Tracks and Treads - Finning Canada

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SpECIaL REpoRT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE SToRy by JIM VEENBAAS phoTogRaphy by DwIght Arthur/photEk the addition of the huge new centre of excellence means that overhauls and assembly are quicker than ever. customers get faster turnaround and improved quality room to Work 28 tr acks & treads • Fall 2008 www.finning.ca
SpECIaL REpoRT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE It has one of the world’s largest Cat equipment signs, two massive buildings – each bigger than 100,000 square feet – and it sits on 31 acres of prime alberta real estate. Finning’s centre of excellence dominates the landscape along Highway 2 in red deer and is helping the company streamline its service operations and position itself for the future. th e massive service centre, already with more than 300 employees, will become the company’s flagship new equipment preparation and machine overhal shop. “th is will boost our capabilities to meet the growing demand for service from our customers, particularly in the mining, heavy construction and power systems industries. the world’s mining markets are still booming and a big part of this facility is devoted to meeting the demands of those markets,” says Finning president dave Parker. “this will not only allow us to provide superior quality in terms of new equipment preparation and used equipment overhauls, it will also free up time for our branches and let them capitalize on what they do best – focusing on local customer needs for product support.” th e centre of excellence was born from Finning’s $145-million ac- quisition of collicutt energy services in November 2007. the spacious set of buildings were headquarters for collicutt and can easily handle the biggest machines that cat manufacturers – with the exception of the 400-tonne 797 mining trucks, more than 100 of which are cur- rently in use in the oilpatch in northern alberta. everything else, even 793 trucks and 24M graders, sits comfortably in the 75-foot bays that are easily accessible through 30-foot bay doors. “these are the largest and best equipped buildings in the company and they are critical to Finning’s ability to provide superior customer service,” says scott Wakefield, general manager of red deer equipment services. “Our operations here are set back from the front lines so we can develop standard procedures and processes and focus on volume-based production, which will help us get even better at what we do.” Once it’s fully operational in september, the centre of excellence will run with a staff of 400 people, including 200 heavy duty mechanics, and be capable of doing 40,000 hours of service a month. that will shift a massive volume of work from the outlying branches to red deer, where work can be done quicker and more efficiently. “We’ll save the branches nearly 500,000 hours each year. By bringing it all here, we’re going to standardize the way we do business and treat it more like a manufacturing function,” Wakefield says. He adds that the move will also free up space in the branches and increase productivity. “We think we can improve our efficiency by a minimum of 20 per cent.” www.finning.ca Fall 2008 • tr acks & treads 29
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Page 41 and 42: www.finning.ca Fall 2008 • tracks
Page 43 and 44: 1-888-finning | finning.ca 75 years

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