MILLER Newsletter 2015 Final with cream Small

IDENTIFY, AIM, EXECUTE
DRIVEN TO BE THE BEST
The CARE Program
Over the years the CARE program has generated hundreds of original and ingenious ways to make Miller a
more efficient, safer and planet friendly company. The idea to have our employees send in their suggestions
as part of this program has been around since 2001 and has proved to be a great success. As you will see
from the submissions below our employees are always looking for ways to improve our processes and make
our jobs safer and more productive. The CARE program encourages all Miller employees to participate and
looks forward to another great year. “Only the Best”
Featured Submissions
CARE Suggestion #1849 - Herman van Kessel - Miller
Maintenance Limited – Manchester Patrol Yard
This suggestion created a lateral ram on a tractor that
pushes/pulls a section of plow-blade cutting edge to
cut-off sand-gravel berm build-up. It is much quicker
than manual rake & shovel, but still leaves a berm on
the side-slope. The issue we experience on the Area
Maintenance Contracts are gravel berms underneath
the guiderail – both 3 cable guiderail and steel beam
guiderail. These gravel berms
are caused from years of plowing
shoulders and also from not
removing them on an ongoing
basis. According to our contract
with MTO, anything that “impedes
the shoulder drainage to function
as designed” costs us immediately
$3,000 per occurrence and an additional
$1,000 for each additional
day that is left uncorrected after
detection or being made aware.
In the past we have utilized an internal
mini-excavator with a steel
plate attachment to the bucket to
try and remove the berms from
under the guiderail. This does work to some extent but it is very
slow and the bucket doesn’t always fit under the rail.
Over the past year, Herman designed and built - with the help of
a licensed welder/fabricator - a berm removal device that could
attach to one of our existing John Deere 2355 Tractors to remove
the berms under the guiderail. It has the option of a 4ft or 6ft blade
attachment, depending on whether you need to remove berm
from cable guiderail or steel beam guiderail. This tractor is designed
to work solely off the shoulder (in most cases where there is a full
width shoulder) which would result in only requiring a blocker truck
behind the tractor – resulting in a 2 man crew as opposed to our
Herman van Kessel - left, pictured with foreman Matthew previous 5-6 man crew. As well, this tractor has the option of pulling
Burrows. Miller Maintenance Durham - Manchester the gravel out to the front side of the guiderail, should you require to
have the gravel on the shoulder towards the edge line…..by pulling a couple pins, it can also do the opposite and push the berm
to the back through the posts, should you have too much material out on the shoulder…..this machine can do either operation.
CARE Suggestion #1833 - Bob Dillon of Miller Paving Limited Markham Dispatch
Division
CARE Suggestion #1817 - Elvis Gonzales of Talon Sebeq
Roadwatch system kits that are installed have a weak sensor and are
installed in a way that can cause corrosion. Elvis installed sensors directly
into the mirror, improved sealing, and added a temperature display
in-cab. The cables were routed using original manufacturer power and
heated mirrors. He also integrated the temperature display into the
upper front panel of the truck cab. Before this idea the outside bracket
for mirror mounting that the manufacturer provides leaves the inner
circuit board quite vulnerable to the elements, and this idea of “internalizing”
the core of the unit has worked well. As an invention, it will save
replacement costs from premature failures.
The CARE Program
Bob Dillon identified that the
water line for the road grinder
was rubbing off the paint on the
tanker. Bob suggested that a bar
that hooks into the toe hook hole
on the front bumper of the tank
will solve this issue.
CARE Suggestion #1799 - Matt Burrows and Dave Tracey of Miller Maintenance Limited – Manchester Patrol Yard
This suggestion was awarded for an adjustment made to the
lighting on the brand new snow plow combination units Miller
Maintenance received for their 13 year contract. There was an
issue with how the lights were
installed on the rear of the trucks.
The amber and blue lights were
continually filling with water and
burning out after one storm. By
turning the lights around, this
has not been a problem again.
Not only does this easy switch
save the company money on
repeat replacements of these
lights, but it also reduces down
time for the winter units and the
need to have mechanics service
these trucks more often than
they should. This idea was gerenated
by Matt Burrows and the
work was done by Dave Tracey.
20 MILLER / McASPHALT NEWSLETTER 2015 EDITION
MILLER / McASPHALT NEWSLETTER 2015 EDITION
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