Safety, quality, superior environmental performance:
building value through operational excellence
The focus and attention to detail required to achieve outstanding safety, quality and environmental performance are the same disciplines required to raise yields, control costs and achieve operational excellence. Witco is committed to these goals...from innovative thinking that helps create superior environmental results to renewing our commitment to safety.
Working Safely.
During the past two years, Witco's overall safety performance has improved dramatically - from the bottom 10% to the top 10% of our industry. Excellent safety performance is a process of continuous improvement that we are vigorously pursuing as part of our long-term commitment to make Witco the safest place to work in the chemical industry. Despite our progress, every Witco employee felt profound sadness when, during 1998, we experienced two tragic fatalities. Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families of the two employees, and we have strengthened our resolve to never let this happen again.
We believe all accidents are preventable and at the end of 1998, we began formal, rigorous training in root cause analysis to enable Witco personnel to isolate and eliminate potential safety concerns.
We have created an internal network of Witco professionals with expertise in specific disciplines within safety, health and environmental affairs. They form an easily accessed internal resource for operations managers.
Our expert network also plays an important role in the new safety, health and environmental audit program begun in 1998. Comprising professionals from around Witco, these audit teams help facilities meet consistent company-wide standards for excellence, and they look for innovative solutions they can use in their own operations.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking.
Sometimes, looking at old problems in new ways produces surprising results. That's what happened when our Sistersville, West Virginia facility became the first chemical plant in the nation to finalize a project under the Environmental Protection Agency's Project XL. In exchange for regulatory flexibility, Witco's project provides superior environmental performance at a lower cost. The result? A cleaner environment and a more cost-effective facility.
Our new Termoli, Italy silane plant is another example of innovative thinking. Its patented direct reaction process eliminates the use and transportation of chlorine, which forms unwanted byproducts in conventional processes. Witco's new process is particularly capital efficient, in an area of technology which is traditionally capital intensive. We are committed to using this process and a proprietary generation of efficient downstream derivatives processes in future silane expansions.
We have also established a company-wide Zero Release Initiative. In our first full year under the initiative, we reduced unpermitted releases by 40%.
A Commitment to Quality.
Witco businesses have achieved market leadership by delivering more than innovative products to our customers. We also provide outstanding technical service and we are working hard to improve our customer service. We are committed to working with our customers to identify our weaknesses and fix them quickly and effectively.
During 1998, Witco made substantial progress toward achieving this goal. Using root cause analysis, our new global network of quality champions significantly reduced our overall level of complaints, resulting in better service for our customers, and significant savings for Witco. By training employees in the use of sophisticated quality tools, we seek to continuously improve product, process, and service quality for our customers.
Enterprising Results.
Information is a strategic asset. Those companies that cultivate and manage it have the power and flexibility to reconfigure themselves to meet changing customer and market needs. During 1998, Witco began rolling out Enterprise Design for Global Excellence (EDGE), an integrated supply chain system that will provide insight into all sales, manufacturing and financial operations. Completing the implementation of our EDGE process is an important goal for 1999, critical to Year 2000 compliance and to serving our customers at an excellent level.
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