HVTDC 5S Program Helps Atlantic Detroit Diesel
Improve Efficiency
“The staff wants to sustain all that we have accomplished to date from HVTDC’s training, and to put everything in a place that makes productivity work better.”
Bob Earle
Branch Manager
“We were splitting at the seams with so much stuff,” states Bob Earle, Branch Manager of the Saugerties New York Rebuilding Center of the Atlantic Detroit Diesel-Allison, LLC (Atlantic DDA), “that we could barely move around the shop floor, much less find anything.” Earle had known of a program, the 5S Program, because Atlantic DDA had offered the training at some of the company’s other branches and subsidiaries. Since the program was not available from the company’s headquarters in Detroit, Earle contacted the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) in Fishkill to provide 5S Program training to the staff at the Saugerties facility.
To initiate the 5S program, the staff broke the shop into three different spaces overseen by three different teams. Earle stated, “We began right after HVTDC’s training with a kickoff meeting. Through the months I have met often with the three team’s leaders who were responsible for their specific section of the shop. We realized we need monthly meetings to bring up problem areas in each section and to ensure that our housekeeping doesn’t fall behind.”
Earle reported that, “Our staff really latched on to the 5S concept.” HVTDC Lead Engineer, Arnold Most, strongly agrees and summarizes the 5S Program as: Sort – Go through a plant, determine what needs to be thrown out; moved to another area; or remain where it is. “The Atlantic staff loaded up dumpster after dumpster. I’ve rarely seen such a thorough cleaning out. It doesn’t look like the same company.” Set it all in order for the most efficient operational flow. Shine – Get out the mop, the cleaning products, etc. “Atlantic is a transmission plant,” states Most, “so there’s a lot of grease and oil and some areas had gotten pretty messy. They cleaned it all up.”
Standardize – Examine what areas of the plant should be used for specific purposes and document this. Sustain – Establish what needs to take place on a weekly or monthly basis to sustain what has been achieved. Create checklists to sustain an area that has been sorted, set in order, cleaned up and designated for specific tasks.
Based in Lodi, New Jersey, Atlantic DDA sells and services diesel and alternative fuel engines, transmissions and related components, parts and accessories for equipment servicing various on- and off-highway markets. These markets include medium and heavy-duty trucks, buses, fire and emergency vehicles, power generation systems, commercial and pleasure marine equipment, construction and industrial equipment in the five boroughs of New York, Long Island, eastern New York state, northern New Jersey, western Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont.
The Saugerties branch opened in 1999, and since that time has been serving the needs of other branches of Atlantic DDA. “Through the years our 18,000 feet of shop space became the dumping ground for a lot of stuff, and we were getting overwhelmed.“
Successes to Date: Earle reported that the staff had cleaned out enough from the shop to already garner $2,000 in scrap metal recycling alone. ”The shop area has been cleaned up so much that it now accommodates more transmissions so the company can bring in more work.”
The areas the staff recognizes they ‘need more work in” is to continually address the shine and sustain steps. “The staff wants to sustain all that we have accomplished to date from HVTDC’s training, and to put everything in a place that makes productivity work better.” To help them sustain the productive workspace they desire, the staff members took before and after photos to remind themselves of what shouldn’t happen in the future.
For additional information, call 845-896-6934.