Yara International : Implementing continuous improvement at Yara's production plants
October 19, 2017 at 03:41 am EDT
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Oslo, October 19, 2017
Yara employees are transforming their workplaces and delivering big improvements in productivity.
It's all part of the Yara Productivity System (YPS), a new way of working that empowers employees to solve problems where they happen, and then continuously improve the solutions.
Several of the plants where YPS has been implemented have already shown drastic improvements - with plants not only posting production and reliability records, but also helping teams to turbocharge their performance.
What's more, they're enjoying their work more: 'Our employees know the business, they know their work, so for them it's important they get the opportunity to show how they can do their jobs better and more efficiently,' says Belle Plaine Plant Manager, Michael Schlaug.
Some examples of productivity improvements:
At Yara Belle Plaine, Canada, a systematic approach to eliminating wasted time and more insourcing of maintenance activities have enabled the plant to improve costs in Q3 by $1 million.
Belle Plaine has also seen five straight months of uptime since the end of the YPS rollout. This has led to a quarterly improvement of 21,000 tonnes of ammonia and 59,000 tonnes of Urea.
Uusikaupunki, Finland, increased volumes by 13,000 tonnes in Q3, despite producing a higher grade of NPK, which typically decreases output.
YPS will be rolled out to 26 of Yara's fertilizer plants by the end of 2018. YPS will make the largest contribution to the Yara Improvement Program, which will deliver at least USD 500 million in annual EBITDA improvements by 2020.
Yara International ASA published this content on 19 October 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 19 October 2017 07:40:08 UTC.
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Yara International ASA is a worldwide leader in producing and selling mineral fertilizers. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- production and sale of mineral fertilizers (72.8%): 26.4 million tons sold in 2022 of simple nitrogenated fertilizers (calcium nitrates, urea, etc.), complex fertilizers (nitrogen- phosphorous- and potassium- based), specialty fertilizers (plant nutrition products, potassium nitrates, etc.), and magnesium- and sulfur-based fertilizers. Net sales are distributed by geographic area between Europe (32.9%), Americas (48.8%), Africa and Asia (18.3%);
- sale of industrial chemical products (18.5%): 7.4 million tons of nitrogen based chemical products sold (including ammonia, nitric acids, ammonium nitrates) for the automotive, construction, waste treatment, shipping, chemical, mining and animal feed industries;
- production of ammonia (8.1%). The group also develops ammonia trading activity;
- other (0.6%).
At the end of 2022, the group had 26 production sites worldwide.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Europe (35.4%), Brazil (25.6%), Latin America (8%), Asia (12.6%), North America (12.4%) and Africa (6%).
YARA INTERNATIONAL ASA 
