Financial Times

CEAT wins productivity award for cost cutting
Tyre manufacturer CEAT Sri Lanka has won the All-Island award for the Best Continuous Improvement team, at the National Convention on Quality and Productivity, the company said in a statement.

A Cross Functional Team (CFT) mandated by the company with cost reduction in consumables in tyre manufacture presented its findings and solutions for the award, and was adjudged the winner.

"The success of one of our Cross Functional Teams at this competitive event reflects the quality culture at CEAT and the commitment to continuous improvement processes that are taking place," said Oscar Braganza, the Managing Director of CEAT Sri Lanka. "We have implemented the suggestions made by the CFT, and expect significant savings as a result."

This was the first occasion that CEAT Sri Lanka participated in this event.
The seven-strong CEAT team, won the award for their innovative solution to reduce the wastage of Benzolene, an expensive white petrol solvent used in the manufacture of tyres.

During their research, the team, designated 'SMART,' used several quality tools to identify key problem areas and discovered that 65 litres of Benzolene gets evaporated every day as a result of the open Benzolene vessels at various stages of the production process. This evaporation was costing the company nearly Rs 2 million a year.

The team then designed a new vessel to store the solvent, with a lid that would automatically close after a brush was dipped in and taken out. A model was developed by the team and production outsourced. "Our participation at this convention was primarily to gain knowledge from other Quality Circles, so winning the award for continuous improvement came as a pleasant surprise.
It is the result of months of hard work put in by the team," Bandula Kariyawasam, the leader of the team said.

In addition to its solutions to Benzolene wastage, the SMART team also came up with suggestions to solve the wastage of hand gloves, created a smaller form of mill knife which is less expensive, and modified the currently used pneumatic drills, which had low durability.

CEAT Sri Lanka is rapidly moving towards implementing a Total Quality Management (TQM) system equipped with new management techniques and is also strengthening its ISO 9001:2000 accredited Quality Management System, Cross Functional Teams and Quality Control Circles. Other quality improvement projects such as the 5S Housekeeping and a suggestion scheme are also in various stages of implementation.

CEAT Sri Lanka manufactures a range of tyres at plants in Kalutara and Kelaniya. The company has exported more than 1600 container loads of tyres to date to India, Dubai, Singapore, Philippines, Africa and countries in the SAARC region.

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