Go-to guy

Hubert “Bullet” Sims has been the Chattanooga plant’s go-to guy for maintenance issues for going on 29 years. In his current role as maintenance lead, he works with the three-person preventative maintenance team and also with shift leaders to build their maintenance skills so they can be better guides of the maintenance process in their areas.

Helping other SI teammates understand Lean principles and tools and begin to adjust to new ways of doing things and a new report structure in the plant has held its challenges for Bullet. As a nearly 30 year veteran himself, he knew the feeling of people who had worked in the maintenance department for 20 and 25 years.

Overcoming fears of job security was an initial hurdle, but the larger challenge was breaking long-ingrained mindsets, held by both maintenance and production teammates, in the oil-and-water exclusivity of maintenance and production functions.

“That was a tough sell for some people, especially some who had been here for 20 and 25 years, to change that mindset and get them thinking of themselves as one team and get them all working together,” Sims notes.

“Before, we had people who were only involved in certain areas of maintenance. We tried to cross-train everybody in all areas, so they would feel comfortable wherever they were. That has helped a lot in building the Lean culture here and in getting a maintenance electrician to push a button and operate a line for a while if he has to.”

For Sims, creating this team mentality and common sense of ownership has been the greatest benefit of SI’s Lean journey.

“More than anything, what Lean does is make you feel like you own the place,” he says. “That makes you want to take on new roles, do different things and help make those changes happen.”

This article appeared in the February/March 2006 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2006.

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