Working together to deliver excellence

• Innovative Finnish building components maker sought advice to become a leaner and greener producer
• An audit revealed up to 68 proposed changes that could deliver some € 800 000 in savings

Lumon Oy manufactures, sells and installs balcony façade products and glazed terraces. Their main raw materials are aluminium and toughened or laminated glass. The products are manufactured and designed mainly at the Kouvola works in Finland. The company has a second factory in Tampere and subsidiaries in Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Canada, and China.

Lumon’s Kouvola plant was the subject of a material audit carried out using Motiva’s audit model, the purpose of which was to identify measures to improve material efficiency in production. The audit covered costs related to raw materials, utilities and energy commodities, as well as labour. The material balances focused particularly on material flows in the production of glass and aluminium profile packages for three of the company’s main products.

Important contributors to the results were the commitment shown by Lumon’s key personnel and the enthusiasm of the staff. The brainstorming workshop method combined with preliminary information on the findings of the material audit was found to be successful. Working together was effective and it also increased the participant's commitment to the improvements to be made.

Key benefits

• The audits bring out tacit knowledge
• Changing behaviours and processes
• Meters for the use and monitoring of materials
• Waste monitoring system
• 68 proposals for action
• An annual savings potential of almost € 800 000