a person to withhold information for control or to preserve one’s job. When Atlantic States first imple- mented the dashboards, it ran across such organization barriers. Te first strategy for breaking down the barriers was to reward positive behavior and not punish negative behavior. Te plant recognizes ideas through its quarterly newspaper, “Heard It Trough the Pipe Line,” and provides individual mon- etary incentives. Te incentive program compensates production employees for increased productivity, measured by good tons bundled, without compro- mising safety or environmental rules and regulations. For production employees, Atlan-
tic States displays individual and team results versus the goal results on LCD screens in the lunch room and major operations buildings. Tis helps employees understand how they are contributing to the bottom line. With a performance incentive on the line, the progress dashboards encourage competition between teams.
For executives, the data is avail-
able on demand rather than through a once-a-month report. Tey can propagate information to determine current status and trends compared to the ultimate goal. Since implementation, plant depart-
ments have begun to ask for screen access for additional information in the dashboards. Some workers want to see what the managers are seeing, such as when a manager two buildings away calls to ask about a casting machine adjustment that just took place. Atlantic States has found that the digital dashboards have motivated employees to be part of the solution to issues in the plant and encouraged people to change their roles to dis- seminate knowledge. Tey also have provided real cost savings. “Actual costs by ton for each cost center is a tremendous tool that gives our managers and fellow workers live information they can use to make real-time decisions on purchases and projects,” Fittro said. “Prior to this, we
never knew where we stood until it was too late, over budget and we were scrambling to get back in line. We don’t have the high and low swings in our cost numbers now.” According to Atlantic States financial controller Gary Merlino, the plant’s man hours/tonnage dropped 10% on average, along with a 4% reduction in coke usage. Re-anneals dropped by 10%. “Tis is a significant improvement
over last year,” Merlino said. “As we become more accustomed to utilizing and improving our dashboards, we expect more significant savings while maintain- ing the quality of our product. “
ONLINE RESOURCE
Go to
www.moderncasting.com to take a look at more screencaps of the digital dashboards used at Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co.
Since the implementation of digital dashboards, Atlantic States’ has reduced its man hours per ton by 10%, its coke usage by 4% and its re-annealing of pipe by 10%.
September 2014 MODERN CASTING | 43
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