By Koen Teunckens (November 2020)

In our last blog post dedicated to manufacturing, we shared exciting news that Omniseal Solutions is further expanding capabilities at our Kontich, Belgium site to specifically address advanced polymer needs in two emerging industries - aviation and life sciences, in addition to supporting the oil and gas industry. Growth in global aviation, space and defense is due to increased passenger travel and the race to space while potential has grown in healthcare as a result of increasing aging populations, greater focus on wellness and a digital mindset, overall, in life science.

Although the site has been working in aviation and life sciences for years, due to these increased opportunities, it will now concentrate to specifically meet growing customer needs through several initiatives such as new construction, structural team changes, increased digitization and a greater focus on employee centricity. These initiatives will ensure that the business is well-poised to consistently produce quality seals and other polymer critical parts for extreme environments as well as continue to support major oil and gas customers who rely on our custom, unique designs (such as large diameter seals) for energy production, nuclear fusion, renewables, floating production, and other applications.

This strategic direction not only prioritizes our customer needs but also increases our global focus, customization and speed. It is based on the Kontich management team’s five-year road map for the site, which is regularly reviewed based on its contribution to the overall Saint-Gobain High Performance Solutions’ and Omniseal Solutions strategies, as well as successful operational practices at other Saint-Gobain sites. By leveraging extensive global experience in life science, aviation, and oil and gas from the entire business, the Kontich site can further bring this expertise to their local region. 

Strategic drivers include:

• Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) – with safety as a first priority at our Kontich site and all of Saint-Gobain. We subscribe to the American Petroleum Institute Guide to Reporting Process Safety Events in Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3. Additionally, “60 Seconds to Think” and “Safety Golden Rules” are just a few of the programs designed to put safety first in each employee’s mind. 

• World Class Manufacturing (WCM) – through digital automation, internal quality assessments, loss deployment design and more. We have set high goals, for instance, in our NCPG/WO measure of quality rejections to improve processes for on-time deliveries and customer satisfaction. Additionally, we are currently at 85-90% OTIF (or “on time in full,” as the measure that needs to be delivered is done so on time). We strive to be 95% in line with customer demand in time and number of parts by 2023.

• Transformation of people – with the establishment of cross functional teams with authority to act, increased engagement and a desire to understand customer needs. We believe each of our employees needs to be involved in improving safety, quality, delivery and cost, as well as contributing to advancements of our company. We seek to have 100% people involvement by 2023.

• Customer centricity – with our new technical center, talent and teams and onboarding, described above.

We aim to translate these business goals through clear-set initiatives, as well as visually (a picture says a thousand words). Hence, we have also developed a roadmap for teams to follow. 

In addition to expanding the site’s R&D, testing and customer onboarding areas (along with numerous other advancements throughout the years, with the R&D laboratory expanded in 2017 and a number of other manufacturing upgrades made in 2016), the Kontich initiative also establishes sales and engineering around customer markets with a focus on customer needs in design, We refer to this initial stage as “Capture.” These sales and engineering roles will be organized by the types of markets—aviation, life sciences and oil and gas.

In a second step, the site has launched a pilot in operations, focusing on addressing customers’ specific needs (for quality, cost, etc.) in delivery. We refer to these roles as “Delight.” These “white room” operation teams consist of everything a small producer would need, with a team leader-coach and finance, purchasing, maintenance and customer service supporting each other operationally. Teams will be focused on addressing customer needs, making sure each team throughout the organization is accountable to expand customer centricity. This structure will enable teams to leverage important experience across industries, work together and share resources, as well as manage goals and objectives to expand our focus on customers.

In a third step, teams will be organized that support both Capture and Delight, such as with quoting and prototyping and manufacturing engineering (PE, drafters, programmers), to best leverage resources and expertise across these teams.

Digitization Making THE Difference: How We Increase Efficiency & Productivity

In addition to focusing teams on customer needs, the Kontich site is also moving toward greater digitization for increased efficiencies and to maximize employee productivity.

Specific examples of recent advancements in this area include:

• Set up of a new QAD (ERP) system

• Implementation of Factivity software to move planning of costs online from paper processes

• Implementation of Ignition software to further expand on automation

• Automating packaging of seals in life sciences through machinery that can run continuously, freeing operators to focus on other, higher-value tasks

• Development of artificial intelligence (AI) for design work

At Omniseal Solutions, R&D, manufacturing and our partnerships with our customers are our priorities. Our passion is to be the first choice manufacturer customers turn to for critical parts in challenging applications. We welcome the opportunity to respond to customer needs and to continually improve - to truly make THE difference as promised. We are excited about this most recent step for our Kontich site and are committed to engaging with others to expand and utilize our knowledge to provide the best quality solutions to solve complex problems.

By pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved, we have the possibility to advance not only our company and our customers’ designs, but potentially the industries in which we work and contributing to the wellbeing of human life.

If you are interested in knowing more about how we produce our seals and polymer solutions, please contact our manufacturing experts!