Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC (EGA) marked the 40th anniversary of its Suggestion Scheme last week. Over the previous four decades the Suggestion Scheme has received over half a million suggestions from EGA employees and has saved the company roughly AED416 million (US$113 million).
The EGA Suggestion Scheme was first launched in 1981 by then-Head of Industrial Engineering, Glyn Ashley and his team of industrial engineers. Since then over 9,800 employees have submitted over 546,000 suggestions in what has become one of the longest running and most successful employee suggestion programs on Earth.
Among the most successful of all the suggestions received by the program was one to build a breakwater for EGA’s desalination operations in Jebel Ali. The suggestion was received in 2003 and implemented three years later. Since then the breakwater has saved the firm around AED6.68 million (US$1.8 million) each year. In addition to bolstering efficiency, the breakwater has also improved EGA’s sustainability, cutting CO2 production by 245 metric tons each year.
EGA Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban elaborated upon the value of the program in a related press release.
“The Suggestion Scheme is part of our heritage at EGA and continues to deliver great value each year. It is founded on our belief that those closest to a work process are often in the best position to both spot improvements required and implement them. Innovation and continuous improvement are part of our culture at EGA. The Suggestion Scheme is one part of this, along with our Tamayaz programme, as well as decades of investment in technology research and development. All of us together make EGA one of the UAE’s most innovative companies.”
Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Emirates Global Aluminium is an aluminium conglomerate created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA had an estimated enterprise value of US$15 billion at the time the merger took place. The firm is owned equally by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Emirates Global Aluminium holds interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting.