Driving Manufacturing Excellence: Electrolux's Vision and Strategy
Electrolux's vision is to consistently produce high-quality products efficiently, moving closer to consumers and scaling with speed. Manufacturing performance is linked to efficiency and the aim is to implement a manufacturing excellence approach in all Company factories. Manufacturing excellence involves creating optimal conditions to support manufacturing sites in achieving the best results in terms of safety, quality, cost, delivery, and personnel. The Company's factories must perform at their best and most efficient rate to ensure sustainable profitability. Three pillars guide the manufacturing excellence approach:
1. Electrolux Manufacturing System
Launched in 2005, EMS is an evolving internal system that combines guiding principles, tools, and techniques to help spread a continuous improvement mindset and lean management culture and it is adopted in all factories and warehouses. EMS is based on three elements that are stability in a place, continuous improvement and challenge the way to achieve excellence, and lastly element is cultural change and people engagement.
2. Labor efficiency: for safety and quality
With labor efficiency, Electrolux wants to introduce processes to support its factories in reaching commitments in terms of people safety, product quality, and production volume according to commitment to sales at the best cost. This means being capable of doing all activities within a site in the most efficient way. So, it’s all about getting the right number of people in an allocated workspace to do the best job to enable efficiency and productivity. Here, the CONVERGING project will play a pivotal role for Electrolux by studying and defining Human-Robot Collaboration work environments. This effort aims to explore, analyze, and refine the dynamics between humans and robots in the workplace, paving the way for a new era of synergy and efficiency.
Overall, by embracing Human-Robot Collaboration in assembly activities, Electrolux can substantially improve ergonomics, operator fatigue, safety, and product quality, ultimately driving greater efficiency and competitiveness in the marketplace.
3. Maintenance: proactive monitoring of equipment
The Electrolux maintenance strategy contributes to the manufacturing excellence approach, which aims to prevent and mitigate disruptions. Electrolux primarily focuses on preventive maintenance activities based on data gathered on equipment performance to ensure reliability. Through preventive maintenance, it is possible to mitigate equipment defects that could disrupt production and ultimately affect the business. Electrolux continuously evaluates and enhances processes, monitors factory performance, and applies these principles.
