Olympic Steel – Chambersburg, PA: Sean Shope

Sean Slope, First Shift Production Supervisor in Chambersburg’s 1599 building, recognized two potential issues related to safety and productivity when offloading long parts and placing them onto 4×4 blocks. The process took about 10-15 minutes and required an employee to place a skid under the parts while they were raised off the ground with a …

Sean Slope, First Shift Production Supervisor in Chambersburg’s 1599 building, recognized two potential issues related to safety and productivity when offloading long parts and placing them onto 4×4 blocks. The process took about 10-15 minutes and required an employee to place a skid under the parts while they were raised off the ground with a forklift. Sean suggested placing 6×6 boards under the parts so a forklift could insert a skid under the parts, instead of an employee doing it by hand. This simple change reduced potential safety risks and decreased handling time by approximately 50%.

Lesson Learned:

When you think there’s a better way to do something, there probably is. And, when you can reduce the risk to yourself or others in the process, it’s a no-brainer to test and implement that process improvement as soon as you can!