Reliable Plant July August 2008

COVER STORY
The Navistar plant in Huntsville, Ala., builds approximately 480 engines per day.
• performing Pareto analyses to identify the
biggest and most harmful sources of
downtime;
• using an eight-step methodology to identify
root causes of problems;
• working with maintenance personnel on
“reverse FMEA” projects.
In the case of a reverse failure modes and
effects analysis, operators are asked to list
every way possible to screw up a station,
machine, etc. “Operators know everything
that can go wrong,” says Sibley.
Process steps and product solutions
(error-proofing devices, software) are put
in place to eliminate the chance of a
failure. The activity improves quality, reliability
and productivity, but can also
positively impact things such as safety and
ergonomics.
SHARING TOYS ACROSS THE BUSINESS UNITS
The Navistar Diesel factory has three
main plant-floor business teams which
oversee the Assembly, Machining and
Manufacturing Services value chains. In
effect, each runs as its own mini-business.
Even so, plenty of sharing and
collaboration does occur. For maintenance,
there’s a centralized tool crib and
a central shop that houses communityuse
items such as a lathe, drill press and
belt grinder.
But, what happens when one of the
business teams wants to invest big money
in, for instance, a new predictive maintenance
tool?
“Each business team has its own separate
maintenance budget, but we don’t
have the money as a plant to buy three
different infrared cameras,” says Scott
Seals, the facilities resource leader in
Manufacturing Services. “The business
unit proposing the purchase will take the
lead, but it will work closely with the
other two.”
Machining led the charge for IR.
“They worked with the guys in facilities
and Assembly,” says plant manager Chuck
Sibley. “They asked them, ‘How would you
use it?’ They justified the purchase and
put forth the appropriation. Whoever
takes the lead makes sure the other guys
get in on the training. We did the same
thing with laser alignment equipment on
shafts. Facilities led that one. We bought
the equipment and then they set up who
needed to get trained across the business
teams. We keep the equipment in the crib
and you check it out.”
Says Seals, “Everyone lets each other
play with their toys.”
THE APPRENTICE
Huntsville is the only Navistar site that
allows its operators such maintenance
responsibilities.
“We try to use the operator for everything
possible. Whatever we can use them
for, we will,” says Sibley. “That’s one of the
reasons why we have 36 maintenance
people instead of 150. We have never gone
the contract route for maintenance. That’s
because we always felt like the ownership
of that was important.”
What do Huntsville technicians think of
all this?
“The maintenance guys here have done
operations work before, so they have seen
both sides of the fence,” says Regula.
“They were actually the first operators on
the line. They can run all of the machines.
When we started, we thought that was very
important. We wanted them to know the
pain that the operator goes through. They
know how to think like an operator and
know what’s good and what’s bad.”
It also goes back to the plant’s roots.
“Many of us came from small companies
where you wore many hats,” says Sibley. “It
wasn’t new to us to set up a plant where
everybody is going to wear many hats.”
Adds Seals, “There is one goal – to get
the engine out the back door. Whatever it
takes to make that happen, that’s what you
have to do.”
Indeed, it’s a blurry line between operations
and maintenance. Perhaps nothing
is a better example of that than the
plant’s maintenance apprentice program.
Apprentice candidates take an exacting
written test. Those with the highest scores
then go to any of three local technical
colleges and work to obtain a two-year
degree in maintenance technology.
Graduates then must work 8,000 hours at
the plant as a maintenance apprentice
before earning the right to be a fullfledged,
certified technician.
The apprentices traditionally have been
operators within the Assembly or
Machining business team. Heath Benson is
one example. After coming to Navistar
from a carbon fiber plant, he worked two
years as an operator and then two years as
a group leader (one rung below a resource
12 July - August 2008 www.reliableplant.com