Operations capability-building

To achieve the sustainable continuous improvements of truly lean operations, companies need to execute holistic programs. They have to give their organizations clear visions for operational excellence and the ability to identify and execute on situation-specific targets, but also individual approaches to address the soft side of change - capability building and changes in mindsets and behaviors. The journey is difficult, but the rewards are still fast and very considerable. 

Knowledge transfer, capability building, and mutual learning are even less likely than usual to happen automatically and naturally if colleagues rarely see each other here, appropriate incentives need to be defined to make sure that people communicate with and support one another. Finally, there is a danger that overhead will be duplicated in each business division. This should be kept to a minimum by finding ways to tap into synergies across business units, in local sales operations, for instance. 

The adhesives are used in the construction industry that includes residential and commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and other elements of the infrastructure. They are utilized for manufacturing a number of structural products, such as softwood plywood, laminated timbers, laminated paper-based panels, etc. More recently, adhesives have been used to replace mechanical fastenings in the assembly operation of building construction. These are called construction adhesives. The compounds must be capable of producing adequate bonds in poorly fitting joints with thick and variable thickness bondlines.t " ... 

EPM and EPDM are not oil resistant, and are swollen by aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, and halogenated solvents. They have excellent electrical properties and stability to radiation. Their densities are the lowest of the synthetics, and they are capable of accepting large quantities of filler and oil. They exhibit poor tack, and even if tackifiers are added, it still is not ideal for building operations. Adhesion to metal, fabrics and other materials, can be difficult to accomplish. 

Titan Wood limited was formed in April 2003, by Accys Chemicals PTC, a UK-based company. The company is in the process of building a full-scale production facility for the acetylation of solid wood located at Arnhem in The Netherlands, which will become operational at the end of 2005. The company acquired equipment and intellectual property owned by the former AKBV, based in Arnhem. AKBV developed a pilot plant acetylation reactor of 2 300 litre capacity, 85 cm in diameter and 4 m long, capable of acetylating 0.9 m of solid wood per batch. 

It is briefly reported that, with its factories running at full capacity in the production of expandable PP beads used in core material of automobile bumpers, JSP International recently started building a new plant in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The new plant, with an annual production capacity of 2,800 tons, is scheduled to start operations next July. With a 75% share of the US plastic bumper market, the company is currently capable of producing 14,000 t/y of expandable PP beads. 

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