Reliable Plant July August 2008

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COVER STORY 6 July - August 2008 www.reliableplant.com
BY PAUL V. ARNOLD They came from big plants and small ones, gargantuans to garages, from auto companies and firms that made everything from compressors to carbon, textiles to toilet seats and everything in between. They were manufacturing mutts, hybrids, odd fellows, non-conventional thinkers. “When we started in 2002, we were the kids from down in the Sticks who (industry foes) believed didn’t know how to build engines,” says plant manager Chuck Sibley. Six years later, they are among the motor manufacturing sector’s best stories and toughest competitors, depending on what side of the corporate fence you dwell. The 360 men and women of Navistar Diesel of Alabama LLC, a Huntsville-based subsidiary of horsepower heavyweight Navistar Corporation, build elite-class engines (V6 and V8 mass-movers for commercial and consumer trucks). Best-built engines have come from the manner in which these moldbusters built their plant work structure. “Navistar didn’t bring people here from its other plants to start this up. Almost everybody came from outside of the company,” says Sibley, who signed on from Gabriel Ride Control Products. “It was decided that we would put together a workforce from a variety of different backgrounds and experiences and form the best possible culture that we could.” No templates. No paradigms. No rules. “I wanted one time in my career where I didn’t have to break the paradigms and traditions of the past 10 or 20 years,” he says. “We started this plant from scratch in the manner that we thought it would run the best and be the most reliable and the most flexible and the most efficient. We were given tremendous amounts of autonomy to do what we felt was right.” Today, an innovative business team structure drives the 650,000-square-foot Navistar Diesel facility. It’s an approach to operations, maintenance and engineering that feels more community based and “small plant” than that found at most Fortune 500 manufacturers. Focus and function are housed inside three main plant-floor teams overseeing the Assembly, Machining and Manufacturing Services value chains. Blended roles and blended best practices have elicited success at the business team and overall plant levels. Heavy-duty teamwork enables heavy-duty machines. WHERE’S MAINTENANCE? If you are looking for the maintenance manager at the Navistar plant in Huntsville, you won’t find him (or her). The position doesn’t exist. The maintenance department? www.reliableplant.com July - August 2008 7
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS JULY - AUGUST 2008 6 36 HE
Page 6 and 7: THE EXPONENT MANAGING THE VECTORS W
Page 10: COVER STORY Assistant plant manager
Page 13 and 14: BTLs lead the way, but the plant’
Page 15 and 16: leader). He earned his two-year deg
Page 17 and 18: PAID ADVERTISING HARVARD FILTER SYS
Page 19 and 20: PAID ADVERTISING VIBRATION ANALYZER
Page 22: ADVISOR PLANNING AND SCHEDULING ‘
Page 26 and 27: ADVISOR CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE
Page 28: ADVISOR PEOPLE MANAGEMENT EVALUATIN
Page 31 and 32: PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT SKF CYLINDRICAL R
Page 33 and 34: KAESER BOOSTER COMPRESSORS Providin
Page 35 and 36: Solid couplings are fundamentally r
Page 37 and 38: compatibility is also important for
Page 39 and 40: Figure 2. This split image compares
Page 41 and 42: SAFETY REPORT CUT RESISTANCE VS. CU

Reliable Plant July August 2008

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