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FOTOFAX BREVARD PLANT IMAGING SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT (SPdRJ) ’’EG US PAT aTM Off Page 2 Vol. 21, No. 1 FOCUS: OUR quality On World-Class Operations REG.U.S.PAT&TM o IRE Chuck Smith We have been using the terms “fully competitive” and “world-class” to describe what we must be to insure our future success and long-range busi ness growth objectives. While we are the industry leader in some areas, overall we need to advance our quality, cost and service performance to achieve our goal of making the Brevard manufacturing capability a strategic advantage to the businesses we support. Are we making progress? We certainly are! Here are some highlights of gains made in 1987. Safety Our recordable injury rate was 20% lower for the year and 50% lower in the second half compared with 1986. Our current string of 123 days and count ing without a recordable injury is remarkable, a record for Brevard, and cer tainly world-class safety performance. Quality Overall complaint frequency improved 28% from the 1986 level and yields continued their improving trend of the last two years. These performance gains were made while introducing several new products. A significant start Working Smarter Reduces Backlog Let’s face it, there are some jobs which are less desirable than others. To the mechanics, PMOs (Preventive Mainte nance Orders) are not exactly like catch ing the winning touchdown of the NFL’s final play-off game. Specifically, over hauls, calibrations and lubrications are low on the list of things mechanics like to do. It then came as no real surprise when audits of the shops’ on-time-PMO perfor mance in most cases was poor. There are many reasons why PMOs are undesirable job functions for mechanics. Besides the obvious, there are few who emerge with hero status; rather the newly overhauled piece of equipment might have a problem in start up. The backlog was large and was a situ ation which could not continue. PMOs, despite their undesirability, are our essen tial link to continuous operations. The first step was to determine the amount of man power needed. The lub points alone num bered about 2800 and approximately 1500 PMOs. In Finishing, a team consisting of Charles McCall, Bob Hunter, Russell Ledbetter, James Dahle, and Wanda Galloway was formed to look at frequency. This team found that some PMOs were scheduled too often and some needs existed which were not scheduled. James Dahle began to write procedures for new equipment. Area Maintenance Coordinators be came involved and were provided with monthly charts of performance. Each shop received progress charts, so at a glance mechanics could see what percent were being completed on time. It was obvious that PMO performance was not where it needed to be. Maintenance per sonnel got acquainted with SPC (Statisti cal Process Control). The mechanics got involved and worked on the problem. Once the picture of the problem was known, the response was great. The backlog was reduced about 18% the first month. Over 85% were completed, on time, by year end. In Casting, John Davis and Bill Galloway began to specialize in calibra tion and Frank Cogdill is writing new cal ibration procedures. Things which didn’t make sense were deleted. Unlike previous times, mechanics now don’t replace perfectly good bearings unless predictive main tenance techniques indicate a need to do so. Predictive maintenance evaluation efforts are being led by Dean Furr. To date we have approximately 300 pieces of equipment in this predictive maintenance program which determines when PMOs should be done (prior to failure). More equipment will be added in the future. Today 90% of all PMOs are completed on time. This shows that teams working together and working smarter can meet the challenges of the future. was made in developing the standard process concept that will lead to mak ing all products “right the first time.” Production Production volume records were set in both Coating and Finishing. Functioning Capabiiity Equally gratifying was the continued capability improvement of self-reliant teams in many areas of the plant. We had a good year of performance improvement in 1987 and have very challenging goals for 1988 as we move toward becoming fully competitive. We are looking forward to completion of the major projects in Casting and Finishing and beginning work on our new automatic warehouse. Work to define the next generation of production equipment is continu ing. As we continue to demonstrate by our performance that we can become a world-class organization, I believe that we can then compete successfully for the capital investment needed. Thanks for your contributions to a good 1987 and thanks in advance for a better 1988 on the path to becoming a world-class competitor in all aspects of our business. SARA Cares About Your Town , . . (Editor’s note: Although all shops were not behind on PMOs — all shops have shown improvement with newly acquired skills.) Who is SARA? SARA or “Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (also known as “Title IN”) is designed to protect us against industrial accidents such as the one that killed some 2,000 people in Bhopal, India. The objective is that local communities be informed of industrial hazards and have effective emergency plans and trained response teams to reduce effects of a catastrophe. It’s probably even more complicated than it sounds, but DuPont sees it as an opportunity to listen to our neighbors and respond to their concerns. Although the Brevard Plant doesn’t have great potential for causing wide spread problems, there are concerned neighbors who are unaware of this. A key feature of SARA is the organiza tion for planning emergency action and receiving hazardous chemical infor mation: • The State Governor forms a State Emergency Planning Commission. • The state commission forms local planning committees, including selected state and local officials. Po lice, Fire, Civil Defense and public health professionals, along with en vironmental, hospital, transporta tion, media and emergency plan ning representatives. • Each local committee must devise an emergency response plan. How do they do this? Any facility (our plant, for instance) that uses, produces or stores quantities of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) listed substances over by Ed Hallowell Plant Industrial Hygienist a designated amount, must report them to the appropriate authorities. In North Carolina, we’re also required to report the storage amount and location, and provide a Material Safety Data Sheet, for any ma terial used or stored in quantities of 55 gallons or 500 pounds, whether it’s on the EPA list or not. We’ve done this and sent the list to all our local fire departments. Companies must also report any un planned release of EPA listed chemicals that exceeds designated threshold quan tities. Routine releases, into the air, wa ter or soil, must additionally be reported to the EPA. . The DuPont Company is very active in meeting the challenges and carrying tor ward the objectives of SARA. The Brevard Plant has representatives on both the Transylvania and Henderson County planning committees. Anyone may suddenly find himself the object ot questions when a neighbor suddenly real izes that you work for a chemical compa ny. We want you to know what we re doing. After a tragedy such as Bhopal, people should be concerned — and informed. The more everyone understands the chemicals around us, the better we can prevent problems. It can be a real relief to find out that acetylsalicylic acid is only aspirin.
Fotofax (Brevard, N.C.)
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Jan. 1, 1988, edition 1
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