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Mark Keneipp, Alcoa,
and Randy Heisler, Life Cycle Engineering

Background

It is not often that one runs across an organization that is able to undertake a significant business transformation, implement the changes successfully, and then sustain the gains for seven years with no end in sight. Here is the compelling story of one organization that has succeeded-Alcoa Warrick Smelter.
The story began in 1997 when Alcoa decided to implement the Toyota Production System globally across all 250 locations. Significant progress was made, but the Alcoa Primary Metals division leaders were not seeing the results that they expected. A business unit level internal analysis showed that their assets and reliability processes were lacking stability and this was holding lean manufacturing gains hostage. Stability is a foundational element to the Toyota Production System. If one is familiar with the Toyota House, or any other house for that matter, having a solid foundation is the key to long-term sustainability. (See Figure 1)
In 2002 Vince Adorno, Vice President of Engineering for Alcoa Primary Metals, decided to form a corporate-led team to develop a business case and reliability implementation strategy. External consultants were included in this process to ensure that best practices and reasonable estimates of potential savings were incorporated into their strategy. They also looked at their own pockets of excellence and best practices that were in place in the plants.