HeidelbergCement rolls out CIP worldwide

HeidelbergCement has started its Continuous Improvement Program (CIP) to optimise the working processes in cement production. The new program, which will be introduced at 65 cement plants worldwide, takes a “systematic approach” to generate ideas among the employees, prioritise, and implement them, the company said in a statement. HeidelbergCement expects the process enhancements will lead to sustainable result improvements of at least EUR120m by the end of 2017.

“With our Continuous Improvement Program we are changing the business culture at our production sites,“ says Dr Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “Our staff at the cement plants will be trained in entrepreneurial thinking in order to identify improvement potentials and implement them with creative ideas. In this way, we want to secure the efficiency gains from our previous projects while further improving our production processes systematically.”

The CIP, which has been tested at three pilot sites in Europe since the beginning of 2014, has already led to result improvements of almost €4m. The CIP will be implemented worldwide starting in September 2014 due to the “great success and high acceptance by the employees,”  according to the statement.