BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS FOR PROGRESS

Mr. William W. Beaver, P.E.
IMP Director
(803) 981-7349
bbeaver@yorktech.com

 
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William W. Beaver

There is no greater challenge for a metalworking facility than to continuously improve uptime of the machinery.  That is, bottom-line, “making more acceptable parts per day from your machinery.” Imagine a shop when a CNC machine has an unplanned downtime event that people “attack it like a NASCAR pit stop.” 

In discussing race strategy with a crew chief, he told me it's simple, “Our plan is for the driver to pass two cars on the track, and for our pit crew to pass eight cars in the pits.  Then we'll move up ten places each race.”

I've never forgotten that conversation because at the end of the Winston Cup season, that team won the championship.  In a way, that is exactly what we do in metalworking.  We pass two competitors when we get the order, but our operation and maintenance people must pass eight more by keeping the machine up and running at the performance we specify.  Of course, the next question is, how? 

I also had the opportunity to observe this team train for a pit stop.  They planned and trained to win.  They know their machine inside and out, a necessary condition for success when machinery is involved in your business.  The team video taped its “maintenance activity,” used a stopwatch, and continuously looked for new ways to minimize the pit stop (or downtime of their machine).

We take the same winning attitude at the Okuma Institute for Manufacturing Productivity (IMP).