ABU DHABI, 17th July, 2017 (WAM) -- Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that savings from implementing employee suggestions have reached AED 17 million since the start of the year, with employees making over 18,000 suggestions for operational and technical improvements since the year began.

EGAs employee suggestion scheme is a foundation of EGAs competitiveness in the global aluminium industry.

The suggestion scheme was launched in 1981 and is open to all employees, from management to the most junior operator. Staff receive a proportion of the savings generated by their ideas that are implemented and make day-to-day work more efficient, and ideas range from simple work process improvements to ingenious technical fixes.

Abdulla Kalban, EGAs Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said, "EGA has operated an employee suggestion scheme for over 35 years, and it engages everyone to think constantly how we can do things better. We believe that often it is people closest to a problem that can both spot it and work out the best solution. In a competitive industry like ours, we have to improve every day."EGA recognises the best ideas each month, and in an annual competition that is judged by a panel led by Mr. Kalban.

The best idea in 2016 was a machine to separate small pieces of coke by size. A team of operators conceived, designed and built a small machine to perform the task, which was previously carried out by hand.

EGA also focuses on the continuous improvement of its core industrial process technology.

EGA has been developing its own technology in the UAE for over 25 years, and in 2016 became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally, a major milestone on the UAEs drive to develop a knowledge-based economy.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.