Severn Trent's journey to zero product failures

摘要

Between 2007 and 2011 there was an alarming increase in the number of sewage works failing their numeric consents. The deteriorating performance was not in line with the company's ambition of being the best waste and water services provider in the UK. This resulted in a complete review of how Severn Trent Water managed their sewage treatment processes. Using the company's lean management tools, a complete review was undertaken of the sewage treatment process controls. It became apparent that the majority of intervention points were based on the final product and not within the process. This didn't allow the operatives to intervene before a sample was going to breach the consent limits. This resulted in the sites reacting to a failure rather than anticipating it and taking corrective action to prevent the failure in the first place.