Standardized Maintenance Carts to Reduce Time and Steps

A grower in Marysville, Washington has large expanses of property, with plants grown both in greenhouses and in the field. Consequently, golf carts were used as a clean mode of transportation for maintenance crew members to work around the site. Each crew member had a different set of tools and supplies on his cart, based on personal choice, and these tools and supplies were not consistently well organized. Responding to maintenance calls required personnel to retrieve and carry ladders, sections of pipe, etc. in addition to the tools required to make a service call – perhaps ¼ mile away or more.

Multiple trips to the maintenance shop for parts and supplies were time consuming and expensive. Each maintenance crew member was making 15 – 20 trips to the shop per day. Additionally, the standard golf cart lacked the size, power, and interval before recharging to be of practical use by maintenance crews.

The Peters Company worked with the crew to address the lack of standard work for how maintenance carts were stocked. It became apparent the golf carts were inadequate for the task and were replaced. Larger carts can now carry parts needed for nearly 90% of the calls with 90% less transportation waste. The need to recharge carts during the shift was also eliminated. Each cart was configured exactly alike. Inventory items stocked on each cart was standardized and restocked as needed daily. By creating standard work for arrangement and replenishment of the new carts, the company will see its return on investment within months. The customer experiences far less downtime as crew members have what is needed at the point of use the majority of the time.