Challenges
One of ATS’ customers is a leading global heavy equipment manufacturer that produces a range of quality construction and forestry equipment, including articulated dump trucks, motor graders, 4WD loaders, log skidders, felling heads and wheeled feller bunchers. Their plant in Iowa operates in approximately 2.4 million square feet of space and employs more than a thousand workers.
The ATS site manager was noticing that when plant personnel needed to send items out for repair or when welding equipment required calibration, they had a difficult time tracking equipment status.
When they would route parts and equipment to other vendors for repair or calibration, and when they needed a status, they had to follow up directly. There was no system in place to track vendor performance or gather valuable data on equipment failure. This meant employees wasted valuable time contacting vendors for updates and preventative maintenance opportunities were lost.
Solution
The ATS Site Manager knew there was a better way to handle the process, as one of ATS’ core competencies is their electronic and mechanical parts repair and calibration services. He implemented and now serves as the point person to lead needed services through one of ATS’ state-of-the-art, ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 accredited facilities. This ensures that plant employees can easily and quickly get the parts they need with minimal downtime.
By using ATS’ barcode system, the Site Manager is able to scan parts and equipment that needs to be repaired or calibrated, with the ability to keep track of the status in real time. This improved tracking process from what the plant had prior also enables the Site Manager to monitor overall vendor performance and gather data on parts failure and equipment calibration needs.
Results
With this established ATS process, plant personnel no longer have to send, track and follow up on repairs and calibration work individually. Now the ATS team manages the process, providing employees with a single contact for status updates. That saves time that they can use more productively on other tasks.
Plant personnel were so pleased with the new approach that they posted an “excellent” rating for ATS in the company’s internal supplier network page, which is accessible to employees across the manufacturer’s global operations. The manufacturer credited ATS with saving an estimated $316K in Level 3 cost avoidance over the first 7 months – and counting – with the improved process implementation.
