Two terrific teams from Trim and Final and Business Improvement are bringing Refocus to life at Halewood after coming together to resolve a long-term quality and safety issue, which was resulting in damaged paintwork to vehicles, as well as being a potential trip hazard for associates working on the line.
The challenge they faced was to devise a new way of safely securing the body paint protection on to cars, which often became dislodged in transit, as they moved down the line in Trim and Final.
This had become a cause of concern, because if the protection isn’t attached properly to the car and falls down, not only can it cause damage to the paintwork, resulting in costly repairs, but it could also put our associates at risk of injury by tripping over it.
Former associates Lewis Buswell and Rob Collins , came up with the ‘devilishly’ good idea to use discarded seatbelt clips, which are also known as devil’s forks, to push through the striker on the paint protection kit, to keep it in place.
A number of successful trails have now been run by Chris Clarke and Adam James, from Business Improvement, and thanks to the pair’s perseverance, the devil’s forks are now part of the paint protection process.
Chris Clarke, Damage Auditor for Trim & Final said: “It was a great initial idea by Lee and Rob, and we are delighted to have worked on it and ensured that it’s been made part of a new process which is driving quality and efficiency on the line.
“The forks keep the protection in place, keeping our associates on the line safe from hazards and our vehicles free from damage and we have seen a significant reduction in near misses since we have been using them.”
Adam, Business improvement Project Leader, added: “They say the devil is in the detail and sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the most effective- which is certainly the case with these clips.
“Using them has cost us nothing, as they are supplied with the seatbelts, but they are the perfect solution to hold the paint protection in place and have prevented us from having to do a complete redesign of the kit to fix the issue.”
Finding new smarter ways to deliver what we do right first time, to the highest quality level, every day is key as we work together to transform the business through Refocus and deliver our Reimagine strategy. Well done team for this devilishly good idea!
