Olympic Steel – Winder, GA Team: Gary Piotrowski and Daniel Mills

Every day, we face bottlenecks and slowdowns – points in our regular routines, like traffic and congestion, that keep us from moving as quickly and efficiently as we could. That’s exactly what Gary Piotrowski (Fabrication Manager) and Daniel Mills (Training and Development Coordinator) were trying to tackle when they developed the new conveyor system for Olympic Steel’s Winder, Georgia facility.

Packing out and de-oxing laser cut parts was taking days or weeks to finish, since multiple sheets needed to be taken to another area of the building. The team recognized the hold-up and created a system of conveyers that allows each sheet to be unloaded and packed out immediately and saves the need for a material handler to transport the sheets to other areas of the building – generating a significant savings in time and effort, which both translate to improved safety and cost savings.

Lesson Learned: When we hit a slowdown, rather than get frustrated, consider whether or not there are alternative routes to reaching the end goal. Can we change or improve a process to gets us where we want to be more efficiently? Bring in some fresh perspective and explore all of the possibilities.