By Nelson Van Dyke
Goodyear-Topeka Share Plan Coordinator

Have you signed up to be on your business center’s new Share Plan team yet? The idea behind having committees in the business centers is to address issues unique to eachdepartment and focus on the things that each process needs to improve. Being involved in what and how we can do things better and more efficiently is what will make the Share Plan – and our company – a success. Mixing has its own unique problems, as does Component Prep, Earthmovers and Radial Trucks. The people that work in departments within our business centers are the ones most knowledgeable and best suited to help come up with ideas about improvements to the equipment and flow of products. It’s kind of like a football team. There is the defense, offense and special teams. Each one has its own components, like the offensive line, wide receivers, running backs, defensive backs and so on. Each one of those “departments” has their responsibilities to perform as a unit and each individual has their responsibilities within that unit. One part of the team cannot win the ball game without the others. We are like that also, with each department playing their unique roles in putting out a quality product or tire. We don’t need everyone to be on a committee, but we do need everyone to get engaged. Getting engaged in the improvement process for your business center is essential for us to be successful. Everyone has something they can contribute and we need everyone’s help and input. Remember too, that even if you’re not interested in being on a committee in your business center you can make a difference by using the I2A (Ideas to Action) suggestion system. So far, the Mix business center has received one luncheon and is ready to hit the next goal of completing 200 suggestions. The Earthmover business center has reached the 100 submitted suggestions mark and is in the process of making plans for their luncheon. Keep putting in your ideas and getting the rewards for doing a great job.

Our numbers from November once again were close for conversion cost. We had a goal of $1.09/lb. and came in at $1.12/lb. For the waste metric our goal is $.10/lb and we were slightly under at $.095/ lb. We’ve had a couple of quality issues that have had an impact on our goal for this quarter. It’s important that we all stay diligent in our efforts to put out quality tires to our customers. Everyone has a lot on their minds during this holiday season. Please stay safe and stay focused on doing your part to improve and do a quality job every day. If we all do that we will share the rewards in January!