Landscape Management, December 2014
EFFICIENCY TIP LANDSCAPE INDuStry trENDS VIEWS AND tIPS pIt crew A bout seven years ago Chris Speen and the team at twin Oaks Landscape in Ann Arbor Mich realized they needed to cut back on nonproduction hours aka a lot of guys standing around Were now at 12 crews but as we got bigger around four to six crews it was hard says Speen general manager of the 24 million full service company We thought How can we do a better job of not losing time the answer was to create a pit crew Speen doesnt recall where the idea came from but he knows its been benefcial He estimates its cut weekly nonproduction hours in half Multiply that by 30 weeks and you can see where theres a signifcant amount of savings happening he says that goes right to the bottom line Heres how it works Four staff members make up the pit crew two guys from the companys recurring division and two guys from its project division they arrive at work 90 minutes early and prep for the day including changing mower blades fueling trucks mowers and running through the morning equipment checklist that way when crew members arrive they just get in their trucks and go Start times are staggered every 15 minutes the guys come in no more than fve minutes early he says there is no standing around Other benefts include giving the companys best laborers extra hours effciency gains from pit crew members becoming profcient at their routine tasks and a reduction in mistakes because there are fewer hands touching the equipment PHOTO isTOck cOm alexeys RecommendeR BRUceS VIeW Step By Step neW StUff c t this is something we can control unlike the economy etc Speen says you can only manage what you can control y
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