The IMI Newsletter Issue 5 August 2016
Engineering GREAT the IMI Way
Continued improvements underpin IMI’s future success
Page 2
Competitor tear-down process embedded in Precision
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Critical wins contracts in renewable energy sector
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Critical Precision Hydronic
High profile project brings prestige and opportunity for Hydronic
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Highlights As reported in the previous issue of the IMI Eye, I expected a mixed start to 2016 and in retrospect, those expectations have certainly been met in terms of the wider economic backdrop. And yet my excitement about what is being achieved across our businesses remains undimmed.
Overhaul of Group H,S&E reporting system adds value P12
Hydronic’s Erwitte site is given a deep clean P14
Change in approach yields positive feedback from valued Precision customer P19
New line of valves put Critical at forefront of LNG market P22
Hydronic showcase innovative new products to VIP customers in Milan P23
IMI Chairman awarded prestigious honour for public service P25
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The IMI Newsletter Issue 5
The global economy has many issues to face but, as a UK listed company, one of the most topical has been the UK’s recent decision to leave the European Union. IMI is a truly international business with a broad spread of interests around the world and only 6% of revenues are generated in the UK. Although the uncertainty that has followed doesn’t help anybody, there is no reason to think that we face any immediate commercial threat as a consequence of that vote. In fact, the subsequent rapid fall in the value of Sterling has made our UK plants notionally more competitive. The deterioration in the relative value of the pound has also resulted in a tail wind in terms of translation of profit from other parts of the globe, with our US, European and Asian profits now converting into higher Sterling values. Beyond the economic and political uncertainties it is pleasing to report that the Group continues to make solid progress in those areas which are directly under our control and we were again in a position to confirm that the first half results were directly in line with market expectations. So, rather than lingering on the economic uncertainties that we cannot control, I thought it would be helpful and constructive to reflect on the very real achievements which help underpin the progress being made towards excellence and long-term, sustainable growth. At the Group level there has been a huge effort to support our divisions’ growth ambitions that I firmly believe will progressively deliver sustainable benefits across the whole of IMI. In terms of the Group’s lean deployment, we have moved on to the next phase in our journey by adding customerfacing measures to the benchmarking, which is undertaken every six months at all of the Group’s operating plants. We are now comfortable that the basic principles of lean and the resultant improvement plans are well embedded in the operations. But these tools now need to translate into core competitive advantage and as such, the addition of cost of quality, productivity, inventory turns, on-time delivery and health and safety scores will provide a sound basis for ensuring we have the right focus and outcomes.
Critical Precision Hydronic
Continued improvements underpinning our future success Another significant area of focus has been the Group’s control environment and the results here have been equally impressive. The Internal Control Declaration, which requires each company to review its financial systems and controls and build improvement plans to close any gaps, has received the plaudits of our external auditors and our Board. Not only do we now have improved visibility of the systems and controls which underpin our financial reporting but our company-level risk framework adds further rigour and diligence to the company’s infrastructure. The rapidly improving IT security and new ERP system roll-out across all three divisions is certain to improve the efficiency and robustness of our systems even further. The Executive and I all participated in the new Leadership Development Training, where the Group’s top management are being challenged to hone their skills in terms of leading teams, self-awareness and creating an ambitious environment for growth. This training programme has been very well received by all in attendance and is a credit to Geoff Tranfield and Sue Hall from our Human Resources Executive who were instrumental in the design and management of the course. As we signalled at the start of this year, we expected a tougher trading environment for our Critical Engineering division in 2016 and whilst this has resulted in lower revenues and profits when compared to 2015, Roy Twite and his Critical team delivered first half results which were exactly in line with expectations. It is also pleasing to report the successful launch of Critical’s new fullyintegrated ERP system into Japan and Sweden during the first quarter, with plans remaining on track to roll the system out in India and Korea in the second half of the year. The approach which has been used – proving the system initially in the Czech Republic and Austria, and then applying the learnings from these implementations elsewhere – has been a core ingredient in our success to date. The Critical team has also responded well to the pressures in the market with an ambitious campaign to reduce costs through a structured programme of competitor tear-downs and value engineering. This initiative has even been supported by experienced personnel from Precision Engineering which is testament to the collaborative ethos now evident across the Group. At last count, more than £50m of new orders have been secured at good margins, which, without the value engineering tools, would have been lost to lower price competitors.
I also had the opportunity to visit a number of Critical Engineering plants during the first half of the year, including RSM in the USA and IMI Orton and IMI STI in Italy. At all of these companies I was able to personally witness the terrific progress being made across all areas of the business. The passion behind continuous improvement and the application of lean, the Obeya project management process and the energy with which value engineering is being applied are clear indications of the businesses’ determination to lead in their respective markets. In Precision Engineering we have also been able to report first half results directly in line with market expectations, with continued growth from Continental Europe and significant improvement in Asia markedly offsetting lower commercial vehicle related sales in North America. Massimo Grassi, who joined us as Divisional Managing Director for Precision Engineering in June last year, is now fully in control of his division. He is working hard to ensure that the improved operating performances across his business units and new products, which will be progressively brought to market from the latter part of this year, translate to increased market shares and growing revenues in 2017. The division’s new product introduction process has added impressive rigour to bringing new products to the market. A structured competitor tear-down and performance testing regime, coupled with the division’s new advanced product quality planning and target costing procedures are now at centre stage of all new product designs. We are now actively monitoring more than £100m in anticipated product revenues from these projects with the first launches expected later in 2016. In preparation for Precision Engineering’s new product launches, Massimo and the Sales and Marketing team have been working hard to build a foundation for the new marketing campaign, which was launched at the division’s annual conference in May. This new campaign, along with the introduction of a more focused verticalbased organisation structure, are early indications of Massimo’s ambitious plans to outrun competitors and grow his market shares. I also had the chance to visit a number of Precision Engineering plants during the first half, including our factory in Queretaro in Mexico, Seattle in the USA and Fradley in the UK. The progress being made across all these plants is seriously impressive and the employee motivation and commitment to continuous improvement was evident and contagious.
Turning now to Hydronic Engineering, where their first half revenues were not given much help by the disappointing industry environment. None the less, results were very much in line with the expectations of the market. Peter Spencer and the Hydronic Engineering team continued to set the pace in the Group’s ambition to achieve worldclass performance with both their Polish, and more recently Slovenian plants achieving new highs against their lean benchmarks. The division also successfully launched its first installation of the JD Edwards ERP system which went live in the Polish and Swiss operations at the end of June. I recognise the huge undertaking that this represented and offer my sincere congratulations and thanks to all those employees who worked so hard to take us past this milestone. I was pleased to visit Hydronic’s Olkusz site in Poland earlier in the year, taking in the R&D laboratory. It was great to see how a concept can become a gamechanging product within a year – the team working on the TA-Slider project have done a fantastic job with this new and important product range. The passion reflected throughout the organisation and lean principles applied to the new Slider assembly system were a delight to witness first hand. The application of in-line error proofing, bar-coded certification and stock traceability represent world-class initiatives, which I am sure will heighten competitiveness and drive efficiencies into an already well-managed business. I hope that you can see from the above summary that there continues to be a huge amount of improvement being undertaken, with very real and significant successes being delivered across the whole of IMI. The investments we continue to make will be important differentiators when the market recovers and I thank each and every one of our employees for your personal contribution in making IMI GREAT.
Mark Selway CEO IMI plc Full details of the 2016 half-year results, including the webcast of the presentation to the City, are available at www.imiplc.com/ investors
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Value Engineering and competitor tear-downs help drive competitiveness WRITTEN BY David Powell-Wiffen, Global Value Engineering Manager, IMI Critical Engineering and
Stefan Wiklander, Director NPI, Control Valves
In order to outrun the competition and grow our share in these tough markets, it is vital we maximise our competitive capabilites. In Critical Engineering we are using the Value Engineering tools of ‘design for manufacture and assembly’ and competitor tear-down to achieve market share gains, while at the same time, maximising our margins. Competitor tear-down is the structured analysis of competitor products by multi-functional teams which generates
ideas and benchmarks our own and core competitor products to drive improvement in performance, cost and customer appeal. The process aims to understand, challenge and improve our competitive position as well as to find new technologies, materials and solutions. Our structured process benchmarks key product attributes such as performance, cost and weight and establishes the targets a new design has to meet. To date, a number of competitor tear-downs have been completed with great results. The IMI CCI Brno choke tear-down identified performance benefits and a cost reduction of more than 35%,
WRITTEN BY Tomas Petrik
Logistics Manager IMI Precision Enginnering, Brno
that enabled the team to win a key Middle East contract. IMI CCI RSM used the process to analyse three low-cost shale gas chokes to accelerate the learning process of how to package their innovative new trim at the lowest possible cost and this initiative has led to a new generation design, that will lower costs by about 30%. ‘Design for manufacture and assembly’ is an equally significant process undertaken by multi-function teams to improve a product’s design efficiency and manufacturing processes. It has four key tools that target reducing the quantity of parts, reducing part costs, improving part handling and improving the assembly process. These tools have now been introduced to IMI Bopp & Reuther where the team identified significant savings that are in the process of being qualified.
Heijunka transforms cartridge valves assembly at Brno Heijunka is a Japanese word that means ‘production levelling’. When implemented successfully, it eliminates waste from the manufacturing process brought about from fluctuating customer demand. Significant performance improvements and considerable cost savings are just two of the tangible benefits heijunka can bring to production facilities. Our heijunka journey at Brno started in January 2015 when a cross-functional team undertook ‘pull’ training. The team planned to implement level-loaded flow in Brno’s highest volume production cell (500,000 pcs per annum). The system design allows the cell team to pull product at the rate of customer ‘TAKT’ (demand) and reduce batch sizes while improving stock turns. The pilot project was surprising as the team had expected a reduction to one week of stock, but initially saw an increase. They discovered that past systems had never been at optimal level, but following additional review, heijunka delivered, achieving optimal stock in one week and then reducing further to three days, which 4
The IMI Newsletter Issue 5
Zdenka Klaschkova pulls a heijunka card from the display board in Brno
increased stock turns from 10 to 24. The team then implemented heijunka in two further high-volume production cells with similar results. Additional training has now been completed to prepare for level-loading, the medium-volume repeater production cell, with an aim of having 40% of high
and medium-volume on heijunka by the end of 2016. Following this success, the team travelled to the US and Germany to support their heijunka implementations and to share best practice. Four projects are now completed and one currently is running outside the Czech Republic.
business improvement
Critical Precision Hydronic
CEO salutes superb progress at IMI Hydronic in Poland
WRITTEN BY Beata Karon ´
Lean Specialist / HSE Senior Inspector IMI Hydronic Engineering, Olkusz
Mark Selway takes a close look at the TA-Slider with Peter Spencer, Grzegorz Gonet, Lukasz Machelak and Krzyszti Kluczewski
Fantastic progress is being made on a number of fronts at IMI Hydronic Engineering’s Olkusz facility, and a February visit by Chief Executive, Mark Selway, presented the ideal opportunity for staff to highlight that there are still a huge number of improvements left to deliver. In January 2016, Olkusz was the first facility in the IMI Group to achieve a phenomenal 88% in its lean score, a truly world-class result! But we’re not stopping there. Every employee is fully engaged in implementing processes and improvements that will drive the company forward and help create innovative products to enable the company to grow. Olkusz is a multi-competency site that encompasses manufacturing, warehouse operations, operational R&D and an Engineering Centre of Excellence. According to Grzegorz Gonet, Plant Manager at Olkusz “One of the key factors that contributed to our recent achievements was ensuring that everyone got involved in the lean process.” Creating a working environment that is conducive to innovation was one
of the main reasons the site received the Chairman’s Award for Most Improved Facility at the IMI Group Conference earlier this year. A clear illustration of how site improvements can increase competitiveness is the rapid development and delivery to market of the new TA-Slider range of actuator products. In a single year, the product progressed from an idea to a game-changing product that is already being shipped to customers and is set to revolutionise the market. One of the reasons for Mark’s visit was to recognise this fantastic achievement, and members of the R&D and Department of Engineering and Production took the opportunity to present the new TA-Slider. Mark enjoyed a hands-on demonstration and had the chance to both examine the look and feel of the product and see it in action. They also explained how Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and the team’s knowledge and experience had minimised development timelines without compromising quality and functionality. A brief tour of the R&D laboratory highlighted that this area was integral
to the success of the TA-Slider project. Mark showed a keen interest in a demonstration of the testing equipment used for assessing competitor products in the early stages of the development and the functionality of prototypes/finished products once the project was complete. The visit recognises the importance of the Olkusz facility to the IMI Group as a whole. Recent achievements have served as a marker to the progress that can be achieved with a concerted effort from every employee. Following a second wave of H,S&E and lean assessments, the facility has achieved a H,S&E score of 90% – the highest for any IMI site. In 2015, there wasn’t a single Lost Time Accident, which is a true reflection of the hard work and commitment shown by every employee to eliminate risk wherever possible. Mark Selway commented “I am really delighted with the progress achieved at our Hydronic Engineering site in Poland. Grzegorz and his team have outrun the rest of IMI and the implementation of lean and development of great new products is providing a sustainable competitive advantage which we are all very proud of.” 5
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Outrunning the competition WRITTEN BY Jaime Ferreira Moreno Business Planning Manager IMI Hydronic Engineering, Switzerland
Competitor tear-down process drives new product development WRITTEN BY James Robinson
Technical Director, Western Europe, IMI Precision Engineering
The competitor tear-down process that Precision is employing in the development of new products is driving both cost savings and product improvement, enabling us to outperform the competition.
Andrej Mavsar, Paul Molhoek and Klaus-Dieter Fuhrmann get down to business
Senior management limbered up for the challenges ahead during a two-day Strategy & New Products workshop held in IMI Hydronic Engineering’s Eysins Headquarters in May. The ‘Outrunning the Competition’ event saw 35 top managers from across the business meet to discuss strategic priorities and review our product development road-map. It was an ideal forum to discuss recent market developments and trends, take a close look at what our competitors are up to and learn more about upcoming technology and product development opportunities. Through a series of workshops and presentations, the division’s five-year plan underwent a thorough review, with particular focus on ramping up the growth initiatives already in place. On the second day, the Product Management and R&D teams presented the division’s product road-map and a series of workgroups assembled to work on specific projects in an effort to improve how we do things across every part of the business. Everyone agreed that it had been a helpful exercise that underpinned the commitment to our five-year plan and highlighted a range of exciting product developments. It would go a long way towards making the business more competitive and gave us the opportunity to outrun competitors by creating GREAT new products for our customers.
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IMI Precision Engineering, Western Europe, is in the process of developing new platform products for the Industrial Automation market and has enthusiastically adopted the competitor tear-down process that was developed in partnership with the Hydronic and Critical divisions. Designed to allow systematic analysis of competitor products, under this process a competitor product is subjected to detailed scrutiny through the stages of procurement, cost analysis and testing before a crossfunctional team systematically analyses the findings and ranks its performance against a set of strict criteria. The output is a comprehensive comparison matrix that drives the development of a project
Results of 1/2” regulator tear-down workshop
procedures manual that is used by designers as a set of instructions to design a new product range. In the last 14 months, 33 competitor tear-downs have been conducted to great effect. It is now an embedded, standard process that is driving new product development and ultimately improves benefits to customers while building the road-map to outperform competitors.
New project management portal launched WRITTEN BY Jim Herbert
Vice President Operations, IMI CCI RSM, IMI Critical Engineering
Great project management is essential for IMI Critical Engineering businesses to deliver complex projects on-time and on-budget. As part of its journey to becoming a lean and more customer-responsive organisation with a culture of continuous improvement, IMI Critical has launched a new project management portal to help its businesses assess, benchmark and improve the effectiveness of their project execution. This portal includes a project management assessment scorecard. The scorecard allows individual companies to
self-assess their project management execution, to benchmark the results against similar IMI Critical businesses, and to identify and promote the sharing of best practice. The tool identifies what GREAT project management looks like by examining critical processes and elements that are vital to effective project execution from initiation to closure. It also highlights how project management should be structured, administered, and executed. By the end of 2016, all major IMI Critical businesses will have been trained to conduct the formal project management assessment process and create structured improvement plans.
business improvement
Critical Precision Hydronic
Lean techniques drastically reduce customer quote times Lean techniques have been used by Critical Engineering to radically reduce the processing time taken to provide a customer quote. Ivo Kozel, Critical’s Regional Lean Manager for EMEA, assembled a cross-functional team and kicked off the exercise. Using Value Stream Mapping (VSM), the team first analysed how quotes are produced currently, capturing both the value-adding and non-value-adding steps.
This showed that the current process typically involved 98 separate steps and 19 handovers between colleagues. Then the team drew up an ‘ideal state’ map – what the best process would look like, if there were no constraints. Finally, taking various practical limitations into account, they arrived at a ‘future state’ proposal that will progressively be implemented across the division. The new process has trimmed the processing time to one hour, eliminated 82 steps, and reduced the handovers to 10.
WRITTEN BY Tyler Leuty
Marketing Manager, IMI SSF IMI Critical Engineering
“The VSM workshop was a real eye-opener.” said Sulekha Prasad, Sales Office Manager. “It enabled us to get a clear vision of the complete process from enquiry stage to production planning, and identify the potential risks as well as the steps that were adding value.” Surbijit Nagra, Interim MD of IMI SSF, added ”The process was an opportunity to very quickly make a positive impact to customer service, the division’s responsiveness, and ultimately to the bottom-line.”
Factory tour highlights employee pride and commitment
Critical’s global ERP deployments on track!
WRITTEN BY Daniela Weigand
Chief Financial Officer IMI Critical Engineering
Marketing Manager IMI Hydronic Engineering, Central Europe
To celebrate the success of the launch last year of the Eclipse range, Isobel Sharp, IMI plc non-executive director, went to see for herself how recent improvements at the Erwitte facility had helped to bring the world’s smallest range of thermostatic radiator valves to the market. “I particularly appreciated the great efforts that are being made by all at Erwitte to improve the whole business.“ said Isobel, while reflecting on her time visiting the Erwitte production facility in Germany recently. During the visit Isobel learned a great deal about the Hydronic Engineering division as a whole, and in particular, detailed information about our range of Heimeier products. Isobel was joined by colleagues Peter Spencer, Divisional Managing Director, Alberto Tureikis, Lean Divisional Director and Dieter Dietz, Supply Chain Manager on the visit organised by Paul Molhoek, Erwitte Plant Manager. The afternoon was taken up with a factory tour where Isobel was able to experience first-hand the behind-thescenes activities that go into creating GREAT products like the Eclipse range. “I’d like to thank Paul Molhoek and his team for making my visit extremely worthwhile, informative and enjoyable. Visits like this are hugely important as they help to improve my understanding of the business and its challenges. I couldn’t help but be impressed with the enthusiasm, pride and commitment shown by everyone I met.” said Isobel.
Paul Molhoek shows Isobel Sharp around the Eclipse production line
WRITTEN BY Ian Johnson
In February 2016, two more IMI Critical Engineering sites went live with the IFS LEAP solution. IMI CCI Sweden in Saffle and IMI CCI Japan in Kobe successfully implemented the finance, logistics and manufacturing solution on time and on budget. This followed the pilot sites IMI CCI Brno in the Czech Republic and IMI CCI Austria which went live in May 2015. The original investment was £10m and following the success a second phase was approved for £3.3m to implement IFS LEAP in India, China and at IMI Bopp & Reuther. The team are now implementing the ERP solution at the IMI CCI sites in India and Korea with fantastic support from the business teams at both locations, led by Harishankar Ram and Matthew Lee. These deployments are on track to go live in September and October 2016. As the site implementations continue, preparation for the next ones are progressing and at the end of June a kick-off meeting was held with the IMI CCI RSM team in the US. In recognition for its outstanding performance, the IFS LEAP Team were awarded the ‘Engineering Great Award for Special Achievement’ at Critical Engineering’s divisional conference in May. The award was presented by Mark Selway and Roy Twite and collected on behalf of the team by Shane Greenwood (ERP Programme Manager) and Ian Johnson (Programme Sponsor). 7
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New safety alert announcements
WRITTEN BY Steve Pegg Lean & HSE Director IMI Critical Engineering
Having joined IMI Critical Engineering in February this year I am delighted, on behalf of the HS&E team, to report the successful launch of our new online safety alert announcement system. A new section has been added within the division’s intranet area on Health, Safety & Environment to accelerate safety improvement across Critical Engineering and ensure best practice is shared. In it there are Safety Alert Bulletins that have been created as a result of actual events in the field. The objective is to ‘learn through experience’ and as such, Safety Alert Bulletins are posted here in order that they can be printed out locally and pinned up on office notice boards. These alerts are also published on the front page news banner ensuring all Critical Engineering employees using the Intranet are alerted to them.
Integrating Health and Safety with lean at all our manufacturing sites WRITTEN BY Maurice Tunstall, Head of Health, Safety & Environment, and Alan Harrison, Group Lean Manager
During 2015 Group undertook a programme to enhance the synergies that exist between Health, Safety and Environment (H,S&E) and lean manufacturing. Our purpose was to ‘Integrate H,S&E with lean to ensure that plant management have direct ownership and responsibility for H,S&E’. Ten specific H,S&E questions were created that complement the 71 lean questions used during the six-monthly assessment programme for our manufacturing sites which cover management, capability, signage, tooling provision and care, risk assessment, machinery and guarding, environmental protection, accident investigation, performance tracking and control of contractors. Working in close collaboration with lean colleagues, the H,S&E team developed a standard operating procedure and assessment programme aligned to the lean assessment schedule. Combined H,S&E and lean audits were undertaken in June and December 2015 at all our manufacturing sites, and results from these assessments have proved the benefit of combining the assessments. It is pleasing to report that all three divisions are making great progress in improving health and safety evidenced on the table below.
6.8 7.4 9%
6.5 7.1 9%
6.5 7.6 17%
Following the assessment each site develops ambitious H,S&E and lean improvement plans which are approved by local site management and formally signed off by their respective Divisional Managing Director. The most recent H,S&E/Lean assessments were completed at the end of June 2016 and we remain confident of seeing this positive improvement trend continuing. For further information relating to the H,S&E-Lean programme please visit the Lean Assessment Process and Reports page within the Manufacturing section of the Group intranet.
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WRITTEN BY James Cooper
Finance & IT Director IMI Truflo Marine, IMI Critical Engineering
IMI plc
Mid-year average Full-year average % Improvement
Finance team adopts standard visual reporting
The finance team at IMI Truflo Marine have embraced the lean agenda and developed a finance visual management board which has quickly become a core part of its daily routine and is driving continuous improvement. IMI Truflo Marine wanted to show that lean doesn’t stop at production processes, it can be equally relevant and valuable to office functions. The objective was to create a highly visible display of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to the finance department, to drive awareness of performance/trends and to create a culture of continuous improvement through highlighting issues and use problem-solving tools to make improvements. The finance team meets each morning to run through and update the content of the board, with members of the team talking through their specific area of responsibility and raising any matters they are dealing with. This gives management great confidence that all the members of team are communicating openly with each other. Their performance is visible for all to see and working collaboratively with other departments to deal with issues produces improvements every day. James Cooper (far left) with finance team at the SQDPC board
business improvement
Critical Precision Hydronic
How best to Concur Concur, our Group-wide expenses system has now been successfully rolled out to over 60% of the IMI Group including the UK, US, Germany and Switzerland. The remaining country roll-outs will continue during 2016, by which point virtually all IMI employees incurring business expenses will be live on the system. The benefits of this new system are: l More robust controls around our expenses process l Better management of our expenses l Lower usage costs under a Group-wide contract with Concur and lower administrative costs supporting our travel and expenses process l Improved ability to drive savings across our travel and expenses spend through procurement initiatives For those users already live on Concur, below are some helpful tips to ensure the system is used effectively and any need to resubmit claims is minimised: l Please ensure a legible receipt is supplied. If a receipt cannot be obtained, please provide a missing receipt affidavit. These cannot be submitted by a delegate i.e. your PA. l In particular, please ensure that an itemised receipt (not just a credit card slip) is provided for meals/subsistence, hotel, gifts and entertaining.
WRITTEN BY Ivan Ronald Group Financial Controller IMI plc
l Ensure the value of each receipt matches the amount being claimed and the date of your receipt matches with the date of your expense item. If your expense is a company credit card transaction then a degree of variation is expected/allowed for. l When adding attendees to your entertainment claims, each attendee will be saved and can be added again via the favourite option for future use.
Sales Director for Norgren Express Western Europe IMI Precision Engineering
Drawing inspiration from lean benchmarking of production has led to the successful development of a new benchmarking model to improve effectiveness and increase efficiency across our Western Europe internal sales teams. During 2015, at Norgren Express we became fascinated with how IMI factories had been using lean tools to improve operational effectiveness and realised that there was potential to transfer similar thinking to an office environment as a method of improving performance. After working with lean experts from within IMI, and taking best practice from the factories, we were able to develop a lean benchmarking model that was tailor-made
WRITTEN BY Mike Semens Flanagan Director Strategic Planning IMI Critical Engineering
l To manage your Concur email notifications, within your Concur profile select > profile settings > expense preferences. This will allow you to define which notifications you receive. l The Concur mobile app is available for download on the iPhone, Windows, Android and Blackberry mobile devices. This provides you the ability to complete your expenses on the go and photograph and upload your receipts as you incur expenses rather than scanning each receipt at a later date. l Apart from exceptional circumstances, please remember to only submit one expense claim per month. The IMI Concur user guide, along with further information about Concur, is available in the travel and expenses section of the intranet. For any queries relating to the audit service and all other support queries please contact the dedicated IMI Concur Support Team at concur@imiplc.com.
Operational benchmarking taken beyond manufacturing drives sales efficiency WRITTEN BY Paul Umpleby
Critical duo wins Chief Executive’s Award for Commercial Excellence
for Norgren Express with clearly defined KPIs and a series of key levers to drive our sales and operational performance. An initial assessment identified a number of actions that the Western European teams focused on, and which resulted in significant improvement across key development areas. The model was considered a central focal point for continuous improvement and led to a second assessment in Q1 2016. Since then, we have taken an active approach by addressing country differences and providing support where necessary as the teams work on their local action plans. A plan that will benefit the whole region is currently being developed in preparation for the third assessment in September in which we anticipate further improvement from our current score of 47% towards 60%.
Alberto Aliani (right), Managing Director of IMI Orton accepts the Award for Commercial Excellence on behalf of IMI Truflo Rona and IMI Orton
Two IMI Critical companies – IMI Orton and IMI Truflo Rona, shared the Chief Executive’s Award for Commercial Excellence at the IMI Group conference in April in recognition of their success in working together to meet the needs of an important customer, Cameron LNG. Cameron is the largest LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant project currently under construction in the US and provides IMI Critical Engineering with a strong foothold in this growing market. The project pursuit resulted in the award of five of the seven available packages to IMI Orton and IMI Truflo Rona in July 2015, with an initial order value over £10m. Further volume call off orders have since been awarded, totaling nearly £8m, bringing the total value of the project to date to nearly £19m. The order comprises triple eccentric butterfly valves from IMI Orton and cryogenic top-entry ball valves by IMI Truflo Rona Belgium. IMI Truflo Rona Italy supported the other two businesses by producing small size valves from the initial package.
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Embedding innovation in all that we do WRITTEN BY Sebastian Schweers
R&D Manager IMI Hydronic Engineering, Switzerland
Innovation is essential to our future. We take an innovative approach to product development and meeting the challenges the industry faces today, but it shouldn’t stop there. We need to ensure that innovation is central to every step we take as we work towards becoming a GREAT business. At a recent conference in Berlin, every senior manager was involved in one of three carousel workshops to understand the key themes behind the innovation initiative and the techniques being used to promote engagement: Observation, Curiosity and Permission. Group workshops were held and participants were encouraged to think about how everyday objects, such as cameras, coffee cups and toothpaste, could be improved. Everyone was really enthusiastic, with some surprising suggestions helping participants
Achim Schröter (left) with Bernhard Henke, Klaus-Dieter Fuhrmann Enrico Milanesi, and Tatiana Pont Carteret at the Berlin conference
understand that innovation isn’t solely the domain of those involved in Research & Development. A team of Innovation Champions, one for each IMI site, has now commenced ‘training the trainers’ to ensure they are equipped to moderate workshops, keep track of ideas, define key topics, collate and manage an ideas archive and, of course, make the whole experience as enjoyable as possible! Each workshop will focus on generating, evaluating, developing and implementing the fantastic ideas that emerge, and the most promising innovations will then be further developed
and transferred into Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) processes for eventual implementation. The Ljung facility in Sweden hosted an innovation workshop in June and people from operations, sales, marketing and every other department were included to show just how innovative they can be! By autumn 2016 we will have completed at least one workshop at every site.
Sri City awarded international Environmental and Health & Safety Certifications WRITTEN BY Ramachandran R V
Director – Marketing & Communications IMI Critical Engineering, India
Fast Track Service at Fradley sees marked improvement WRITTEN BY Sean Howley
Continuous Improvement Manager IMI Precision Engineering, Fradley
A cross-functional team including representatives from sales, machining, assembly, planning and purchasing, has made radical improvements to Fast Track delivery service out of Fradley, initially for the ISO VDMA ranges of actuators. The service was reviewed following the acknowledgement that delivery performance of Fast Track actuators out of Fradley for UK customers could improve. To better understand the process, the team undertook a value stream mapping exercise to integrate each process step and subsequently measure flow time, cycle time, the number of value and non-value
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added steps, and how many hand-offs occurred throughout the process to identify where inefficiencies might lie. The mapping exercise identified that: l Flow time could be reduced by 54% l Hand-offs could be reduced by 37% l Non-value added activities could be reduced by 22% The service review and process improvements have shown an increase in on-time delivery that is set to continue throughout the rest of the year. By April on-time delivery had risen to 94%; with optimised processes being put in place, the service is targeted to achieve 98% on-time delivery by October. The improved delivery response has resulted in increased orders for the Fast Track service.
In May this year, IMI CCI’s Sri City facility was awarded ISO 14001:2004 & BS OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications. The certification is recognition of the high priority placed on Health, Safety & Environment at the facility and is a reflection of the well-defined policy and procedures laid out by the management team, “We are delighted to receive the certification for IMI CCI Sri City which is an environmentally-friendly site with zero discharge of water to outside of the facility. 30% of the area has green cover and pollution levels are within prescribed limits with testing conducted both internally and by the state pollution control board. The safety and management committees meet regularly to ensure the safety culture is driven across the factory floor and offices. Congratulations to the IMI CCI Sri City team for this outstanding achievement” said Ajitkumar Sreekumar, President, IMI Critical Engineering, India.
business improvement
Critical Precision Hydronic
Divisional ERP programmes are making ‘GREAT’ progress WRITTEN BY Paul Rushton
Group Chief Information Officer IMI plc
GREAT progress is being made across all divisional ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) programmes, which are helping to transform IMI’s operational capability by providing new, ‘out of the box’ product functionality, as well as standardising core business processes, data and reporting across the globe, ensuring both a consistent and repeatable way of working. In Critical, four sites (Czech Republic, Austria, Japan and Korea) are now live with IFS v8.0 and have been successfully transitioned to support. Preparations are
well under way for the next two sites in India and Korea, which are due to go-live in September and October 2016 respectively. In Hydronic, pilot sites in Poland and Switzerland went live with JD Edwards v9.1 in June 2016. The team are now working to prepare for rollouts in sales offices and the Slovenia plant during the second half of 2016, with further sites following in 2017. In Precision, Farmington was the first US site live with JD Edwards v9.1 in October 2015 and Brookville is on-track to go-live during July 2016. Readiness work continues for the sites in Louisville, Littleton and Queretaro which will move onto JD Edwards by the end of 2016.
Success through sustainability: Fellbach investment saves tons of CO2 emissions
Cogeneration plant – a significant amount of the electrical base demand is now efficiently generated on site WRITTEN BY Waldo Flor
Site Leader IMI Precision Engineering, Fellbach
Precision’s Fellbach site in Germany has invested in a new heating system following a successful initiative to implement various site-related sustainable measures to lower energy needs. After assessing a number of conceptual studies for the site, it was decided that the optimal solution was the installation of a natural gas-fired condensing boiler plant that included an additional cogeneration plant (CHP).
The old steam boiler, which had originally been installed in 1968, was replaced at the end of last year with two energy-efficient natural gas-fired heating boilers that each have an output of 600 Kw. The boilers were joined by the CHP on 31 March this year. This means that ‘proprietary’ power can now be generated on-site and then fed into the building’s power grid, thereby meeting the requirements of a significant portion of the electrical base load at the site. The thermal energy created as a result of the power generated by the CHP is fed directly into the heating circuit, supporting the heating system. This highly efficient procedure is known as cogeneration. The effectiveness of this technology amounts to more than 90%, with CO2 emissions significantly reduced through the use of natural gas. Cogeneration can also lead to significant fuel savings. The aim of the new system is to achieve annual electrical power production which covers 15- 20% of the total on-site consumption. From an environmental standpoint, the local production of power and the use of the thermal energy means Fellbach can save up to 450 tons of CO2 emissions per annum.
Revolutionary TA-Slider wins Award for Innovation WRITTEN BY Natalie Zeranska
Head of Marketing Communications IMI Hydronic Engineering
Jean-Christopher Carette (right) collects the award on behalf of IMI Hydronic Engineering
At the Group conference in April, Lord Smith presented the Award for Innovation to IMI Hydronic Engineering for its bold move into an adjacent product line that has the potential to expand its addressable market by £1 billion. Actuators represent a growing and profitable product segment in the HVAC market and IMI Hydronic identified actuation as a strategic growth opportunity. The TA-Slider actuator programme was designed and tooled in 12 months and provides IMI Hydronic with an actuator range with superior features that has the potential to revolutionise the market. TA-Slider is not just a “me too” product, but a genuine innovation, with six patents pending and a number of important unique features for both designers and installers of complex HVAC systems. The product was officially launched to over 200 customers at the Swissbau Exhibition in January 2016 and enjoyed immediate success. The product gained immediate acceptance amongst our customers and is positioned to achieve commercial success in its first year.
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business improvement
Overhaul of Group Health, Safety and Environmental reporting system improves usability and adds value to our businesses WRITTEN BY Duggie Brooks Group HS&E IMI plc
Over the last year, the team at Group Health Safety and Environment (H,S&E) has worked hard with the divisions to overhaul the Group online H,S&E reporting system. Providing a one-stop-shop for H,S&E management information, it enables all of our global H,S&E team members, site MDs and divisional teams to enter and review information in one place; reducing email
traffic and improving transparency and knowledge sharing. Icons from the home page link to: l Accident reporting tools l Live IMI Group and divisional statistics l Lean H,S&E actions l Personal site dashboards, and l Analysis of accident data and safety alerts.
These and many more features are designed to help our businesses improve safety and environmental performance; as well as giving management information for more effective decision making and reporting. Commenting on the changes, Group Head of H,S&E Maurice Tunstall, added “The system has improved significantly over the last year. It’s now much more visually engaging and management information is easy to find.”
Policy deployment aims to deliver on group strategy
Seattle wins ‘Most Improved Site’ award
WRITTEN BY Ian Morris
Managing Director IMI Precision Engineering, Seattle
Operations Director IMI Hydronic Engineering, Switzerland
Policy deployment (PD) helps management identify, and practically manage, the implementation of strategy. At IMI Hydronic Engineering we are implementing PD to deliver two key objectives: l enabling all employees to engage and align their work activities with the overall strategy of the division and Group l to act as an acceleration tool to set ambitious targets and plans to over deliver and ensure that the operating plan is exceeded. PD is an evolutionary development with an objective of engraining the process into the culture and fabric of the business. Hydronic Engineering now have eight PD Matrices that are all aligned with each other and the overall divisional matrix. The process starts with all employees understanding and connecting to the overall IMI plc and Hydronic Engineering division’s 5-year strategic plan. A dedicated team considers the important objectives and targets required to deliver its aspirations in the coming year. The team then assesses which projects are capable of delivering the biggest return. Prioritisation at this early stage is particularly important with low-priority projects abandoned to allow the team to concentrate on those which will achieve desired outputs. Once projects are agreed the project owner then defines specific and measurable targets. At this stage of the process the work really begins and the project owner assembles a cross-functional team to clearly define the project’s objectives and targets and decide how they will be implemented, based on business objectives, current conditions, opportunities, risks and the overall scope of the project. Project detail is initially captured using the A3 Tool and then followed up with a detailed action plan that clearly articulates the work required to deliver the business objectives, who owns the project and when it’s likely to be completed. The process itself is no guarantee of success and to be successful requires the team meet, preferably weekly, to assess progress and ensure that the recommended actions will deliver the desired outcome.
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WRITTEN BY Roland Lester
At IMI Precision Engineering’s 2016 divisional conference, the Seattle team was presented with the award for ‘Most Improved Site’. It was a significant achievement which recognises a team that works as a cohesive unit to consistently improve performance. From the start of the lean journey, the Seattle team has continuously challenged itself to ensure it is working on the right areas and make certain the activities undertaken will result in sustainable improvement. When the business assessed the state of operations three years ago, it quickly realised that one of the biggest problems was a lack of clear goals. and that was the first step: to define SMART goals. With these agreed goals, the team had a clear vision of what was required to consistently meet targets and expectations. The award recognises Seattle as the first Precision site to achieve a lean score of over 70% with an excellent 71% score awarded at the last lean assessment at the end of 2015. The factory has improved by 29 points from the score of 42% recorded in 2014. In addition, performance improvements have been achieved across almost every metric: on-time shipments, reduction in quality issues, supplier ppm reduced significantly, year-end inventory down year-on-year, premium freight (expedite freight) down significantly - major improvements across the board. Winning the award for ‘Most Improved Site’ has been a huge boost for the whole team.
business improvement
Critical Precision Hydronic
Kanban process achieves rapid results in Poole
WRITTEN BY Dennis Cooper
Continuous Improvement Manager IMI Precision Engineering, Poole
Redesigning a major manufacturing cell at IMI Precision Engineering, Poole provided an ideal opportunity for managers and team leaders to introduce a Kanban process to eliminate waste and control stock. The drive to implement the system came from the identification of three central areas for improvement: creation of space through improved stock control, the release of working capital through reduction of inventory, and improved visual management of stock. Initial stages of the implementation involved detailed review of average daily demand, supplier delivery frequency and supplier minimum order quantities. Consultation with suppliers also prompted agreement of a flexible approach to ordering as a means to control stock, with purchasers easily able to reduce order quantity, or plan for smaller batches with increased delivery frequency. Kanban cards are simply reorder cards that work as a visual prompt between operations and purchasing. Their effectiveness lies in their simplicity, as clearly demonstrated by the rapid improvements evident at even the earliest stages of implementation. The cell has continued to benefit from both a purchasing and operational perspective. Not only have the initial three drivers for change been achieved, but what has also been recognised is greater time efficiency throughout spares operations, for example, the introduction of minimum stock levels line stops for waiting parts has reduced to zero. Output of the line increased by 60%, floor area reduced by 10% and the business saved more than 50% of the inventory space.
Monika Lopata at the Kanban board in Poole
Andon system improves performance at Queretaro WRITTEN BY Oscar Sanchez
IT Manager IMI Precision Engineering, Queretaro
Vorne display screens instantly warn of process or quality faults
The Andon manufacturing technique uses a central visual device to notify production operatives of a process or quality fault. It highlights a problem as soon as it occurs and demands immediate investigation of the root cause and deployment of countermeasures. The system is being piloted at IMI Precision Engineering, Queretaro in Mexico. Driven by a requirement to improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations in line with Precision’s Queretaro manufacturing lean strategy, the system, in conjunction with the installation of 21 Vorne display XL devices, is being piloted to allow monitoring of KPIs using real-time data. It also creates the ability to analyse data to increase efficiency of processes
and escalate downtime alerts. It is another important step to developing a visual factory. At present, 21 devices have been deployed in the Industrial Automation and Commercial Vehicle business units. Performance is displayed not just on the devices’ screens but also through web applications, and has the potential to link to smart phones in the future. Real-time indicators can also be monitored throughout the business, from operators to senior management. Early signs show positive results with improved performance and significant time savings. Once the pilot is complete we intend to deploy to other cells and recommend its introduction to facilities across the company.
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business improvement
Creating a leaner, cleaner casting machine WRITTEN BY Alberto Tureikis
Lean Divisional Director IMI Hydronic Engineering, Germany
The Erwitte site is now cleaner, safer, and more environmentally-friendly
Metal casting can be a dirty business – and after 36 years of continuous production, IMI Hydronic Engineering’s Erwitte factory in Germany was starting to look a little grubby to say the least! It produces the majority of our Heimeier family of products and the accumulation of years of metal fumes and machining waste across three floors necessitated a radical clean up. The first stage was to implement a comprehensive risk assessment to ensure the work could be completed safely. Supply chain, production and maintenance departments collaborated extensively to guarantee that sufficient stock to fulfil customer demand would be available during the three weeks when the facility
was inoperative. Once a safe and workable plan was agreed, the stripping out began in earnest. Everything was removed from the site and laid out in the car park, enabling any unused equipment to be easily identified and repairs carried out to infrastructure utilities within the facility. Every machine and every component was assessed using Total Process Management (TPM) principles and extensively cleaned in preparation for reinstallation. The whole facility was deep cleaned, re-painted and new windows fitted to improve light distribution and create a safer, more comfortable working environment. The refurbished equipment was reinstalled in the facility (amazingly not a single piece went astray!) and, through
re-configuring the layout, much more working space was created. Collaboration between contractors and employees ran smoothly and the complete lack of any Health and Safety incidents during the process highlighted just how beneficial the risk assessment had been. The site is now cleaner, safer, more sustainable and much better suited to the lean principles that are such an important element of the overall IMI Group strategy – and the whole project was finished ahead of schedule too! In recognition of the success of the project, Dieter Dietz, Erwitte Foundry Operations Manager, received the Hydronic Engineering GREAT award at the recent Hydronic Conference in Berlin. Everyone is delighted with the new refurbished facility.
New rail dryer production facility in Leeds WRITTEN BY Marc Robertson Plant Director IMI Precision Engineering, Leeds
IMI Precision’s Divisional Managing Director, Massimo Grassi visited the Leeds plant on 6 June to celebrate the completion of the new production facility for AMT rail dryers. Massimo thanked the entire team for their efforts in creating the new line, and commented “Our market-leading AMT technology is attracting interest from rail operators across the globe. We have many field trials in place and are starting to win volume orders for both new trains and retro-fit of existing fleets. This new facility gives us the ability to extend the range of dryers we can offer and the capacity to support significant future growth.”
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Massimo Grassi formally opens the new AMT dryer manufacturing line in Leeds
customer focus
Critical Precision Hydronic
IMI CCI RSM secures contract at new US combined cycle power plant WRITTEN BY Warren Ferguson
Director of Business Development, Americas, IMI CCI IMI Critical Engineering
IMI CCI RSM has been awarded a multi-million dollar order to supply a turbine bypass system to the Greensville County Power Station which is currently under construction in Virginia, USA. The turbine bypass system is due for delivery in February 2017, and the combined-cycle, natural gas-fired power station is due to begin operation in 2019. As a state-of-the-art environmentally and fuel-efficient plant, there were several exacting technical requirements that drove the customer to select IMI CCI’s customdesign valve equipment solution.
The Greensville Power Station is required to keep noise levels below 75dBA when measured 400 feet from the plant. Drag dump tube resistors located in the air-cooled condenser line are a proven approach to providing the optimal noise control across the spectrum of plant power output levels. This kind of operation, varying the plant output at any point in the day is what makes combined cycle plants the technology of choice. In addition to modifications to the turbines, the high pressure steam valves need to be designed in such a way that they can stroke in less than 1.5 seconds.
These speeds are challenging for many larger valves, but IMI CCI was able to design the solution. Lastly, the steam turbine will be operating at temperatures exceeding 600°F and to provide the efficiency and control needed, the team designed a 2-stage desuperheater. The award from Fluor, the EPC contractor, demonstrates IMI CCI’s ability to provide equipment on-time, and to specification with best-in-class support during project execution.
WRITTEN BY Peter Frew
Regional Sales Manager IMI Hydronic Engineering, Australia
Top of the energy efficiency class The University of Technology Sydney is setting new standards for energy efficiency and sustainability, and IMI TA products have played a big role in helping one of its facilities become an award-winning development. The Science and Graduate School of Health Building at the University of Technology Sydney recently scooped the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) award for Excellence in Sustainability. The accolade came on top of the 6 Star Green Star Design rating it achieved from the Green Building Council of Australia once the project was completed. Developing an energy-efficient building was always a priority and given that it is a mixed-use facility containing libraries, classrooms and laboratories, the capacity for accurate temperature control in a variety of settings was a
critical requirement. IMI Hydronic Engineering has a long-standing relationship with the leading contractor A. G. Coombs and was involved from the design stage to ensure that projected energy savings of a 33.6% reduction in emissions was achievable. Our engineers recommended using a combination of FUS1ON-P pressure independent control valves and TBV-CMP modulating control valves to facilitate pressure independence throughout the
building’s Air Handling Units, and ensure that system commissioning would be quick and easy prior to customer hand over. As A. G. Coombs project manager, Andrew Buls, was keen to point out: “When used properly, IMI TA products assist in the achievement of optimised conditions, with improved system efficiency and reduced ongoing energy consumption.”
HVAC control room
University of Technology Sydney
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customer focus
IMI Hungary team makes a big splash with sports development
Precision Engineering Seattle receives Caterpillar’s platinum SQEP award WRITTEN BY Cristopher Naida
North America Sector Head – Commercial Vehicles IMI Precision Engineering
WRITTEN BY Judit Lévai-Kósa Marketing Associate IMI Hydronic Engineering
IMI Precision Engineering in Seattle was recently presented with a ‘Supplier Quality Excellence Process’ (SQEP) award by Caterpillar in recognition of achieving platinum status under its Quality Management System.
Dagály Swimming Complex, Budapest
A prestigious new water sports facility in Hungary, the Dagály Swimming Complex, is preparing to host the 2017 World Championships and IMI Hydronic Engineering products and know-how are playing a key role in the construction. The complex will consist of two developments: a permanent structure with a seating capacity of 6,000 and a temporary structure built solely for the World Championships. Although the temporary structure will be dismantled once the championships have finished, the main site will remain and is intended to become a centre for Hungarian water sports, including swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming and diving. The new complex will also be used for leisure activities and to encourage more public engagement with a range of water sports. Creating a hydraulic network that could fulfil the special requirements of a major world championship and ensure the long-term efficiency of what would become a major civic asset called for high-quality products and a high-level of expertise. We have been working closely
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with the local contractor Market Építö Zrt to ensure that the HVAC installation delivers the required functionality and energy efficiency demanded by such a prestigious development. Our solution involved designing a fully controllable hydronic network built on a combination of tried and trusted technologies, such as STAD and STAF balancing valves, and innovations, such as the TA-COMPACT-P and the Transfero TV Connect range of pump pressurisation systems. Product specification was driven by the need to ensure long-term benefits, such as reduced ongoing running costs and highly-resilient components capable of delivering a trouble-free HVAC environment for years to come. For the IMI Hungary team, the project is the starting point for a number of sports-focused opportunities. Hungary will host EURO 2020, with Budapest acting as host city, the new Puskás Ferenc stadium will open in 2019 and Budapest is a candidate city for the 2024 Olympic Games. The IMI Hungary team certainly won’t be resting on its laurels and will be keen to secure more wins as these high-profile projects take shape.
The award represents a prestigious accolade considering the stringent metrics against which Caterpillar measures its suppliers’ performance. The assessment process measures results against industry recognised systems over a 12-month period and Platinum is the most difficult level to achieve. At the end of the 12-month period Caterpillar audits its suppliers on key performance areas including: quality, logistics, customer service, manufacturing, and process management. Roland Lester, Managing Director, Seattle commented “We are extremely proud of our performance and honoured to have been awarded Caterpillar’s Platinum Level award for the fourth consecutive year. Only15 suppliers have ever received this award four years in a row and fewer than 50 suppliers received the platinum award in 2015. Considering the volume of parts we manufacture for Caterpillar, it is quite an achievement to consistently meet their strict criteria for platinum status.”
customer focus
Hydronic sales team gets up close and personal with new products and sales tactics WRITTEN BY Bhumika Lathia
Sr. Sales, Technical and Marketing Manager IMI TA North America, IMI Hydronic Engineering,
Critical Precision Hydronic
Critical Engineering in the renewable energy sector WRITTEN BY Enzo Sendardo Sales & Marketing IMI Orton and Ramachandran R V, Director of Marketing & Communications
IMI Critical Engineering, India
IMI Truflo Rona, Belgium, has been awarded its first renewable energy contract in India which includes the supply of valves to Lanco Infratech, one of India’s largest infrastructure developers. Lanco Infratech is investing around £200m in a solar cell manufacturing plant for polysilicon refining and wafering and IMI Truflo Rona’s valves will be used to support solar cell manufacturing.
Delegates examine the new TA-Slider actuator
Formulating the key strategy in support of sales growth for our new TA-Modulator and TA-Slider products was the main focus of the second Annual Hydronic Balancing Sales Conference held at the Hydronic Training Centre in Roswell, Georgia, USA. This year’s event was the biggest yet and 35 members of the Victaulic Sales team, including line sales personnel, regional managers and balancing specialists, had the chance to see for themselves the unique features that make our products stand out from the crowd. Training sessions were hosted by our Sales Training Managers, Bart Decker, Luciano Belo and Denes Popik, who were ably supported by Engineering Support Centre Champion, Gabor Molnar from Hungary and Application Engineer, Rafael Mordini from Brazil. The sessions were aimed at highlighting the technological developments behind the products and refining the key sales tools needed to support their promotion. Reactions to the new products were extremely positive, with delegates getting a chance to take part in hands-on exercises that showed the new TA-Slider in action. Time was also spent examining competitor products and highlighting the USPs that make our products stand out from the crowd. An OEM enquiry for 5,000 TA-Modulator units was received shortly after the event and the TESLA Headquarter in Seattle placed an order for TA-COMPACT and TA-FUSION valves.
The contract required the close collaboration of IMI Truflo Rona and IMI Critical Engineering India, and with India’s drive for green energy and an ambition of setting up 100GW of photo voltaic solar plants in the next 5-7 years, we are delighted that this breakthrough order provides a strong foundation for future growth in this exciting sector. “This will be the first global reference for IMI Truflo Rona in a polysilicon plant.” said Ajitkumar Sreekumar, President of IMI Critical India. IMI Orton has been awarded an important contract to supply butterfly valve packages to the thermo-solar power plant Noor, in Ouarzazate, Morocco. The power plant will provide electricity for over one million homes using solar energy collected by 500,000 crescent-shaped solar mirrors. The plant includes a thermal storage system using molten salts which allows it to generate power even when the sun goes down. Premium-quality valve packages provide both on/off and control applications and are operated by IMI STI pneumatic actuators.
Renewable energy now accounts for 50% of new install capacity globally each year
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Data centre facility in Hong Kong
TA-Slider helps data centre achieve perfect balance and control WRITTEN BY Marcella Colombino
Corporate Communications Assistant, IMI Hydronic Engineering, Switzerland and Tom Pak, Sales Manager IMI Hydronic Engineering, Hong Kong
Less than six months after its launch, the new TA-Slider actuator was installed in a data centre facility in Hong Kong – proof, if ever it was needed, that innovation, rapid product development and supply chain efficiency can be the key to success. TA-Slider was officially launched in January 2016 at the Swissbau exhibition in Basel and has since been showcased at a number of other events around the world. Interest has been excellent with customers keen to know more about its innovative design, unique features, ease of use and superior performance. “Our team have done a fantastic job turning the TA-Slider vision into a reality and designing an assembly line that guarantees the highest
quality product.” said Grzegorz Gonet, Plant Manager, Olkusz, Poland. The first batch of 750 TA-Sliders left the Olkusz manufacturing facility on 31 March, destined for a prestigious data centre development in Hong Kong. This state-of-the-art development, just one of a chain of facilities across the world, demanded the very highest levels of performance and energy efficiency to enable cost-effective, precisely controllable computer room air-conditioning (CRAC) capabilities. As with every data centre, cooling is critically important to the effective functioning of the facility and the customer had investigated other brands before opting for the TA FUSION-P and TA-Slider range. In the end it was an easy decision as the customer realised the benefits of being able to simply and quickly achieve a perfectly balanced and controlled system that delivers the cooling capabilities needed with the minimum of fuss.
IMI CCI Korea wins approved supplier status to KHNP IMI CCI Korea has recently been approved as a critical safety valve supplier to the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd (KHNP). The company provides about 30% of South Korea’s electricity supply, making it the nation’s largest power generation company. The approval followed extensive and rigorous audits in January and February of this year and included detailed reviews by KHNP of IMI CCI Korea’s engineering and quality assurance systems, products and facilities. “I’d like to say a huge well done to CD Suh and the team in IMI CCI Korea for their hard work in achieving this coveted status.” IMI Critical China & Korea’s President Jackie Hu said “It gives us the chance to bid on an enlarged scope for reactors.”
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Precisely controlling chilled water flow to create the ideal cooling output of its CRAC function is absolutely critical. Setting up and commissioning the system was simple and quick. Configuration was easily achieved using the TA-Dongle, which helped minimise the risk of human error and enabled multiple calibration options, and the customer is confident that the solution will continue to add ongoing value for the life of the facility. Seeing the first batch of TA-Sliders produced, packed and shipped was a satisfying achievement for the Olkusz team. “We are all proud to have participated in this masterpiece of creation.” said Beata Karon´ , Lean Leader, Olkusz. “We were so excited to witness the moment the first TA-Slider came out of the tester: it felt like our baby had been born. To see it installed in such a prestigious development really is the icing on the cake.”
WRITTEN BY Maureen Tan
Marketing Director, IMI CCI Asia and India IMI Critical Engineering
CD Suh, Managing Director of IMI CCI Korea outside the factory in Payu
customer focus
Critical Precision Hydronic
Upgraded desuperheater can take the heat WRITTEN BY Maureen Tan
Marketing Director, IMI CCI Asia and India IMI Critical Engineering
The drive for greater efficiency in power generation has resulted in increased temperatures for key equipment in power plants. So when Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems responded to IMI CCI through its ‘Voice of the Customer’ survey that it required a desuperheater that could operate at higher temperatures, IMI CCI Japan was ready to work collaboratively to upgrade the current desuperheater model to a higher temperature model.
The new model is specifically relevant to gas turbine blade-cooling steam applications where temperatures exceed 600°C. Using finite element analysis, IMI CCI designed the inner cage to reduce thermal stress and avoid the risk of cracking. The new desuperheater model AB5700 was completed in March 2016 and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power has responded with orders for six sets with more orders expected in 2016 and 2017.
Temperature modeling to optimise the design
New upgraded desuperheater for over 600°C
Proactive approach to customer service yields positive feedback WRITTEN BY Oliver Wehking
Managing Director IMI Precision Engineering, Bad Oeynhausen
WMF’s 5000 S coffee machine
WMF, the leading international manufacturer of fully automatic coffee machines, is a major client of IMI Precision Engineering. In the summer of 2015, following feedback from WMF, Precision Engineering developed an action plan to consolidate our long-standing relationship with this important customer.
In the early 2000s, Precision Engineering started doing business with WMF with several projects of cross-company product innovation. Since that time, Precision Engineering have worked jointly with them to great success on each new innovation launched. In 2015, we decided to adopt a more proactive approach to further improve the quality of our service to WMF. The first step was to establish a cross-functional team including representatives from core areas of: research and development, key account management, purchasing, operations and quality. The team’s purpose was to examine areas for improvement and remove any layers of complexity to increase our response time and drive proactivity. Additionally, the division introduced a contact matrix, providing each customer contact with an IMI counterpart they can contact directly and increased the frequency of face-to-face meetings to ensure there is a complete understanding of their needs and requirements. This initiative clearly demonstrated our commitment to WMF and the customer-centric culture we are developing. These efforts were recognised recently at the IMI Precision Engineering conference where WMF gave positive feedback about our change of approach and improved customer service.
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Commissioning expertise secured role on high-profile European project WRITTEN BY Jan Roovers
Business Manager Services, Belgium and
Lucien Dop
Project Manager IMI Aero - Dynamiek IMI Hydronic Engineering
The Résidence Palace in the heart of Brussels
The capital of Belgium, Brussels has a long and esteemed history of hosting the great institutions of the European Union. When renovations began on one of its most important and historic sites, the Résidence Palace, IMI Aero-Dynamiek was delighted to undertake commissioning work on a building that would be the first in Belgium to be continuously monitored by environmental auditors. The Résidence Palace, originally an impressive Art Deco building, opened as an opulent housing collective for the upper echelons of Belgian society in 1927, offering such luxuries as a theatre and swimming pool before being requisitioned by the German army during the Second World War. Throughout the following decades it was used as administrative offices for the Belgian state. In 2004, a competition was opened to redesign Bloc A of the Résidence Palace as a home for the headquarters of the European Council and the Council of Ministers of the European Union. The winning design was announced in 2005 and included plans for a contemporary glass atrium and restoration of the building’s high-value heritage 1920s section.
IMI CCI breaks into gas production market with new semi-severe choke valves WRITTEN BY Stefano Malacrida Marketing Director EMEA, IMI CCI IMI Critical Engineering
IMI CCI has secured a three-year contract from a major Middle East oil company to supply more than 300 of its new 100DPC choke valves per year.
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The main contractor for the project, Cegelec, approached IMI Aero-Dynamiek to commission the building’s heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system as they recognised that we had the capacity and expertise to meet the requirements of a project of this size and deliver in the required time-frame. After Cegelec completed installation, the first step was to verify the HVAC equipment to ensure it met the design specifications and would operate correctly post-commissioning. The equipment was then tested, adjusted and balanced. Balancing was crucial to effective operation and optimal performance and without certification that the HVAC airflow met design capacity, the customer could not take over the building. In the latter stages of the project, seven IMI commissioning engineers were working tirelessly to ensure the customer’s completion date was met. This was a challenging project as work was interrupted on several occasions. However, it has brought with it enormous prestige and created further opportunities for IMI Aero-Dynamiek.
The valves are being developed for a gas development programme which will extract gas from one of the world’s biggest sour carbonate gas reservoirs. The gas produced by 3,000 wells will be used in power generation and as a feedstock for the chemical industry. The contract will generate £15m of revenue over the period of the contract and is the result of Value Engineering activities, which allowed IMI CCI to enter a new market normally served by its competitors. A competitor product tear-down identified opportunities to improve on the existing design, optimise production, and dramatically reduce the unit cost of the valves.
The award provides IMI CCI a higher technology choke reference for the semi-severe market in the Middle East and opens up other opportunities with gas modular skid manufacturers. “Winning this contract is a huge endorsement of our products by one of the world’s leading energy companies.” said Roy Twite, Divisional Managing Director of IMI Critical Engineering. “It is also the result of the team’s efforts to break into this market by bringing our world-class valve technology to this segment at a competitive market price. Well done to all those involved.”
customer focus
Critical Precision Hydronic
Precision’s redundant valve manifolds protect refineries and petrochemical plants WRITTEN BY Robert Foster
Director of Sales, Energy Sector USA IMI Precision Engineering
Setpoint Integrated Solutions is a leading US provider of repair services, integrated process solutions, valve automation, and instrumentation and services customers in the downstream oil industries. These industries require fluid control components and manifolds to meet Safety Integration Levels (SIL) standards for safety instrumented systems. Setpoint needed long-lasting, robust valves that work together to meet performance requirements in the tough operating conditions in refineries and petrochemical plants. They also needed a
New strategic partnership strengthens Critical’s position in Norwegian Oil & Gas markets
supplier with the knowledge, expertise and capacity to meet their stringent cost needs. The reliability of the SIL 3 rating for automated valves on nitric acid, ammonia and urea manufacturing was a key requirement. In response to Setpoint’s requirements, IMI Precision Engineering responded with our comprehensive line of high performance valves, specifically designed for downstream and process industries. The valves are recognised for their reliability and safety, including SIL 3 ratings and two redundant IMI Norgren valve manifolds were selected to integrate the valves. The V81 series with bypass and the V82 without bypass were supplied in two, three and four-valve manifolds to meet various redundancy requirements.
IMI Critical Engineering and MRC Solberg & Andersen have agreed to join forces, complementing their competencies and resources to form a strong centre for control and choke valve solutions and services in Norway. As the world’s sixth largest supplier of crude oil and second largest exporter of natural gas, Norway is an area of strategic importance for IMI Critical Engineering. The venture will provide the foundations for Critical Engineering to work with MRC Solberg & Anderson to combine our collective expertise in service, engineering, logistics, training, and diagnostics to form a world-leading centre for control and choke valve solutions to serve the Norweigan Oil & Gas markets.
RVM is a complete system that is fully SIL certified
Newly designed plug-and-play sanding system improves high speed train safety in China WRITTEN BY Steve Hill
Asia Pacific Rail Sector Head IMI Precision Engineering, China
WRITTEN BY Rob Campbell
Vice President Sales, EAME, IMI CCI IMI Critical Engineering
The solution provided to Setpoint is testament to the understanding Precision Engineering has of their complex requirements. Setpoint and their customers are increasingly demanding SIL-related complete systems where Precision Engineering has both the expertise and capacity to meet their demands.
Sanding systems on high speed trains are a well proven and effective technology. This safety system works by mixing sand with compressed air and spraying it onto the tracks to improve traction during acceleration and deceleration, or when there is grease, ice or oil present. The existing technology is tried and tested, although quite bulky and heavy – with size and weight critical to successful operations. IMI Precision Engineering customer, CRRC Qingdao Sifang, was looking to improve its sanding system by developing a new compact manifold solution for its China Railways High speed trains. The new solution had to be lighter and smaller, with improved pneumatic pressure control to reduce the amount of sand waste and allow for the installation of a space-saving, smaller storage container. A traditional manifold would normally have the individual components – a regulator to control the amount of air pressure, solenoid valves to control the air on/off function, and tubing and fittings – all mounted onto a separate panel.
Taking into consideration the traditional design limitations and customer’s requirements, IMI Precision Shanghai designed a bespoke aluminium manifold that has all the components mounted directly onto it to save space, weight and installation time. The solution also assists accurate sanding control and prevents excess waste. The result is a compact, light, pre-tested and pre-assembled manifold that can be mounted as a ‘plug and play’ module. The response to this solution has been hugely positive, with over 3,000 units already ordered in 2016. The Precision division is keen to consider this technology for similar solutions and investigating supplying the new modules for other train types.
New compact manifold solution saves space, weight and installation time
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customer focus
Meeting the changing needs of the LNG industry through innovation WRITTEN BY Warren Ferguson,
Director of Business Development, Americas, IMI CCI IMI Critical Engineering,
As the global leader in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, IMI Critical Engineering is passionate about maintaining its position at the forefront of the LNG valve market. This sector has advanced dramatically with innovative processes, plant sizes and equipment providers impacting the specification and fundamental nature and the valves used. Many of the more traditional plants are in the range of 1- 3 million tonnes per annum and used very large valves weighing up to 7 tonnes to generate LNG. The LNG sector has advanced quickly with many processes, sizes and equipment providers, all of which impact the associated valves used. Many of the plants in the range of 1 to 3 million tonnes per annum, were using very large valves to generate LNG, which weighed up to 7 tonnes. To respond to the new market dynamics, IMI CCI set out to create a new range of lightweight, spherical castings, specifically for the LNG market, with the aim of replacing the existing cylindrical shape with a spherical profile, to save weight and optimise the design without compromising strength. The development team applied finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics to the product development process. It took three months to create the geometry. The IMI CCI team created a new architecture, and a parametric model that allowed them to quickly scale from small to large sizes.
New LNG design used for Yamal LNG project
The new valves have delivered better cost, delivery and safety outcomes than their legacy predecessors, and met industry needs by providing better flow, faster response and a durable design. IMI CCI has now established the new benchmark in LNG valve design and is proud of having once again led the severe service valve industry through innovation.
New online tool allows accurate specification of severe service products WRITTEN BY Mike Semens-Flanagan Director of Strategic Planning IMI Critical Engineering
Valsiz® 9.0CV, which was developed by IMI CCI, is the first online design tool that takes into account the unique factors applicable to equipment operating in severe service applications in oil & gas, power and nuclear sectors, and allows customers to efficiently identify the most appropriate valve solution. Valsiz® 9.0CV represents a major step change from previous valve sizing tools that assists engineers to determine the size and rating of hardware without reference to criteria such as
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The IMI Newsletter Issue 5
fluid velocity, kinetic energy, noise, pressure drop, vibration, cavitation and flashing. IMI CCI’s Chris Peterson explained: “In critical applications, we need to understand and take into account the other, more unpredictable factors likely to be encountered when processing multi-stage, multi-phase fluids. Failure simply is not an option.” Focusing primarily on IMI CCI products fitted with DRAG® multi-path, multi-stage technology, the tool covers an extensive range of control valves and desuperheaters and generates product datasheets, drawings, sizing summaries, characteristic curves and brochures.
customer focus
Critical Precision Hydronic
Prestigious customer award received for product quality and service in China WRITTEN BY Michael Zhang
Marketing Manager IMI Precision Engineering, China
Jonathan Yuk, Precision Engineering’s China Managing Director receiving the award
IMI Precision Engineering in China was recently honoured with an award recognising it as one of the top ten suppliers to long-term customer, Mindray – a developer, manufacturer and exporter of medical devices for patient monitory, diagnostic and ultrasound imaging systems.
Fabio Bonafini from Hydronic Engineering talks to VIP customers about TA-Modulator
Hydronic showcases innovation with customers WRITTEN BY Marcella Colombino
Corporate Communications Assistant IMI Hydronic Engineering, Switzerland
90 VIP customers attended an exclusive event in the heart of Milan, where IMI Hydronic Engineering showcased its new TA-Slider actuator range and reiterated its long-term commitment to innovation. The Mostra Convegno Event in Milan was all about highlighting innovation to a specially selected group of valuable customers. The event provided a perfect combination of entertainment and business interaction, where guests could discover our new products, enjoy an aperitif and marvel at a talented magician. A broad range of customers attended, from designers and installers to wholesalers and system integrators. The event promoted three key product lines: IMI TA, IMI Pneumatex and IMI Heimeier. The highlight of the evening was the innovation pods, three areas of innovation for each of Hydronic’s key product brands and was a fantastic opportunity for
customers to enjoy a presentation about the new products and have some one-on-one time with Hydronic’s sales team. Customer reactions were extremely positive: “I’ve been hugely impressed with the new Eclipse range of valves. Such revolutionary technology in such a small device raises the bar in terms of energy efficiency and hydraulic balancing for retrofit projects.” Per. Ind. Ollio – Domodossola “In our view the TA-Modulator and the new TA-Slider are a great evolution for precise and linear modulating of valves in both heating and cooling circuits. The big plus is the reverse flow option and energy-saving feature.” Roberto Volpi VPM Srl “The thing that has impressed me the most about the new generation of actuators, TA-Slider, is the versatility. The truly innovative user interface and top level wireless communication technology enables us to imagine and define a new scenario of balancing and control for retrofit projects.” Ing. Costanza Pericotti – Montalba Indoor Air Quality – Voghera (PV)
The award, in recognition of consistent product quality and excellent customer service, was presented by Chen Dayin from Mindray, who has been a valued customer for eleven years, at a ceremony in Shenzhen on 16 April attended by Precision Engineering’s China Managing Director Jonathan Yuk along with National Sales Director, Bruce Li. IMI Precision Engineering, China has built the relationship with Mindray through the appointment of a dedicated Key Account Manager (KAM ) who is focused on the needs and requirements of the customer and a close working relationship between the KAM, Chen Dayin and key customer contacts, who often meet several times a week to monitor the progress of projects. The result has been the co-development of Mindray’s new generation machines using IMI’s products and solutions exclusively. Current projects involve working closely with Mindray’s ventilator department to develop a manifold with IMI FAS valves and IMI Norgren RM1 regulators.
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Reducing the energy costs of India’s mobile phone masts WRITTEN BY Kuldeep Bhan
Managing Director IMI Precision Engineering, India
A major customer of IMI Precision Engineering, India is replacing some older model diesel generators that currently provide power back-up for India’s remotely located mobile communication towers. Essential Energy has recently been awarded a power management contract for 26,500 towers to replace the existing diesel generators with a hydrogen fuel cell based power generation system that has higher running efficiency and reduces emissions that are harmful to health and the environment.
Precision Engineering is supplying Essential Energy with pressure reducing manifolds for hydrogen that will reduce the gas pressure from 200 bar to less than one bar and automatically switch over from a 16 bottle hydrogen bank supply to an 8 bottle bank. The manifolds are high performance, compact, safe and easy to use, and have been tried and tested in demanding industry applications. To date, 7 of the 30 piece pilot production lot have been supplied to Essential Energy and all are operating efficiently and trouble-free.
Hydrogen pressure-reducing and bottle bank switch-over system
IMI STI and IMI CCI work together to win important petrochemical project contract WRITTEN BY Mattia Tami Sales & Marketing, IMI STI IMI Critical Engineering
IMI STI and IMI CCI Korea have worked together to secure orders for actuators and anti-surge valves for the Sibur ZapSib 2 Project, which is part of the Tobolsk petrochemical operations. The plant will be the biggest producer of polymers in Russia and is expected to come online in around five years. It will produce ethylene, propylene, polyethylene and polypropylene.
More than 320 companies from 23 countries are involved in providing materials and services for the construction of the plant, which is claimed to be the biggest in industry history. One of the challenges for IMI STI and IMI CCI Korea was to supply materials for corrosive atmospheres with a very low ambient temperature (-52°C) and the solution was to build a purpose-engineered heated cabinet in 316 stainless steel to house the actuators. Another Engineering GREAT IMI solution to one of the world’s most complex operational problems!
IMI STI actuator and power supply unit under testing at Levate
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The IMI Newsletter Issue 5
people
Critical Precision Hydronic
IMI’s chairman awarded prestigious honour in Queen’s Birthday Honours List
WRITTEN BY Katrina Feeney
Communications & Investor Relations IMI plc
Our Chairman, Lord Smith of Kelvin, was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This award is one of the highest honours the Queen can confer and only 65 people world-wide can hold it at any one time.
Lord Smith received the award for his public service, particularly in Scotland, where he has held a number of significant public roles and made a considerable contribution to the country’s constitution, education system and culture. Most recently, following the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Lord Smith chaired the cross-party commission on Scottish devolution and, as Chair of the organising committee, he played a pivotal role in delivering the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Previously he served as Chairman of the National Museums Scotland and was a driving force in overseeing the redevelopment of the Museum of Scotland. He also chaired Glasgow’s Riverside Museum Appeal, which raised donations and sponsorship to enable Glasgow’s Museum of Transport to
relaunch in a new purpose-built space, which two years after opening, was awarded European Museum of the Year. He was also Vice-Chair of the appeal that raised donations to refurbish the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and he served as a BBC Governor and Chairman of Children in Need, the BBC’s UK corporate charity. He chaired both the ‘Smith Group’, which advised the Scottish Government on young people not in education, employment or training, and the committee which produced a new code of governance for Scottish universities. Previous and current holders of this prestigious award include Winston Churchill, Professor Stephen Hawking, Benjamin Britten, Lucian Freud, Sir David Attenborough, David Hockney, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen.
IMI Learn update
Being a GREAT IMI Manager
WRITTEN BY Sue Hall
WRITTEN BY Sue Hall
Head of Capability Development IMI plc
In February, the Group launched its all new IMI online learning system - IMI Learn. This new and innovative application is a key tool to support the global learning and development of all IMI employees and the system was successfully put to the test in April with the deployment of the IMI compliance training. In just six weeks, over 11,000 training courses were completed. Reaction to the new system has been very positive from across all divisions, with users commenting on the quality of the training as well as the system itself. The IMI Learn Steering Group includes representatives from all three divisions and the group is responsible for the development of the system to meet business needs. Developments planned for 2016 include: l Diversity and Inclusion: The launch of e-learning to support employees in effectively implementing the IMI Diversity and Inclusion policy l Language learning: The launch of e-learning to support employees learning a new language l Induction: New e-learning modules offering an online introduction to IMI to help new starters integrate effectively into the business
Head of Capability Development IMI plc
We are continuing our rollout of the ‘Being a GREAT IMI Manager’ programme. The programme supports and facilitates our five-year strategic plan to ‘Fix, Focus and Grow’, building a business that will last. Participation encourages the sharing of best practice and collaboration across the business and we have excellent support from senior leaders and the Executive at all of the events The programme equips first line managers and supervisors to manage their teams and improve business performance. Over 200 participants from all three divisions will have attended by the end of 2016, with events delivered in the UK, USA, Germany, China and Czech Republic. A number of programmes have been delivered in languages other than English (German, Mandarin & Czech). The plan for 2017 is to continue delivery in these locations and extend into other regions and languages including Korea, Italy, India and Sweden. Participants for the workshop are identified through the Talent Review Process and approved by Divisional Managing Directors.
Developing agers GREAT man 25
people
The ‘One Hour Leader’ programme WRITTEN BY Heather Gilling
Divisional Head of HR Sales and Engineering IMI Hydronic Engineering
To achieve IMI Hydronic’s ambition and grow the business it is essential to equip our teams with the right skills and competencies to unlock their full potential. Hydronic Engineering in the future requires new and different skills to those needed today, but in today’s busy world, finding the time for continuous learning and development can be the biggest challenge. To complement the training and coaching the divisional HR team developed the ‘One Hour Leader’ programme which is a series of bite-sized workshops lasting around 60 to 90 minutes, which aim to bring people from across the business together to collaborate, share best practice and improve the quality of our performance management processes. The focused sessions cover effective development plans, feedback and team motivation and have been designed to maximise learning and fit around the daily schedules of employees.
Animated discussions during one of the workshops
“The short sessions are perfect in making it easy to attend, devoting the attention required and breaking up learning into bite-sized chunks.” said Tomas Berggren Regional Head of Sales, Northern Europe, IMI Hydronic Engineering. The programme encourages people to think about their own and the personal development of their teams in the context of the business strategy and ambitions for future growth. It also underpins the drive of all leaders for people engagement and motivation. “A great initiative. I’ve really enjoyed the training, please continue!” commented Istvan Hosszu, Head of Sales Hungary & Romania. We encourage employees from all corners of the business to get involved. The ‘One Hour Leader’ programme provides a dynamic learning environment where people can interact, discuss common challenges and, most importantly, develop new skills.
Precision product donation furthers scientific research capability
WRITTEN BY Shannon Taft
A special event hosted by scientists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) on 11 April, was held to show the museum’s appreciation to IMI Precision for the donation of core air preparation products. The donation has allowed for an upgrade of its palaeontology laboratories and a doubling in capacity.
The installation of our state-of-the-art equipment will benefit not only the museum’s work, but will contribute to the retention and attraction of volunteers for long-term engagement, simply due to the quality of equipment available to them. This world-leading research museum is now proudly using Precision’s small air picks to extract fossils from sedimentary rocks and uses Precision filters, regulators and fittings at approximately 25 of its stations. April’s event, which was initiated by IMI Precision retired Applications Engineer, Bob Buck, saw over one hundred of our staff and their families treated to tours of labs never normally open to the public. Joe Sertich, PhD, curator of vertebrate palaeontology, also gave an inspiring presentation on the work that DMNS is leading in the field and in the museum laboratories. Bob, now a volunteer himself at DMNS, knew this valuable community cause would interest his former colleagues and show them how the donation has enabled DMNS to further its research capability. Indeed, some of the feedback received showed the impact the event had on staff: “I feel proud of IMI’s support of the museum, this is a great testament to our community involvement.”
World’s GREATEST living explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes at Hydronic’s divisional conference WRITTEN BY Natalie Zeranska
Head of Marketing Communications IMI Hydronic Engineering
What does crossing both the Antarctic and the Arctic ice caps via both poles, as well as climbing 8,848m to the world’s highest peak aged 65 have to do with working at Hydronic Engineering? Quite a lot surprisingly. 26
The IMI Newsletter Issue 5
Marketing Communications Manager IMI Precision Engineering, Denver
people
Critical Precision Hydronic
Apprenticeship programme drives talent pipeline at Bad Oeynhausen WRITTEN BY Kirstin Schroller
HR Officer IMI Precision Engineering, Bad Oeynhausen
The apprenticeship scheme at IMI Precision Engineering, Bad Oeynhausen has been training the brightest and best for over 40 years and 25% of the total current workforce has been through the exacting programmme. Eight to ten apprentices are accepted onto the programme each year, with numbers spread fairly evenly across the areas of shop floor and manufacturing, commercial, logistics, and technical. Depending on the programme, the apprentice will train for 2.5 to 3.5 years through a combination of practical experience and part-time study, before qualifying and undertaking permanent employment. Outside of the core elements of their programme, our apprentices are required to take on several other challenges all designed to provide them with a well-rounded experience. Approximately once a month, three apprentices are challenged to create a presentation for their peers about a given business area quite separate to their own. They are also required to design, organise and attend a stand at the annual job fair where they act
A former apprentice explains how a valve works to potential apprentices
as IMI ambassadors and have the opportunity to promote the company to future recruits. Marc Ebert, for example, finished his apprenticeship as one of the best in his year group in January 2016 after only 2.5 instead of 3.5 apprenticeship years. He is nominated for this external award and will start his dual studies in August, during which he will continue to work for IMI Precision Engineering Bad Oeynhausen and study at the same time, completing his bachelor degree in mechanical engineering after 3.5 years. Efforts throughout the programme are acknowledged, and awards such as ‘best in year’ are presented annually. A regional programme also selects the best apprentice in the area who receives financial reward. Oliver Wehking, Managing Director of the Bad Oeynhausen business said “We are proud of our apprenticeship programme; it is one of our most valuable assets. Through the programme we know we are creating our own talent pipeline; we are recruiting today the qualified employees of the future.”
IMI Critical develops online induction module WRITTEN BY Chris Battersby Human Resources Director IMI Critical Engineering
Since June this year, new recruits to IMI Critical have had the chance to learn about the division’s strategy, ambitions, sectors and products, thanks to the launch of an interactive induction module on IMI Learn, IMI’s online learning system. The induction is available in six key languages used across IMI Critical Engineering. The induction is broken down into several modules, with Roy Twite, Divisional Managing Director, giving an overview of the businesses and the sectors we operate in. An interactive module allows employees to find out about each of our 15 business units, key products and locations. Separate modules then give details on products and sectors that makes our businesses market leaders in their applications. Roy then explains IMI Critical Engineering’s 5-year strategy and the induction finishes with a quiz on the areas covered.
Earlier this year IMI Hydronic Engineering were proud to welcome Sir Ranulph Fiennes to their divisional conference in Berlin. Sir Ranulph was the much-anticipated guest speaker at the gala dinner, and stories from his adventures and misadventures simply stunned the audience! But it was more than just tales and anecdotes to entertain the team, Sir Ranulph was able to illustrate a number of important principles which can be applied to the business world, and proved highly motivational for the Hydronic conference delegates. Firstly: studying the competition in order to outrun them has always been a key part of Sir Ranulph’s work. Looking at their strategies, resources and people and how you can differentiate yourself from the pack was the starting point for many
of Sir Ranulph’s expedition ideas. Much the same can be said for what we do at IMI Hydronic Engineering. Competitor tear-downs have become an institutionalised part of our business processes and the whole organisation is geared to out-perform the other players in the market. Secondly: choosing the right team can prove mission critical. Sir Ranulph really brought home the message that you need to choose your team, not only for the skills that they bring, but also the passion and motivation they show – to ensure that they stay for the long-haul on the journey to GREAT. Thirdly: persistence in the face of adversity. Even the best laid plans can get scuppered by outside events beyond our control. The trick in succeeding against the odds, is not to give up. 27
people US
Pallet recycling reduces carbon footprint WRITTEN BY Robin Lu
Managing Director IMI Precision Engineering, Japan & Korea
Germany
Singapore UK
Korea
Malaysia France
India
IMI Way Day WRITTEN BY Ruth Davies
HR Business Partner, IMI plc
For the last three years IMI Precision Engineering, Japan has been working in partnership with the local community to promote environmentally-friendly activities through industrial waste recycling. The result of these tangible and sustainable activities has been a significant environmental saving with additional cost saving benefits for the local community. One such initiative is the donation of charcoal for use in city-centre flower beds. IMI Precision, Japan receives 8 cubic metres of non-returnable wooden pallets per month that were, until recently, disposed of as industrial waste at a cost to the company. This waste disposal process, which involved simply burning the pallets also generated significant levels of damaging CO2 emissions. To mitigate the cost and environmental implications, we investigated the potential development of a supply chain that could recycle the pallets into environmentally-friendly reusable charcoal. After initiating the new method of pallet disposal, we worked with the local community to find projects that would benefit from the contribution of charcoal. We learnt that it can help prolong the life of flowers and have been supplying charcoal to Suita City ever since. In recognition of this contribution to the city, Precision Engineering Japan received a letter of appreciation in March this year from the mayor of Suita City.
In June, IMI businesses around the world participated in the annual IMI Way Day to review progress made on our journey to Engineering GREAT and reinforce the importance of the IMI Way and Code of Conduct in achieving our vision. Presentations given by site leaders emphasised the excellent progress we have achieved so far against our 5-year plan. We are starting to see the benefits from continued investment in our people, lean, new product development and IT systems. The IMI Way is at the heart of everything we do; through our code, branding, behaviours, responsibility and core processes, which include new product development, internal control, operational excellence, people and leadership development and integrating new businesses.
All employees participated in group activities to remind everyone of the importance of the Code of Conduct in the way we operate and behave, and to hear their views on the investments seen over the last year. As in previous years, colleagues in some businesses also took the opportunity to carry out team building or training exercises or to participate in local community projects. Community activities around the world included: the development and maintenance of a garden used by families who do not have access to outside space in the UK; helping at a soup kitchen serving families with low incomes in Malaysia; volunteering at an Indian charitable organisation which provides food, shelter and education for homeless and orphaned children; and arranging a sports day for children with disabilities in Germany.
Group Head Office IMI plc Lakeside, Solihull Parkway Birmingham Business Park Birmingham B37 7XZ United Kingdom Tel: +44 121 717 3700 www.imiplc.com
Next Edition February 2017 Do you have any articles for the EYE? Please submit your story ideas, and images by the end of December to:
The major of Suita (left) presents the letter of appreciation
Group: Katrina Feeney katrina.feeney@imiplc.com
IMI Precision Engineering: Danielle Hickling danielle.hickling@imi-precision.com
IMI Critical Engineering: Mike Semens-Flanagan mike.semens-flanagan@imi-critical.com
IMI Hydronic Engineering: Natalie Zeranska natalie.zeranska@imi-hydronic.com