May 31, 2005

Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS) brings a proactive approach to machine maintenance. Jennifer Monroe reports

In a time of uncertainty and change for US manufacturers, Advanced Technology Services (ATS) is giving outsourcing a good name. "We make factories run better by bringing world-class maintenance into our customers' plants," says Jeff Owens, president. "Many companies don't think much about increasing productivity through world-class maintenance, but you can. Our deliverable is machine availability; making sure the machines are available and ready to go."

ATS takes a proactive approach to maintenance work to help its customers prevent costly downtime. "Maintenance work, traditionally, is reactive," Owens explains. "When we go into a facility we implement processes to make sure the majority of the work we do occurs when the machine is not broken. Our job is to prevent failure; to catch things before they happen."

This machine wellness approach is of particular value to ATS' target customers, which include a number of Fortune 500 companies. "The people we target invest heavily in their manufacturing and downtime is very expensive," Owens says. "Most of our customers are very large manufacturers, some of the world's leaders, who made a decision to [outsource]. It makes sense for them to invest in making their assets last longer."

Working with large manufacturers such as Eaton and Honeywell comes naturally to ATS, as the company originated as a spin-off enterprise from Caterpillar. Today it supplies outsourced factory maintenance, industrial component repair, and IT services for the leaders in automotive, consumer durables, heavy equipment, government, healthcare, finance, and aerospace industries.

When a company decides to outsource its maintenance, ATS' employees become part of the daily operations. Often these employees are hired directly from the customer. How many ATS employees are at each site depends upon the customer. It ranges from one or two, to as many as 175 staff members at one location. This includes those in leadership positions and front line employees. "We are an integral part of the operation," Owens says. "Our people are there every day; that's their assignment."

Because of this, ATS invests much effort in making sure the cultures will match. "We look for customers with common objectives, quality initiatives, and focus on continuous improvement," Owens explains. "We work to make sure we mesh very well with their organization."

ATS offers its customers the opportunity to outsource to a company that is ISO certified and practices six sigma in its own operations. "We need to be involved with and understand those processes because our customers are," Owens says. "We need to speak the same language and the only way to do that is to utilize them in our own business."

Having full-time black belts and a number of green and yellow belts on its staff gives ATS the ability not only to focus on its own continuous improvement efforts, but to work together on projects with its customers. "Many of the projects we work on are between our customers and ATS," Owens says. "It improves our operation and their operation. We are there at their site everyday-we're really a guest in their plant-and the workflow bounces from the customer to ATS and back many times. To do all that you have to know what you're talking about. You have to have your people totally immersed in it. "We have a much better relationship with [our customers] because we match up with them well on continuous improvement," he continues. "I don't think we'd be nearly as successful as we have been if we didn't engage with those things early on. The expectation of our customers is that we operate very professionally because we operate right inside their plants."

Even companies that are just beginning a quality improvement program find benefit in working with ATS. "When companies start on a journey, be it lean, six sigma, or ISO, they often find their current maintenance operation cannot fit," Owens says. "With lean, a lot of work needs to be done to get the machines ready and in position. We're a lean enabler. We know how that works and we can be a very important part of their effort on their lean journey or whatever initiative they are undertaking. We can be a big change agent in maintenance and allow them to go faster and farther."

Of course success relies heavily upon the people ATS puts in the field, and they are not what you might expect. Those holding leadership and management positions often have four-year degrees with many holding advanced degrees. On the technical side, the company is moving toward multi-craft technicians and away from the silo approach. "We are developing our workforce into high level technicians," Owens explains. "We want to have well-rounded individuals who can solve a problem and understand the dynamics of a problem very quickly."

Its dedication to this approach is evident in the company's new program that trains high school graduates to be multi-craft technicians. "There is a looming crisis coming with the shortage of people in the skilled trades," Owens says. "We want to track [program participants] to manufacturing. When we train them we give them the culture, the business, and the customer service training as well as the hard technical skills. The expectation right from the beginning is to give them a wide range of skills. The higher skills they have, the more employable they are."