ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS

Although originally developed for manufacturing operations, such process-improvement regimens as the famed Six Sigma methodology (introduced at Motorola in 1986) are being adapted and scaled down to boost productivity and quality in the truck shop.

Greg Caldwell, co-owner with his wife Christina of the Chantilly, VA-based independent garage G&C Express, operates two shops staffed by 16 employees. To better and more cost-effectively serve G&C's customer base of mainly small fleets running everything from medium-duty straight trucks to full-size vans, Caldwell devised his own version of Six Sigma and put it to work.

G&C's campaign started with the basics — super clean floors and work spaces — and then moved into greater detail. Caldwell had red stripes painted on walls where fire extinguishers are located; yellow circles painted where trash cans are to be placed; and shop carts were put together to hold the most common items techs use — flashlights, tire pressure gauges, etc.

“Keeping everything organized allows us to be more productive,” he advises. Higher productivity contributes to faster turnaround time, which is a critical metric for fleets. “Though most are now more focused on price,” Caldwell observes, “how fast you get their vehicles in and out for service remains a constant factor.”

That's also why all of his service managers wear phone headsets, letting them get up and move around while talking on the phone. “It makes it easier to work — you don't have the phone stuck between your shoulder and head all day.”

Caldwell also seeks to keep as little inventory on hand as possible — just the most common parts and tires. “It costs money for us to keep parts on a shelf, not just the money for the part but in terms of taxes, too. So we try to be as lean as possible.

G&C had operated three tow trucks but now just keeps one. “It costs us money to have the trucks,” he explains. “And there are plenty of good tow truck companies out there. We just keep one handy in case there's a customer emergency.”

There's green in being green, too, says Caldwell. “Recycling shop waste is proving to be a big money-saver. Compared to heating with natural gas, waste-oil-fired heaters are saving $600/month. We sometimes have to go to other shops and get their waste oil, but we make sure only waste oil goes in our heaters; oil mixed with brake fluid and other wastes is not good for the heater system.”

Caldwell unobtrusively keeps tabs on what's new and different by sending himself or some of his service managers out to observe how other shops operate. “You learn about how your competitors do things, both good and bad,” he points out.

According to Mike Brannigan, senior vp-fleet management solutions operations for mega-lessor Ryder System Inc., rethinking the shop means “rethinking what the customer wants and the employee needs” to get the job done.

“Customers really want three things,” he continues. “High quality — getting it fixed right the first time. Speed — not done ‘fast’ but done when promised. Better communications — customers want to know what is happening.”

To empower both managers and techs to meet those demands, Brannigan says Ryder has adapted both Six Sigma and Lean process-improvement strategies. He says this amounts to constantly reviewing the underlying processes of what is done in the shop “to drive out inefficiency and increase the quality” of the work performed.

“It comes down to getting better at measuring variations across our shops and employees and working to reduce it; that variation is what the customer ‘feels’ as a negative” cost or experience.

Brannigan says to foster a “process culture” in the shop requires having the right metrics so Ryder is “re-evaluating internally and externally what drives the customers' perception of our service.”

Along with having the aforementioned clean, organized shops that minimize employee “travel time,” he says to consider incentive programs to reward motivated managers and to provide for ongoing employee training and development. “We want our employees to be aligned with Ryder's philosophy” on shop operations.

The desire to keep quality at the forefront led Ryder a year ago to start deploying trained auditors to conduct quality reviews.

“It's been in the last three years that we've moved from a ‘general’ to a ‘functional’ management approach that is process- and quality-oriented,” says Brannigan. “What we keep in mind is rethinking the shop operationally is different than rethinking maintenance practices. The two are separate but equal in importance.”