State-of-the-Art Plant Operation Combining Kaizen & Digital Technology and the Challenge for LNG Value Chain Optimization

Abstract

A prosperous business player must gain a competitive advantage over other companies to survive and dominate the market. In Japan, electricity market has progressively started its liberalization in 2000, and full liberalization in 2016 allowed all consumers to freely choose the power retailer. In response to these dramatic changes in the business environment, we have proactively introduced KAIZEN and digital technology to gain a competitive edge. KAIZEN was introduced in Japanese automobile manufacturing and based on the philosophical belief that "nothing is seen as a status quo and everything can be continuously improved by racking one's brain." Simply saying, it is an initiative to improve efficiency value-adding work, and to eliminate non-value-adding work and waste & loss which we can not recognize. In addition, the advancement of digital technology enabled us to analyze the big data which we have storaged from the past more easily and in more detail. As a result of introducing of KAIZEN and digital technology, the periodic inspection of thermal power plants has been shortened by over 40 %, and maintenance costs have been reduced by over 30 %. This paper illustrates the details of our initiatives implementing KAIZEN and digital technology and our challenges in optimizing the LNG value chain applying the KAIZEN knowledge.