RFG/MPW employees at Honda Manufacturing of Indiana faced an imposing challenge in March: transportation of all Honda Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) inventory by semi-tractor trailer from the assembly plant to its offsite warehouse 10 miles away.
This project was necessary due to the recently added production of a future Honda model, the Insight, at the Greensburg, Ind. plant (the Civic Sedan and CR-V are also built at this location). Since the Insight will be an electric hybrid automobile that requires larger batteries, Honda needed the dock-floor space for pre-assembly staging, according to MPW Account Manager Tonya Precht.
Precht said the project involved the following components:
• Removal of the old shelving and security fencing around the auxiliary cage
• Proper storage of all fencing and shelving on A-frame skids for later use at the plant
• Management of in-depth inventory at an off-site warehouse after all inventory was relocated, including:
• Cycle counting
• Inventory relocation
• Organization of 6,000 parts on 864 skids
“All inventory was still live to the end user, meaning that people were still ordering parts that we were moving around,” Precht said. “Associates worked 12-plus hours per day for nearly two weeks to meet the project requirements within the required timeframe.”
Precht said Honda was pleased that MPW finished the project on time and specifically cited the success of the venture during a contractor quarterly review meeting.
The following MPW personnel were
involved in the project:
• Operations Manager Todd Cassis: project planning and organizing
• Corporate DOT Trainer Aaron Thompson: tractor-trailer operation
• Cassis, Thompson, MRO Supervisor Calyssa Harris and associates Josh Biederman, Aaron Norman, Tyler McDaniel, Charles Simpson and Amanda Burchett: inventory move
Precht said the team finished moving the skids to the warehouse, disassembled the shelving (except for the uprights) and removed all security fencing on March 17. MPW considered the task complete on April 15, when associates removed 60 24-foot uprights.
“The group did a fantastic job planning and working together,” Precht said. “I think everyone involved is proud of everything we accomplished for our customer.”