Process Improvement Groups (PIG's)

A PIG is a multidisciplinary group consisting of representatives from Production, Engineering, Quality, SHE, Research and Sales and Marketing that meets every 3-6 weeks. Every Product made at RBL has a PIG associated with it.

In its infancy the PIG may be initially a Technology Transfer Group (TTG) that implements a new process or technology into Production or the Research Pilot Plant. As the process becomes mature, the TTG develops into a PIG and some members may leave and others may join depending on the group’s requirements.

A PIG does many things:

• Plans Production campaigns and logistics

• Reviews Production output and yields
• Shares Customer communications
• Discusses Change Control issues
• Review Quality and Delivery Performance and plans to meet Customer expectations
• Examines product failures and puts corrective and preventative actions in place
• Reviews Statistical Process Control (SPC) data
• Resolves analytical issues
• Revises operating procedures
• Plans cleaning operations and plant changeovers
• Covers Safety & COSHH
• Reviews training requirements
• Considers COMAH implications
• Reviews progress against Significant Process Aspects of ISO14001 and effluent treatment

and of course…

• Process Improvement!

We cover all aspects of process improvement such as the chemistry, the safety of our staff, the potential impact on the environment, regulatory compliance, the equipment, the handling and isolation, the analysis, cost reduction, raw materials and effluent reduction.

The question we keep asking ourselves is can we do things better? The answer, invariably, is yes!