Leveraging technology to reduce non-productive time

INSIGHTS

PLANT OPTIMIZATION

By Ricardo Estok

How to engage employees through plant optimization

Plant optimization results in much more than increased productivity and KPIs

Figure 1: Plant optimization gives associates the capability to apply knowledge and skills on the shop floor and improve their plant’s key performance indicators (KPIs) daily. Courtesy: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Goodyear launched plant optimization (PO) to standardize processes in its 33 manufacturing facilities across the globe; it is the company’s operating system. At Goodyear, PO is not a program, project, methodology or set of tools, but an integrated set of practices, indicators, enablers, mindsets and behaviors to relentlessly improve quality and efficiency to safely deliver sustainable value.

Initially, the primary goal of PO was to increase our plants’ capabilities in a pragmatic way; and we’ve been successful. Since launch, we’ve reduced overall safety incidents, improved year-to-date operational effectiveness (OE) yield above 90% and closed our global gap in plant maturity levels by 31%. In addition, we’ve seen improved machine reliability, reduced waste and lowered our cost per tire.

But then, we saw something even more compelling and encouraging: the lasting effects PO had on our people.

In plants where PO has been deployed, is advancing and is sustained, our plant associates feel empowered to identify issues and opportunities, solve problems and drive improvements. It has also built a culture of trust, strengthened our culture of safety and health and created common understanding and mindset toward zero losses.

If PO is done right, the following described ways it can benefit teams within an organization.

Boosts employee engagement and recognition

We have a formal process in place for associates to share key learning results across plants. This process empowers associates to propose best practices in our system. These are reviewed by our PO leaders for potential certification as a new best practice. This system has fostered a company-wide practice of knowledge sharing. We see a lot of enthusiasm among associates who are eager to share their successes and look to other plants for ideas. For example, our associates have told us that the PO process and methodologies engage the team, which helps sustain the results.

Reinforces a winning culture

It is exciting to see how passionate our plant associates are about PO. In many instances, they have transformed the culture of their teams to make PO the “way we work.” PO has established a process to recognize and share great work at the monthly and global PO meetings, and quarterly town halls.

Most of these meetings are about the plant associates. During these meetings, managers are invited to share what plant associates deserve recognition for their contribution. One common topic across the board: Behind hard metrics on improvements in safety, quality, delivery and cost is the passion, involvement and engagement of associates. When the common theme of recognition is beyond cost and savings, it reinforces and strengthens the site’s culture.

Develop an ongoing growth mindset

Goodyear’s PO operating system continuously develops associates’ problem-solving and decision-making skills. We accomplish this through the PO Academy, which includes ongoing learning experiences and workshops on various technical and soft skills to close capability gaps. In addition, our Global Manufacturing Leadership Program provides training and mentoring to develop the next generation of plant leaders. It is essential to instill a culture of continuous improvement in any organization. Giving employees the power to be responsible for the reliability of their equipment creates a sense of ownership. To date, more than 925 associates have completed the formal two-week PO Academy, including field projects, to apply their learning. The number of associates who completed PO Academy eLearning courses rose to more than 20,400 in 2020, increasing from 13,484 in 2019 and 10,783 in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we piloted a virtual training methodology and program