E-Z-GO
Augusta, GA
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
| COMPANY / PLANT OVERVIEW: |
E-Z-GO has grown into a global leader in light transportation, building many thousands of vehicles each year from its world headquarters in Augusta. Today, E-Z-GO 664,000 sq ft facilities builds dozens of unique vehicle models under the E-Z-GO, Cushman® and Bad Boy Buggies® brands. Besides the golf carts with which it is so often identified, E-Z-GO also manufactures world-class utility vehicles for work and recreation, personnel shuttles and material-handling machines. Its products range from the zero-emissions, street-legal E-Z-GO 2Five®, to the unique Bad Boy Buggies Ambush™ 4x4, with its independent gas and electric drivetrains for the ultimate combination of off-road power, range and performance, to the diminutive, industrious Cushman Minute Miser utility vehicle.
E-Z-GO is well known for its business and operational excellence, receiving the coveted Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in 2009. That same year, the company's Augusta facility was named one of IndustryWeek's Best Plants in North America. E-Z-GO facilities are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001-certified.
E-Z-GO became part of Textron in 1960. This global, multi-industry company leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems.
Today, more than 57 years after the first E-Z-GO vehicle was built in that sweltering one-room shop, E-Z-GO still has that single belief – that it exists to build vehicles and services that exceed the expectations of the customer, better than any other offering on the market. It is the drive to sustain and improve that position – to offer an unparalleled combination of world-class products, advanced technology, manufacturing expertise, and extraordinary service – that leads E-Z-GO to cover new ground.
| WHAT YOU WILL SEE ON THE TOUR: |
Receiving
- Receiving Process and Area is result of Lean Accelerator
- Shift opening meetings and purpose
- SQDC:
Safety – use and issuance of BBS cards
Quality – Tracking of parts damaged in receiving process
Explain process for tracking and cataloging product that arrives damaged with Quality Assurance
Delivery – Explain 15 minute target for removing material from truck to point-of-use
Cost – Labor Hours per Vehicle - Visual management tool/standard work
- Explain FIFO
- Discuss Leadership Standard Work
- Discuss “light harvesting”
- Overall environmental gains through initiatives: reductions in plant wide energy usage, water usage, recycled materials, landfill usage reductions, etc.
- Vendor-Managed Inventory System with Ryerson
RXV Warehouse
- SQDC metrics
Safety – use of BBS cards
Quality – Ensuring that right parts are stored in proper locations
Delivery – Tracking and ensuring that warehouse does not stop the line due to lack of materials
Cost – Labor Hours per vehicle - Ability to reach into greater levels of granularity in evaluating performance (difference between “line jump” and CLD, but both are tracked)
- Inventory-tracking boards
- Opening meeting and “stretches/exercises” to get team ready for day
- Line stocked and resupplied on two-hour schedule using “trains” stocked according to daily production schedule
- Vendor-managed inventory (Discuss operator training matrix
- “Place for Every Part”
- CI projects
RXV Line
- Automation on production line
- Use of MES, “smart tools”
- Ergonomically designed manufacturing stations
- Visual Management tools
- Environmentally friendly design of facility
Power train Subassembly Line
- Employee-led initiative to reduce power train inventory and stacking of power train components around line
- Aligning shipments of power train components with daily build schedule
Mixed-Model Line
- Multiple lines (fleet car line and truck/specialty line) combined into single line in July 2008
- Line is divided into six zones with team leaders for each zone, (responsible for SQDC metrics on that zone, etc.)
- Physical changes to line (entire line operation now visible from one spot, etc.)
- Visual management tools (Andon, Operator Training Matrix, etc.)
- SQDC metrics for station
- Daily production sequence schedule driven by SIOP
- Formalization of CI
- Lean Technician Training
- Discuss CI project to build fuel tanks line side as needed, reducing inventory, etc.
Fabrication
- Transition to total in-house fabrication organization
- Move of machine shop to Building II
- Sourcing of brake drum cell
- Discuss continuous improvement projects
- Production Sequence Schedule
- History of area
- SQDC metrics
Other topics
- Projects and initiatives that led to changes in cultures, mindsets and behaviors:
Six Sigma/Lean training at all levels of organization
----Black Belt/Green Belt
----Kaizen Facilitators Training
----Lean Technician Training
Pay-for-performance
Cross-training of employees
Behavior-based safety initiatives
Lean accelerators
| SCHEDULE: |
AM Tour Group
7:00 am - 8:00 am Attendees check-in at Sheraton Augusta Hotel
8:00 am Attendees board motor coach & depart for plant
8:30 am Arrive at plant
8:45 am - 9:15 am Overview of company, plant, what participants will see on the tour
9:15 am - 10:45 am Tour
10:45 am - 11:15 am Question & answer
11:15 am Attendees board motor coach & depart for Sheraton Augusta Hotel
PM Tour Group
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Attendees check-in at Sheraton Augusta Hotel
12:00 pm Attendees board motor coach & depart for plant
12:30 pm Arrive at plant
12:45 pm - 1:15 pm Overview of company, plant, what participants will see on the tour
1:15 pm - 2:45 pm Tour
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm Question & answer
3:15 pm Attendees board motor coach & depart for Sheraton Augusta Hotel
| SAFETY PRECAUTIONS / PRECLUSION STATEMENT: |
PRECLUSION STATEMENT: IndustryWeek may be required to preclude attendees from attending this tour. This step will be taken solely by IndustryWeek at the request of our host plant based upon the proprietary nature of information that is to be presented. The host plants' decisions are final and will be communicated to attendees in advance. Some participants on the tour may be asked to complete a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: Please note the following dress code:
--Safety shoes or close toe shoes must be worn. No high-heels are permitted.
--Safety glasses and ear plugs will be provided by the plant.
--Skirts, cropped pants or shorts are not permitted.
| REGISTRATION FEE: |
$225
Your Excellence in Action tour registration also includes:
· Breakfast if on AM tour or Lunch if on PM tour
· Transportation to/from E-Z-GO
**Please note your registration does NOT include overnight accommodations.
| TOUR DEPARTURE LOCATION: |
The motor coaches will depart from:
Sheraton Augusta Hotel
1069 Stevens Creek Road, Augusta GA 30907
(complimentary parking at hotel)
Tour participants are required to check in at the Excellence in Action Series registration desk during the specified time.
Please note that all participants must utilize transportation provided by IndustryWeek. Participants are NOT permitted to drive separately to the facility. There are no exceptions to this policy.
| OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS: |
Sheraton Augusta Hotel
1069 Stevens Creek Road, Augusta GA 30907
(complimentary parking at hotel)
Rate: $109 + tax per night
