Tackling Big Equipment Replacement Times
By Stephen Martinez, TM-II for Patrol 10 at Havana, Denver Maintenance Section 5, Region 1
Stephen is on a three-month cross-training assignment with the CDOT Office of Communications.
July 28, 2014
How can CDOT replace old equipment in a timely manner?
Non-fleet equipment, defined as large maintenance equipment such as snow plow trucks, currently has a 25-month window from the time a piece of equipment registers as replaceable to when CDOT is operating the new equipment. That timeframe often resulted in CDOT maintenance having to utilize equipment beyond its service life, raising issues of safety and reliability.
CDOT initiated a Lean process to shorten the equipment replacement process timeframe. A rapid improvement event was held on December 9-13, 2013, to identify problems and develop recommendations to improve the process.
The tasks involved a review of the old processes, identification of existing issues that could be improved, and the development of a new equipment replacement plan. “The CDOT process for equipment procurement was too cumbersome, so we wanted to reduce the time to an average of 14 months,” noted Zane Znamenacek, Region 3 Traffic & Safety Engineer, who served as the project lead.
The roles of two existing committees within this process, the Equipment Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) and the Equipment Specifications Committee, were defined as follows:
The purpose of EMAC, the so-called the lemon committee, is "managing older equipment with outdated and hard to find parts." Over time, equipment becomes increasingly difficult to maintain due to vendors no longer manufacturing parts.
The purpose of the Specifications Committee is "standardizing details of the design and options on a piece of equipment." This committee examines everything down to every nut and bolt. This committee also manages the “How to order” guide for shop supervisors.
The project team recommended the following improvements:
Finalizing a standard plan for equipment replacement that will reduce replacement times from a current average of 25 months to approximately 14 months. The review will be done by the EMAC committee.
The Specifications Committee will work toward standardizing order placement. Equipment specifications will be published on the internal website.
Avoiding order forfeitures through a meeting of set deadlines. The “How to Order” guide expedites this process and helps prevent forfeitures from occurring.
Holding vendors accountable for delivery time. Vendors are required to give 30-day status updates. Equipment specification plans will be published for vendors as data is updating.
Upcoming Milestone Dates:
July 2014 - EMAC Reviews draft plan
August 15, 2014 - Regional review of the final equipment replacement plan
September 30, 2014 - the Final plan will be published
Gary Goldsberry, Deputy Superintendent for Denver Section 5 and a member of the Project Team, noted, "By putting together a stringent timeline and sticking to it, we will be able to decrease the amount of time it has taken to get a new tandem axle plow truck from the order to delivery stage by almost 50%. Items that had held up the acquisition process in previous years will be identified and now will be shelf-ready so that ordering can move forward in a timely manner. Communications between CDOT and its awarded vendors is being enhanced, while will expedite the ordering process."
