Strong Work in Big Equipment Replacement Process

By Dennis Van Patter, CDOT Communications Office

February  5, 2015 

Much is typically written when a Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Lean process gets started.   The end of these processes sometimes gets obscured by newer projects, but in fact, the end is where the most newsworthy business results are shared.  Here’s an example:

In January, leaders of the CDOT Large Equipment Procurement Lean process held their final read-out.  The team spent a large amount of time over the past two years examining issues surrounding the length of time it took to get non-white (translated: orange) trucks, front-end loaders, tractors, and other large equipment in service once an order was placed.

There was much ground to cover.  Everyone agreed that replacement timeframes ranging up to two and one-half years were too long.  “We felt we could live with 14 months, so we worked toward that goal,” noted project leader Zane Znamenacek, who is CDOT Region 3 Traffic & Safety Engineer.

Picture of Zane Znamenacek

Zane Znamenacek

In order to make that goal a reality, the project team tackled issues such as the numbers of steps a replacement took.  It was necessary to put a new big equipment replacement plan in place, to develop new specifications, to deal with issues relating to regions and maintenance sections placing orders in a timely manner, and to deal with issues relating to holding vendors accountable for delivery timeframes.

“Our large equipment is critical to providing our services on the state transportation system,” Znamenacek noted.  “When replacement timeframes get too long, we have other problems such as needing to replace parts on our existing equipment that may no longer be available.  Also, we sometimes faced problems with having equipment on that replacement list requiring major repairs just to get us up to the replacement date.  This could mean that substantial amounts of money were being wasted on equipment that would only be in service for a short time.”

With better processes in hand, there have already been some eye-opening results, including the following:

Remaining items include better electronic interaction with vendors through a vendor portal, further consideration of vendor accountability measures, and revision of Procedural Directive 9.2 that deals with an assignment, use, retention, and replacement of CDOT owned and rented road equipment.

“There was a lot of important progress made during this lean process,” Znamenacek said.  “The team worked hard to address our problems in this area, and I feel as though we’ve accomplished a lot.  Replacement of equipment may not be something that CDOT employees might think much about, but for our maintenance and traffic employees who use this equipment every day, it’s a critical issue.  As a result of the lean process, we’re going to be ordering equipment more promptly, getting it faster, and getting it where it needs to be – in service on the roadways.”

Example of equipment

Example of equipment

CDOT Process Improvement Director Gary Vansuch, who served as project mentor, had plenty of praise for the project team.  “The situation of replacement times for our big equipment was a problem at CDOT,” he said.  “This team kept at the process over a period of two years and has made some amazing progress.  As a result of their efforts, the replacement process is cleaner, more efficient, and – best of all – faster.  My congratulations go out to everyone who was involved for having a hand in these improvements.”

Large Equipment Replacement Lean Process Honor Roll