Yara Good Housekeeping Challenge

Yara’s large factory site in Sluiskil, Zeeland bustles with activity, with many people performing various tasks daily, but also suffers from too much litter left behind, which could even cause unsafe situations. A safe environment is a tidy environment. That’s what Yara wanted to see on the sprawling site, which was almost as big as a small Zeeland village with just as many residents and a daily colorful palette of guests, contractors, students, and borrowed staff entering the gate. However, it is not just a matter of scattered waste. It’s also about neatly stored materials, preventing overflowing containers and spilled raw materials that Yara strives for. Just as they strive for getting used to reporting minor incidents, such as collision damage to a pole or traffic sign and the breaking of barrier chains. There was already attention for this, but it happened insufficiently.

The challenge

The challenge was not easy. A change in mentality and behavior was needed among the many hundreds of people involved at all levels of the organization and beyond. there are about 400 of the over 600 Yara employees and 150 to 200 contractors and suppliers at the Yara site every day. Not all Yara employees are present at the same time; about half of the staff work in five teams divided over 3 shifts, taking over work from each other. During a ‘turnaround’, the number of additional people sometimes increases to up to 1,200 per day. Moreover, it is a mix of various disciplines, education levels, nationalities, languages, and cultures. They all work on the Yara site, which is large -and – due to its 90-year history – downright dated in some places.

Already implemented measures

Yara already deployed several measures to achieve improvement. Addressing people, biannual collective Good Housekeeping rounds, and a control and reporting process, for example. However, all efforts had not yet led to the desired result.

Goal of the challenge

Yara’s goal was to have the best-organized factory site in the Zeeland industry within 1 year and to maintain that status. Not because of the prestigious ranking itself, but because of the demonstrable relationship between a tidy site and a safe working environment. Moreover, a neat and well-kept workplace contributes to a professional image and higher employee engagement. That is why this challenge was initiated, to collect creative and innovative ideas that help the company achieve and maintain this ambitious goal.

Seeking out innovative

To achieve this goal, Yara was looking for innovative solutions that could influence the behavior of all those involved on site and promote cleaning and tidying up the environment. It was of great importance that these solutions are widely supported by both Yara employees and contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders who enter the site daily.

The result

Ben Steffen, co-founder of Imagine Creative Agency from Tholen, won the Yara Good Housekeeping challenge. With his presentation of ‘The Game,’ he won the Housekeeping part of the competition. With what Steffen calls Gamification, he wants to help Yara change the behavior of a large, diverse group of people in a fun way, in the form of a game, so that nothing is left lying around.

GET UNLOCKED

During this innovation event, the focus is entirely on the theme of energy transition. Professionals, experts, and stakeholders are taken on a vibrant program full of inspiring keynotes and demos from ambitious entrepreneurs and will actively work on the energy transition during various ‘Get Unlocked Experiences’ in and around Dockwize.

As a grand finale, we will announce the results of the Boost the Grid challenge. In this challenge, 6 participants will still be in the race with an innovative solution for the grid congestion issue. During the final on June 15th, the project applications that will be supported by the Zeeuwse Publieke Belangen Foundation will be announced.

In short: an event to share knowledge, network, and exchange ideas about the future of energy. We look forward to meeting you!