Case study · Transport
TIP Trailer Services increased direct productivity by 16%
Our maintenance planning & scheduling training was deployed across the TIP workshop network in France, Italy and Spain, transforming maintenance operations and building a culture of continuous improvement.
16%
direct productivity increase
~100
people trained
3
countries
The client
About TIP Trailer Services
TIP Trailer Services (TIP) is a leading provider of industrial equipment and services within Europe and North America, with a fleet of more than 110,000 vehicles and 140 maintenance and repair workshops across 17 countries.
TIP are experts in providing all services a customer will require during the life cycle of a trailer, tanker or other type of equipment. In addition, TIP has over 30,000 vehicles under maintenance contract from customers.
The problem
The challenge
With a goal to improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs, Didier Felice, Vice President Mediterranean Region, explored maintenance training solutions to implement across the TIP European workshop network.
“Although we specialise in leasing and rental, maintenance has always been at the heart of our activity,” said Didier. “The better our equipment is maintained, the longer it can be leased; the better the quality of our repairs, the more customers trust us to maintain their equipment.”
An internal audit conducted in 2019 revealed significant gaps in the TIP maintenance processes. Maintenance teams had delivered suboptimal wrench time and the work environment was highly reactive, not prepared, planned, or scheduled. Too many jobs were deemed urgent, and processes were wasteful, resulting in inefficient utilisation of many of the mechanics and technicians.
This outdated way of managing workshop maintenance had to be urgently revised and improved, leading Didier to source simple and scalable maintenance and reliability training for the TIP teams.
Vice President Mediterranean Region
The solution
What we did
The maintenance planning and scheduling course stood out from other courses due to its value, not only in teaching the basics of the discipline, but also for the assistance and support provided to ensure successful implementation.
Approximately 100 employees in France, Italy, and Spain, from all levels of the organisation ranging from branch directors to workshop managers, sales, senior management and all maintenance team members completed the course.
Having a large cross-section of participants was key to generating a shared understanding of the requirements for world-class maintenance services and helped demonstrate how each member of the team had a critical role to play in the maintenance environment.
New rules were introduced, and tasks and responsibilities were thoroughly defined and clarified, for example, the roles of scheduler, planner, and supervisor within TIP's maintenance environment.
The many tools and templates within the course provided great value and allowed much faster implementation.
The outcome
The results
Since implementation, TIP's maintenance organisation and processes have been transformed. Participants saw the emergence of a reliability culture with better planning and scheduling: almost 100% schedule loading, a 20-point improvement in scheduling compliance, and optimal use of resources, as well as a more stable, more positive and less stressful working environment.
Direct (hands-on-tools) productivity rose 16%. Total productivity, direct plus indirect, rose 7%. And regions that did the training improved overall productivity by 15% from the start of 2020, against 6–9% in regions that didn't.
- Indirect hours decreased from 10% to 5%
- Sickness ratio reduced by 33%, despite COVID-19
- Faster turnaround times due to reduced backlog and less urgent work
- Better team alignment through shared understanding and unified vision
- Easier onboarding of new employees
- Profit increased by seven figures
On the back of the project's success, Didier Felice was promoted from Vice President Mediterranean Region to Vice President Europe Maintenance & Repair.
Today we do exactly what is proposed in the Planning and Scheduling course: a weekly schedule, backlog review and daily planning. Work orders are identified, prioritised, planned.
Didier Felice,Vice President Mediterranean RegionWhat’s next
Looking ahead
Reduced equipment downtime, increased safety and reliability and lower maintenance costs have resulted in improved total cost of ownership for TIP's customers. Going forward, TIP's next focus is efficient and effective preventive maintenance, to continue improving asset availability.
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