Reliable Plant July August 2008

COVER STORY
WHAT DRIVES NAVISTAR’S PLANT
IN HUNTSVILLE?
Here is the mission statement for
Navistar Diesel of Alabama’s plant
in Huntsville:
“Recognizing the strengths of our
employees as our greatest asset,
we believe that our commitment
to ‘Blended Best Practices’ and
‘Empowered Teams Exceeding
Expectation’ will maximize product
value. We also believe that this
approach will foster the level of
trust and respect for the individual
that is necessary for Navistar Diesel
of Alabama LLC to excel and be
recognized as the local employer
of choice.”
Ricky Helms is a manufacturing
engineer who handles facilities
planning and scheduling.
Machining business team leader
Lance Fulks checks over an engine
with operator Heath Dorning.
STILL ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BEST PRACTICES
At Navistar Huntsville, blended best
practices continue to this day. Good
ideas come from new employees. They
also come from benchmarking relationships
with industry peers.
“On the road to continuous improvement,
you’re never ‘there’. It’s an
ongoing process,” says assistant plant
manager Mike Regula. “You’re always
looking to tomorrow and the next level.
What can we do differently in order to
improve? Who can we learn from to help
us get better?”
The plant regularly exchanges tours with
fellow members of the Alabama Automotive
Manufacturing Association, including
Toyota, Honda and Nissan. It has made an
especially good connection with Nissan.
“Nissan has been open and shared,”
says plant manager Chuck Sibley. “We’ve
gotten to know them and they have
gotten to know us. It helps that we don’t
directly compete in the same market.”
Adds Regula, “Not everything they do
is applicable to us, but we can definitely
tweak some of their best practices.”
and budgeting (each business team has its
own separate maintenance budget).
“I used to be the maintenance manager
of a plant that makes toilet seats. I had
everything related to maintenance,” says
Scott Seals, who today is the resource
leader for the facilities segment of the
Manufacturing Services business unit. “I
prefer this setup. There’s much less pressure
on everyone because the responsibilities for
this plant are divided up.”
Resource leaders and planners take the
business team leader’s maintenance (and
production) vision and drive the resources
in their area to achieve results.
“I have all of the resources I need at my
fingertips. Therefore, it’s very easy to align
everybody in the business team toward our
goals,” says Machining business team
leader Lance Fulks. “The last plant I
worked at (Copeland Compressors) was
set up with a manager of production, a
manager of maintenance, a manager of
manufacturing engineering, and there were
some conflicting goals. What was important
in one area may have been
counterproductive in another area. Here,
that is eliminated because those departments
are consolidated into one business
team. Everyone is on the same page.”
Sibley says it takes a special person to be
a BTL. He believes the leader must excel at
people management, project management,
business management and, in effect,
maintenance management.
“You are running the maintenance
group along with your team,” he says.
“You must understand the technical side of
the business and everything that influences
reliability from a mechanical perspective.”
10 July - August 2008 www.reliableplant.com