’s in-house experts in lean manufacturing.

EGA has developed its technology in the UAE for more than 25 years, while the latest generation of EGA’s aluminium-smelting technology, the DX+ Ultra, is the 10th iteration of the technology since its development began, and presently it is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry.

Since 1990, EGA has used its technology in every smelter expansion and revamped its older potlines, whereas, in a 2016 deal with Aluminium Bahrain, it became the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally.

Again in November 2020, EGA signed an agreement with NEO Aluminio Colombia that could lead to the export of its DX+ Ultra for the development of the South American country’s first aluminium production facility. EGA signed a series of agreements with PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (INALUM) in December 2020 to support the upgrade of the Indonesian aluminium smelter in North Sumatra.