THE DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR BOILERS AT MACKAY SUGAR LIMITED

FOLLOWING THE INTRODUCTION of the operational excellence (OE) program at Mackay Sugar Limited (MSL), a new type of standard operating procedure (SOP) has been developed and is being introduced for all production related activities at Marian, Racecourse, Farleigh and Mossman mills. The main objectives of the new SOPs are several. These include to standardise on best practices across all factory sites and to provide a basis for training personnel in production systems at MSL. The expected outcomes are better and safer operational practices and improved consistency in operations. These procedures are being created with the input of operational personnel and are reviewed and approved by factory management. The format of the new type of SOPs is considerably changed from the previous styles of document, which were written in a legalistic format that is not reader-friendly. The new SOPs are structured to be easy to read with high visual impact to both reinforce operational practices and assist in learning. The SOPs are constructed to be clear, accurate and succinct. They have short written instructions for each step and are accompanied by photographic illustrations. In this regard, they are guided by a fundamental principle in operational excellence called visual management (VM). The SOPs contain additional information to explain or reinforce each step in the procedure. These are designed to reduce ambiguity and to provide coaching for operational personnel. The SOPs will play a critical role in the training of new staff and in the re-training of existing staff. The standardised SOPs allow for smoother transition of employees from site to site. This paper describes the accelerated program for the development of standard operating procedures for boilers following a significant incident during steam trials at the start of the 2016 crush season.