Employees’ ideas and suggestions prove especially beneficial to companies in hotly contested markets and during difficult economic times. WACKER’s Idea Management program again reported record figures in 2010. In total, 7,702 suggestions were submitted. (2009: 5,724). The overall benefit accruing therefrom fell slightly to €11.9 million in 2010 (2009: €12.4 million). The participation rate (number of submitters per 100 employees) increased markedly to 33 percent, up from 28 percent in 2009. The German Institute of Business Administration (“dib”) awarded WACKER the “dib-Förderpreis 2009” for its good idea-management performance.
To maximize the benefit from any ideas submitted, WACKER has interlinked the Employee Suggestion Program, the Wacker Operating System (WOS) and Innovation Management.
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Idea Management |
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2010 |
2009 |
2008 | |||||
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Number of improvement suggestions |
7,702 |
5,724 |
5,808 | |||||
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11.9 |
12.4 |
14.7 | |||||
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Participation rate1 (%) |
33 |
28 |
28 | |||||
The WACKER site in Burghausen has expanded steadily over the past few years. An idea which occurred to Ludwig Miedl, a foreman in the hydrogen chloride factory, ensured that cooling water provision was able to keep pace with that expansion. Miedl realized that it was only necessary to operate one cooling water loop if the two absorption columns were running at less than full capacity. He therefore proposed connecting them up in series: the cooling water exiting the one synthesis tower would serve as the feed for the other. This simple measure has shaved 2 million cubic meters off the site’s consumption of cooling water. This benefits both the environment and saves the company a six-digit euro sum each year. “The great merit of this idea is the recurring benefit: the company gains from this suggestion year after year,” explains Erwin Schadhauser, responsible for Burghausen’s idea management program, adding that “Ideas like this are extremely important in financially difficult times.