Gulf Extrusions gears up for Six Sigma implementation to achieve continuous process improvements

The move is in line with Gulf Extrusions' strategy of achieving continuous process improvements and is expected to help the company consolidate its position in the highly competitive regional market.

"By introducing statistical process control across the plant we aim to further boost our business infrastructure and take our product quality to new heights. The pursuit of such an integrated approach towards quality is certain to help Gulf Extrusions reinforce its commitment to customer satisfaction, and in the process enabling us to maximise demand for our high quality aluminium products across the Middle East,"

said Modar Al Mekdad, General Manager, Gulf Extrusions.

Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process - from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing.

To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications.

Six Sigma is a scientifically proven set of techniques to reduce variability and defects in products, services and processes, and it provides robustness to make the products and processes insensitive to natural variability.

At Gulf Extrusions, our focus on quality permeates through the entire production and after-sale process, including sourcing the finest raw materials such as homogenized aluminium billets and high precision dyes, using state-of-the-art extrusion presses, on-the-job training for new technologies, simplifying the delivery logistics, provision for adequate packaging to avoid damages in freight and efficient post-sale service. The Six Sigma implementation will among other benefits, result in fewer defects that will boost customer satisfaction and revenues," added Al Mekdad.

Al Mekdad also pointed out that an increased focus on quality need not necessarily add to the cost of the product and can in fact reduce costs.

"The stringent process control methods and efficient handling of manufacturing non-conformities and rejections that we follow have enabled us to reduce the overall cost of quality at the plant," he said.

The demand for aluminium extrusion in the Middle East region as a whole is expected to reach an average of 550,000 metric tons per annum by the end of 2008, with KSA, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait accounting for most of the demand.

Gulf Extrusions, which is part of the Al Ghurair Group of Companies, produces profiles ranging from architectural sections to components for household items, AC grills and customised products.

The company also extrudes products of several European suppliers and companies under agreement.

Nearly 70% of Gulf Extrusions' production is supplied to the domestic market to support the enormous construction projects in the UAE.

The rest are exported to South East Asia, other GCC countries, Europe and Canada.