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Published in:
2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Anode Baking Furnace Firing System Lean Engineering
Authors : Philippe Contard, Christophe Bayard, Yann El Ghaoui, Yvan Foster, François Ordronneau, Peter Sulzberger, Edgard Altmann, Raphael Grange, Jérémie Lhuissier, Patrick Noraz
Published in: Light Metals 2014
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Smelters are more and more implementing Lean manufacturing principles in the way they manage operations. Rio Tinto Alcan, deeply involved in this approach, has been applying Lean principles also to the engineering process for the development of its new ‘in house’ anode baking furnace firing system in 2011. First, the new firing system has been designed to fit the voice of customer. A large survey was conducted across RTA smelters to collect client feedback on existing equipment/systems and their recommendations for system improvement and user flexibility. Secondly, an efficient internal partnership was established within RTA (Technology and R&D and Alesa) to define and develop the system with the support of a very experienced smelter team for the industrialization process (St Jean de Maurienne). Finally, the time to market was exceptionally fast with the first full-scale firing system being commissioned flawlessly in April 2013 at the Aluminium Dunkerque smelter.