STUDENT NEWS Sandra Buckler, Harley Davidson Motor Company,
Jenna Dolinar, Walt Disney
Menomonee Falls, Wis.
World, Orlando, Fla.
It’s doubtful that William S. Harley, who drew up plans for a small engine to fit a pedal-style bicycle in 1901, knew his name would become synonymous with American-made motorcycles 110 years later. The company’s 849,000 square-foot Pilgrim Road Buckler Powertrain Operations facility is home of the “Big Twin” engine, and employees produce engines and transmissions for final assembly plants in York, Pa., and Kansas City, Mo, for Touring, Softail, and Dyna model families. Buckler, of Brookfield, Wis., spent her time at the plant working as part of the company’s international division, which ships parts to Brazil and India.
The world’s most-visited entertainment resort, Walt Disney World is comprised of four theme parks, two water parks, and 24 resorts. Its 65,000 employees welcome an average of 45 million guests annually. Dolinar, of Irwin, Pa., spent her internship analyzing and redistributing staff across the property to assist with expansion needs.
“Parts are shipped to the international facilities in ‘play pens,’ which hold enough parts to build two complete engines,” Buckler said. “We were finding that the shipping bill of materials did not match the parts in the play pens, which led to errors on the production line.”
Dolinar
“I analyzed each location’s labor data across the property and developed a wrench number specific to each location,” Dolinar said. “From there, I created a new staffing model, presented it to management at each respective location, and then assisted with the redistribution of the staff.” Dolinar found that, on average, each location had an excess of five staff members. By redistributing them across the properties, she saved the company more than $1 million.
Shaun O’Connor, ODIN Technologies, Ashburn, Va.
Buckler created a parts visual index to help packers ensure the right parts were contained in the pens, a reformatted pick list for the pens, and implemented scan-able labels that will appear on each piece of equipment needed for the engine. The project, which is currently being used in Harley Davidson’s Missouri and Pennsylvania plants, is estimated to save the company $250,000 annually.
Candace Cuppett, Special Metals, Huntington, W.Va.
Spring 2013
Cuppett
26
Special Metals is a world leader in the invention, production, and supply of the high-nickel, highperformance alloys used in engineering. A native of Bruceton Mills, W.Va., Cuppett worked as part of a team of seven in the company’s Continuous Improvement and Process Engineering department. Their goal was to get materials through testing and to the customer.
“I worked with the safety department to create hazard maps,” said Cuppett. “I also helped to implement A3 problem-solving tools, which reports an entire problem, proposed solutions, and actions required to resolve the problem all on 11x17 or A3-sized paper, for material certification, which resulted in faster invoicing, and H1988 (material test fails and re-tests) tracking, which helped to increase throughput.” Special Metals estimates that Cuppett’s suggestions will result in about $230,000 per year in savings. Upon graduation, she will begin her professional career with Johnson Controls.
ODIN Technologies provides radio-frequency identification software and solutions for the aerospace, government, healthcare, financial services, and social media markets. One of its clients, EuroCopter, the largest helicopter manufacturer in the world, was facing O’Connor production problems. In stepped West Dummerston, Vt., native O’Connor, who found himself in desperate need of a passport since he was headed to France within days of starting his internship. “EuroCopter was falling behind on quota, and had no equipment accountability,” O’Connor said. “I helped find the causes of the company’s production and accountability problems and worked to create a revamped inventory management system.” EuroCopter, which now keeps a running inventory that has reduced time spent by employees on unnecessary actions, implemented the solution across multiple hangars in its European fleet. On average, the solution saved each worker six hours per week resulting in millions of dollars in increased revenue. Eurocopter has now begun rolling out this solution across more hangars in their European fleet. O’Connor’s experience with ODIN didn’t stop there. He spent time working with Nintendo, Lexus, Cadbury, Raytheon, and Mercedes Benz. He even managed to collect a few more frequent flyer miles with project work across the country and internationally.