Star Factory Methodology

Playbook Objectives

The Star Factory Scale Leader is part of the corporate team and is responsible for deploying a Star Factory exercise on a site. This playbook describes how to set-up, structure & design a Star Factory approach on a given site.

This content is based on the experience of 2 pilot sites in the beginning of 2022 and is to be considered as a guide to successfully deploy Star Factory. As such, the deployment of Star Factory should be tailored to the specific situation of each site.

Star Factory Objectives

The chemical industry's right to operate is being challenged. Star Factory program equips our sites for the future addressing our key 5 business objectives in a systematic and scalable approach:

• Safety - Health, safety and security as a part of our DNA
• Customer Satisfaction - Delivering innovative, nature-positive products and services meeting clients expectations
• Competitiveness - Building over time leading-edge industrial benchmark on cost & order fulfillment
• Sustainability - Protecting the environment, preserving resources and fostering better life
• Employee Engagement - Teams engaged, upskilled, empowered and supported by the leadership in their daily work to help achieve their objectives. Incubator for future generations of talents

To achieve this ambition, the Star Factory approach is structured across 5 workstreams:

• Operational Excellence & Safety - Lean fundamentals applied everywhere, and capacity plan tailored to the demand 
• Sustainable Technology & Process - Going beyond compliance is a matter of survival
• People & Capabilities - Attracting and retaining talents, upskilling and transferring capabilities, while fostering diversity
• Digital Foundations - Digitalization of our sites to create value and support growth
• Governance - Setting up the governance & communication to sustain performance in time, including beyond the plant

On top of deploying fundamentals in these domains, Star Factory introduces disruptive ideas and leverages internal and external partnerships (see illustration for internal partnerships below).

Implementation

Star Factory Scale leader orchestrates standard activities to prepare, build, and launch detailed design of the roadmap. Creating the roadmap along clearly defined and prioritized initiatives while setting up the adequate governance structure to start implementation is divided into 4 phases (see below).