FAX TRANSMISSION
To:Tom Harada
Maintenance Manager
Equipment Division #2
Kamigo Engine Plant
Re:

From: Bob Sanders
Date: Saturday, June 1, 1989

Initial Trip Report (Fax 1)

Mr. Harada,
Thank you for the opportunity to visit the TMM Kentucky Engine Plant andto observe the start-up of operations. I have been able to see first hand now
the end result of all the activities that we have been working on the past few
months.
As you requested I am sending you my initial report at the end of week one
based upon my observations into the current state. Here is what I have beenable to do in the five days that I have been here so far.
First I have met all the local staff and in particular got to know the local
maintenance manager Mr. Prewitt. Also I have met with the Engineering
manager Mr. Johnson, and the Production Manager Mr. Ripberger. I also
have spent time with the maintenance foreman Mr. Higgins, and all three
shifts of maintenance group leaders, all the maintenance team leaders andmany of the maintenance skilled trades people. Everyone strikes me as avery capable and all are working hard to aid the start up of engine operations
which commenced in April of this year.
Second I have observed the shop floor in rigorous fashion and looked atsome of the maintenance activities that are under way here in the plant. I
have inspected the equipment we shipped over, and observed the status ofinstallation. I have watched the production shifts and the communication
between production and maintenance. Furthermore I have held many
discussions with key personnel about the current state of operations and ourneed to improve.
Third I have tried to gather information from different parties about howwell the start up is going and what they think of the current maintenanceorganization. I have spent time on both shifts of production and all three
shifts of maintenance in order to gather the broadest perspective possible.
As you have heard from other reports from Japanese coordinators on
assignment here there are many problems during this start up. I am told that
this is typical during any new facility start up. However I am mostconcerned about how we are supporting production. The maintenanceactions here seem “scattered” compared to Kamigo plant in Japan. There isfrankly quite a lot of criticism being leveled at the quality of the effort by thelocal maintenance team here. On ten different occasions I’ve been stopped
this week by Production Group Leaders (both Japanese and American) andinformed that maintenance is just not fixing things fast enough. The fear I
have is that as production volume grows the next several months thatmaintenance will become the bottleneck of the operation and hinder ourability to ship on time to the vehicle plant.
I suspect that there will be more complaints coming towards maintenanceover the next several months unless the situation improves. In order to help
the current situation and avoid problems in the future I will summarize
below what I think needs to be done. I will call you on Monday to discussthese options and how you would like me to proceed during the rest of mystay.
#1 Communication
There is tremendous difficulty in communication on-site as I suspected. TheJapanese coordinators in the office can speak English reasonably well andget their point across, but on the shop floor it is another matter. I spend halfof my day getting flagged down by our maintenance trainers and asked tohelp translate with their maintenance group leader and team leader
counterparts. Needless to say if we could just communicate better we could
be a lot more effective here in troubleshooting, training, and improving.
There is one really good translator here, Mr. Ohkubo, but he is tied up in theoffice doing high priority translation for meetings and documents. There
are three other translators, one male and two female that rotate between
maintenance, production, and QC operations. There is no problem with theeffort being put forth but the translators suffer from a lack of technicalknowledge and struggle in many cases on the shop floor. For example words
like “spindle head”, “proximity switch”, or “guide bush” that we take for
granted are not understood by the translators. Furthermore the translator isnever right there when you need them at critical moments in maintenancedue to the often sudden nature of our work.
I think there are several reasonable options here including hiring moretranslators, getting better quality translators, dedicating some to maintenanceand investing more time in teaching English to the Japanese staff before they
are sent over here for assignment. Instead of the current in-house training
perhaps some type of Berlitz style immersion courses would work better for
all in the long run.
#2 Spare Parts
It seems that a lot of downtime is caused by lack of spare parts in themaintenance store room. This aspect has probably been the most frustrating
part of my trip. After all those long hours I spent collecting spare parts lists
for each piece of machine and sending them over here with the rest of theequipment documentation we still do not have enough spare parts. Whenthe maintenance skilled trades person goes to the store to get certain items
the parts are not there in sufficient quantities. I have checked this with myown eyes and been astounded by what I saw! Either the parts have beenstolen, or consumed, or we have vastly underestimated the quantity thatwould be required during start up. About half the time we go to get parts theexact item we are looking for is just not there. This sets off a frenzy ofactivity to find a substitute item in-house, get something from the vehicle
plant’s store room, or find a local item that we can use as a temporary
countermeasure.
I strongly suggest that we consider a couple of different options. Since thevehicle plant started up first and has a bigger spare parts store room perhaps
we should merge our operations with their store. The location is farther
away (nearly one half mile) but with the greater number of parts there will
logically be a higher chance of having the part in stock. Additionally while
this item is being considered we should increase the purchase of spare parts
and the levels that we plan on holding in-house. This is a no regrets moveand if we fail to do it we will be wide open to criticism from Production.
#3 Trainers and Training
When I am not translating some side conversation about problems or trying
to find missing spare parts I try to aid our Japanese trainers sent here while
they conduct training for maintenance personnel here. As directed from thelocal management, the Japanese trainers are not allowed to make any repairs

on equipment here except in case of dire emergency. While I understand theintent of this policy the unintended effect is to reduce the daily output
through the production line. I also fully understand the need to train thelocal staff on basic repairs in a structured fashion. However at some point I
think we need to increase the number of trainers here on site (current numberis six) to perhaps eight or ten. This increase will enable more rapid skill
transfer and in times of crisis give us more hands available for emergency
support as it occurs. I think this change will more than pay for itself in thelong run.
#4 Equipment selection and documentation
Most of the 50 pieces of equipment (80%) here came over from Japan as youknow. Since this equipment is unfamiliar to the local staff there is also theassociated learning with the unfamiliar equipment. Since the current
manufacturing lines here are just assembly conveyors and assembly
equipment it should be relatively simple to maintain. However I think there
are some real problems. Since the equipment is from Japan whenever there
is a problem you can not simply just pick up a phone a call for help. I am
told that the technical support capability for the Japanese equipment lags thetechnical support provided for the few U.S. machines that are in the engine
assembly and test area. I get lots of questions from the local staff here about
why we are sending over Japanese equipment to the U.S. and why aren’t weusing more local machines. I get lots of complaints from the U.S.
maintenance people regarding the quality of the documentation coming fromJapan. I think it is going to continue to be an ongoing problem and before
the launch of the upcoming machining lines where more complexity isinvolved we should revisit the strategy of sourcing machines from Japanversus the U.S. I know this is not our decision and it lies in the hands ofproduction and production engineering however we will suffer inmaintenance if the staff can not maintain the uptime of the machine.
Summary
I hope this fax paints a good clear picture of the problems that we are up
against. I have worked close to 70 hours this week and came in on Saturday
to tie up some loose ends and write this report. I would like to have a phone
conference call with you on Monday after you get into the office and discuss
what to do next during my stay here.