Introduction
The FIAT Chrysler Automobiles Transmission Plant I (ITPI) in Kokomo, Indiana has workers that have gotten themselves on a safe streak. As of April 1st, employees had logged ten million hours without a lost-time injury or illness due to work, and this happened in just over three years. Few manufacturing places can have this “claim to fame,” so this is an achievement that many employees are proud of.
How It Was Done
What may have helped everyone get this far is following a method implemented by “World Class Manufacturing (WCM).” WCM makes safety rules essential to follow. Through working with WCM since the second half of last decade, the ITPI identified 5,000 different ways to make the workplace safer for every employee by bettering equipment and peoples’ behavior. An example of a change made was adding “dry floor guarding” to machines to prevent fluids from escaping. If these fluids can’t get out, then people won’t slip on them.
Employees make safety rules very important regulations to abide by, as enforced by management. Senior employees have also helped out when it came to new people starting. People have a history of speaking up about things that could injure them while on the job. Training at FCA has also become better recently. Brian Harlow, Vice President of FCA United States, indicated that hitting that milestone has not been done before. He said, at a special employee meeting, that all employees made a joint effort to get to this point.
An Excellent Working Environment
Through changes that have occurred, employees have become more productive. Jeremy Keating, Manager of the ITPI, believes this is important so employees can get through each workday safely. Keating also indicated that other FCA plants are taking after what the ITPI did to better ensure everyone’s safety in automobile manufacturing. The building is, overall, now a more ergonomically-friendly place for everyone.
More About the FCA Indiana Transmission Plant I (ITPI)
Aside from its’ commitment to safety, this FCA plant has put more than 500,000 nine-speed automatic transmissions in vehicles since May 2013, and was the first facility to build the transmissions. The facility also builds the six-speed automatic transmission, and has 2,700 employees, and began making automobiles in 1998. Generations of workers have come through FCA U.S, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. FCA is the seventh-largest automobile manufacturer in the world due to how many vehicles it sells per year.
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