3M Canada helps New Flyer improve manufacturing safety

In 2017 New Flyer Industries Canada, Winnipeg, and New Flyer of America, St. Cloud, Minn., were chosen for a 3M Customer Project, one of only two globally approved projects.

These customer projects are part of 3M’s Catalyst program, which are developed for the company’s elite-level business leaders from around the globe. 3M sent six staff members to the St. Cloud manufacturing facility to work with the on-site manufacturing team on a New Flyer project.

This real-world challenge was designed to build leadership skills and global experience for the 3M Catalyst team, while creating value and lending global perspective to the host organization. New Flyer elected to focus on the Catalyst Customer Project that identifies safety improvement opportunities.

“We were proud to be selected as one of two organizations around the world to host a 3M Catalyst team,” said Wayne Joseph, president of New Flyer of America. “It is an honour to work with a global science and safety leader such as 3M and to further advance safety in our manufacturing space. We have no greater responsibility than the safety of our team members.”

New Flyer is a well-known North American heavy-duty transit bus manufacturer of the Xcelsior® and Xcelsior CHARGE™ brands. The company also supports a fleet of more than 44,000 heavy-duty transit buses currently in service, of which 7,300 are powered by electric motors and battery propulsion, 1,600 of those being zero-emission vehicles.

The company and its subsidiaries comprise the largest bus and motor coach manufacturer and parts distributor in North America, with 32 fabrication, manufacturing, distribution, and service centres located across Canada and the U.S. The company employs nearly 6,000 workers.

Worldwide Collaboration

The project commenced in December 2017 at New Flyer’s Winnipeg location and concluded in March 2018 in St. Cloud, where the on-site 3M Catalyst team (comprised of members from Korea, China, Australia, France, the Middle East, and the U.S.) converged to collaborate with New Flyer’s leadership group and share best practices from the 3M Alexandria, Minn., facility.

“This approach is a different way we learn about and address our customers’ needs,” said Mojdeh Poul, president of 3M Canada. “Inventing products to help our customers solve their issues is just one way we create value for them. This customer-first approach positions us as a partner with subject matter expertise and a shared interest in our customers’ success. We’re not focused on making an immediate sale, and that’s fine.”

Safety Implementation Initiatives

“The goal for New Flyer was to reduce recorded safety incidents from 2.2 per 200,000 person-hours to 1.1 per 200,000 person-hours in the St. Cloud plant,” said Eric Jensen, plant manager of the St. Cloud facility. “3M provided recommendations for improving safety culture, and we are working our way through a list of foundational elements. This includes communication, incident investigation, accountability, job hazard assessment, and training; 32 items total. I am pleased to share that our current lost time rate is 0.56, which is under the goal we set with 3M.”

When New Flyer was approached by 3M to pick a project for its global Catalyst program, Joseph felt there was no greater responsibility than the safety of his team members. This program presented an opportunity to improve the company’s approach to safety.

“3M reviewed our current safety plan and provided recommendations on where we could reduce or remove risks to safety” said Joseph. “We constantly improve and advance our safety culture to protect our greatest asset: our people. We wanted to ensure safety was our highest priority.

Since the Catalyst program was implemented, there have been lower injury rates reported, reducing downtime and injured workers.

“These Catalyst projects usually do not involve 3M products. Rather, they involve sharing 3M best practices to tackle the root causes of issues that matter to the customer. This sharing of best practices helps 3M and its future leaders understand unique perspectives from the customer's standpoint. And our customers learn how 3M has tackled challenges in manufacturing, globalization, and commercialization,” explained Jason Grouette, director, electronics and energy business group, strategic accounts, and industrial and safety markets for 3M Canada.

For this project, each member of the six-person 3M team was assigned a task, and the team met in person for a full week in Minnesota to work on the project. The team visited New Flyer facilities in St. Cloud and Anniston, Ala., and delivered a comprehensive report, with recommendations, to the New Flyer executive team.

Safety First, Always

It was all in the name of safety. And safety has a direct link to productivity.

“Focusing on safety improves productivity. At 3M Canada, we had a manufacturing and supply chain director who always said, ‘A safe operation is a productive operation,’” said Hyam Nicacio, environment, health, and safety manager at 3M Canada.

The numbers don’t lie. In the Journal of Applied Psychology, professor Julian Barling of Queen’s University wrote that “a high-performance work system is significantly associated with occupational safety. Management practices that are frequently applied to improving organizational performance may have equal or greater effects on occupational injuries.”

“Anyone who has undergone a safety investigation knows the time, resources, and capital they demand. The equipment often gets locked-out, resulting in unscheduled downtime. And filling out paperwork for regulatory bodies creates an unplanned administrative burden,” said Nicacio.

This means that proactively identifying a hazard or high-risk activity and addressing it within a regular production schedule is faster and far preferable to reacting after an accident.

A safety culture also ideally propagates from the highest leadership levels to the shop floor.

“Leaders can demonstrate that safety is a priority by wearing proper personal protective equipment when they visit plants and by observing safety practices around the office, such as keeping a hand free for the railing when walking down stairs,” said Nicacio. “Leaders should also create a structure to identify, understand, and tackle risks as they arise. Prioritize risks according to potential impact on people and operations.”

Go Above and Beyond

Nicacio recommends planning to achieve more than just compliance with local safety standards. These typically are the minimal requirements for a safety operation, bu, the bare minimum is insufficient when employee lives and critical company assets are at risk.

Also, companies should aim to understand the data behind incidents and injuries.

“This step is critical. Many companies accumulate copious data about their incidents but fail to analyze it for patterns,” said Nicacio. “For example, your data may reveal that the same three employees get injured more often than others. Or it may show that the majority of your incidents involve workers getting foreign objects in their eyes, or that safety incidents spike at a certain time of year.”

Nicacio recommends keeping a spreadsheet of all safety incidents, coded with fields such as employee name, department, and injured body part.

“Your data patterns reveal if you are facing a process failure (organizational) or behaviour failure (individual),” he added.

The ideal safety culture is one in which employees feel comfortable enough to point out a safety violation, whether it is committed by their peers, supervisors, or even themselves.

“The environment must be transparent and trustworthy. Prioritizing employee safety is the most important aspect of any company’s vision. Employees who feel safe will be more productive,” said Nicacio.

Size Doesn’t Matter

Safety is every employee’s responsibility. It doesn’t matter how small or how simple the manufacturing process. Every employee should speak up to identify safety concerns. In fact, this is the only trait anyone needs to be a safety leader.

The ideal safety processes are based on assessments from cross-functional teams. These teams involve operators knowledgeable about the day-to-day task; maintenance personnel who understand machine failure; and the safety specialists who will eventually implement a solution that incorporates the input from the other two groups.

“Employees on the shop floor are the best sources of information for addressing safety gaps,” said Nicacio. “They regularly perform the critical tasks and can help safety professionals identify possible solutions.”

Nicacio advised holding daily tier meetings to discuss safety.

“Operators meet with their supervisors, supervisors meet with managers, and managers meet with directors ... all the way to the plant manager. And do so all within 24 hours,” he said. “This is a lean manufacturing practice. In addition to identifying safety issues, daily tier meetings bubble up production issues, such as equipment failures and personnel needs.”