Dubal wins 2008 Ideasuk International Award

The winning suggestion - "Redirect culvert outfall toward north, away from the water intake" - was originally submitted in the DUBAL Suggestion Scheme by one of the company's employees Altaf Hussain (Senior Desalination Operator).

Commented Abdulla J M Kalban (President and Chief Executive Officer), "The DUBAL Suggestion Scheme provides a means for our employees to learn problem-solving skills, improve processes, suggest solutions to problems and see their suggestions being implemented. The quality of the suggestions is such that they regularly score highly in external competitions, both regionally and internationally. The DUBAL Management is proud of these achievements."

The other competitors in the 2008 Ideas.UK competition included major companies, notably Ricoh Products, BUPA, Lloyds TSB, UK Ministry of Defence, Cyprus Telecommunications, Bharat Aluminium, Emirates Group, Jumeirah Group and Dubai World. It entailed an innovative solution to overcome the increased temperature of the DUBAL Desalination Plant's intake water following the construction of a breakwater in the 1990s (to protect the intake from potential oil slick during the Gulf War). The close proximity of the outfall to the open space of the breakwater meant that hot water from the outfall was being re-circulated, with adverse implications in terms of the temperature sensitive operation of the evaporators and cooling of the steam turbines, resulting in reduced water production and power generation capabilities. By diverting the outfall away from the intake seawater break, the temperature of the intake water has been reduced back to former levels, resulting in a recurring annual saving of Dhs6.7m.

Earlier, the same suggestion won the Idea of the Year Trophy in the '2008 Idea of the Year' competition hosted by the US-based Employee Involvement Association (EIA-US).

DUBAL has actively promoted employee involvement since 1981, when the company decided to tap into the creative and innovative capability of the workforce, so as to achieve continuous improvement. By contributing ideas, employees help DUBAL improve its performance and meet its goals more effectively; while at the same time improving their own performance. In the past 27 years, the initiative has resulted in phenomenal growth and brought accolades in international forums for the company.

In 2007, DUBAL implemented and awarded over 10,000 suggestions with an overall employee participation of 100% (i.e. all eligible employees submitted at least one awarded suggestion). In the same year, the DUBAL Suggestion Scheme achieved audited savings of more than Dhs18.75m. "The DUBAL Suggestion Scheme is a vehicle for our employees to express their ideas. It also gives them a chance to see those ideas are put into action," said Ibrahim Nassir, (Executive Vice President: HR & OE and Corporate Services).

Marwan Sawaleh (General Manager: Human Resources) added:

"The DUBAL Suggestion Scheme is an invaluable tool to the company and its employees, as a means of communicating creative solutions and ideas for the work place."