COVER STORY SEPTEMBER 2019
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
18
The network of
tanks and pipes
(above) mark
the first stage in
the purification
process
the salt production process) are a patchwork of
different materials, from stainless steel to wood
via everything in between, all of which have their
own problems when it comes to durability, ease of
maintenance and tendency to rust.
In order to negate the effects of salt damage,
the plant needs regular renovation. Tata recently
invested more than £7 million in a new boiler
system and an automated packaging line. As 50th
birthday presents go, they’re better than a pair of
socks and a gift voucher. “They’re our showpiece
projects,” says Crabb. “They have one eye on the
future – a company doesn’t make investments
like that if they don’t think they’ll be around in a
couple of years. We recognised early on that the
investment strategy had to be robust and focused
on the long-term.”
When fully operational in the autumn, the
boilers, in particular, will help boost efficiency
at the plant. With a combined capacity of 72MW,
they are set to bring the plant’s CO2 and NOx
emissions down to “a level that is better than
the legal minimum”, says Crabb. “They’re the
best available.”
“It’s only salt”
This investment, however, would be wasted
without also getting the workforce on board
with the changes. The salt made at Middlewich
is amongst the purest in the
world – a message that can
easily be lost on the staff,
explains Crabb. “The guys on
the shopfloor work long shifts
and can become detached from
what they’re making. Part of
my job is to remind them of the
huge number of applications
(as many as 14,000, ranging
from aluminium smelting
to pharmaceuticals) for the
salt they’re making. Ours is a
very industrial environment
that can seem a million miles
from the high-end, controlled
environments that our products
are going into. Telling people
about this goes a long way.”
There’s more than just a
good news story to tell, as
well. The benefits of engaging
staff with the salt led to higher
levels of safety – vital in a
highly standardised industry.
“A lot of what we make is
very standard-driven, and
these standards differ across
industries, of course,” continues
Crabb. “We’ve invested a lot
in quality control, and have
regular checkpoints through the
factory; we can’t let anything
contaminate the salt. A lot of
this comes down to engagement
and getting people away from
thinking that ‘it’s only salt’. This
is a commodity product and we
have to make it all day, every
day, to the highest standards.
The best way to do this is to
drive out complacency and keep
the energy levels high.”
This sense of apathy can be
a real problem – one that isn’t
helped by public perception of
salt itself. “Salt gets a lot of bad
press,” says Crabb. “Everyone
says that salt is very bad in food.
In reality, it’s very good in food:
if you don’t have salt in your
body you won’t last very long
at all. Our staff hear things like
that as well, whether on the
news or from their kids being
taught about it at school. Part
of our role is to educate them
that salt isn’t all bad and that,
actually, there is a huge number
of applications over and above
food use.”
Extra engagement comes in
the shape of telling staff where
specific shipments are going. For
a site producing 1,000 tonnes of
product and coordinating over
200 vehicle movements per
day, it’s easy for shipments to
merge into one and employees
to become disconnected. Crabb
and the senior team have come
up with a simple solution to this.
“One thing we have been trying
to do in recent years is move
away from the ERP method
of just having order numbers
and specs and actually telling
staff what they’re working on,
giving a voice to the customer,”
he explains. “Instead of just
saying ‘Batch 1234 is going into
Tanker ABCD for shipment’,
we’ll say exactly where the order
is going and what it’s going
to be used for. In commodity
manufacturing, we’re often just
making batch after batch of
similar stuff. We want people
to know what happens once it
leaves here.”
A skills glass ceiling
Like many manufacturers,
British Salt is suffering from a
significant skills gap. A band of
loyal, long-serving staff rules
Dean Smith
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk