Founded in 1985 in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, Sicad Coala manufactures heating, ventilation and air conditioning products. In addition to local markets, the company targets regional export markets in Algeria and Libya, where it faces strong competition. BRCP and Sicad Coala jointly designed a technical collaboration effort to help the company improve productivity while strengthening its product portfolio and raising quality levels.
Chouabi Bilel, an Industrial Engineering Consultant engaged by BRCP, explained “We have a productivity problem, the cost of production here is much higher than at Coala’s competitors. We began with a diagnosis. We found many problems. But with the working group and management we put together an action plan and chose three projects; 5S, communication, and enhancing the productivity of the production line…we also worked on workplace design, and improving work positions to reduce lost and wasted time.”
The technical collaboration effort enhanced Coala’s competitiveness by optimizing plant layout, increasing production capacity, and improved employee productivity by 15 to 20 percent.
“With the support of BRCP,” said Mr. Heni Ali, technical manager at Sicad Coala, “we worked on workplace design, improving work positions to reduce lost and wasted time…We improved productivity, which led to more satisfied clients.”
Chouabi Bilel stressed the long-term impact of the technical collaboration, “We worked most of all on sustainability. I should train the team to continue the work, maintain the state of the factory, and to propose other improvements.”
As a result of BRCP and Coala’s technical collaboration effort, Coala created 54 new jobs to respond to new demand.
