OBSERVATION
Due to a combination of the economic climate increasing the coal demand and this company having been transferred from a state-owned entity to an ASX-listed business, several improvement programs were ongoing, one of which centred on increasing capacity in the rail corridor.
ORIENTATION
The improvement program proposed was made up of a series of processes designed to tighten the management control within the rail yard to improve turnaround time and on-time departure to the mines.
The improvement program consisted of developing and implementing a series of processes designed to tighten the management control within the rail yard to improve the overall coal loop turnaround time.
A vision was created in the yard for all maintenance, servicing, inspection and shunting activities to be managed with the approach of a Formula 1 racing team pit crew. All activities would be planned before the train arrived at the yard and scheduled in minutes so the time back out into the corridor could be accurately forecast and then tightly performance managed.
OPTIMISATION
The management system and all procedures, audits, standard process times and supporting documentation were formalised into the "F1 Toolkit", which was rolled out to all stakeholders as part of the implementation program. A regime of daily and weekly performance review meetings underpinned by visual management centres were also introduced.
IMPACT
- 20% improvement in yard turnaround time
- 4.5 Mtpa increase in capacity
- $45M pa revenue increase opportunity