State-of-the-Art Technology Command Center with Real-time Reporting
Detroit Chassis recently showed its new Command Center to visitors from Ford Motor Company and F-59 Commercial Step-Van Body Builders, and they were highly impressed.
This change is a dramatic move in the right direction away from the antiquated manual process that involved hours of tedious collection of paperwork, copying documents, distribution, and manual input. Maurice Lucas, Data Analyst, came aboard and quickly discovered opportunities to eliminate wasted time and energy by eliminating the old way of doing things, introducing the possibilities of a new process.
It involved training Quality Inspectors on the use of Tablets. Though met with resistance initially, they all agree that implementing this new technology helps them do their job. For example, Janice Johnson, Quality Team Leader, and Rob Colvard, Manufacturing Team Leader, were hesitant to use the new process when first introduced. Still, now they see the value in entering information that gets communicated in real-time, allowing
the organization to move quickly and respond to issues.
It works like this: Real-time data gets captured in Airtable for Downtime and Quality. Data is transferred from Airtable to a SQL database which then feeds the Tableau Analytics Website accessible online from your computer. This technology allows Operations, Quality, Engineering, and Materials to see issues as they occur to focus on driving Interim and Permanent Corrective Actions. The Team appreciates the system’s ability to track the problems by Zone, Workstation, Inspector, and Associate to determine the fix and reduce downtime and defects.
Great job, Team and thank you, Maurice! We appreciate your Silicone Valley thinking that propelled DCP forward. Our Command Center is a cutting-edge breakthrough and will help us achieve World Champion performance.
This process improvement is only one of the ways Maurice contributed to the Team. He also helped automate the data analysis process for Customer Service. Unfortunately, we will miss him as he returns to California. Still, we know that he will hold us in his heart, and though he will be miles away and living in a different time zone, he can continue to make a positive impact remotely.