Popular automaker uses speed signs for better vehicle handling.
White Glove Care
At the leading Japanese car dealer’s Canadian production plants, newly manufactured cars are now handled with the white glove care the company expects with the help of the SafePace Signs and the innovative Logix on Cloud.
The Client
The Canadian production plant builds hundreds of thousands of cars each year. The plant is owned by a leading Japanese manufacturer and is among its top manufacturing plants globally as well as one of Canada’s top employers. Using an innovative production system that has been replicated around the world, the plant takes raw materials and builds, tests, and develops them into state of the art vehicles that are driven by thousands every day.
The Challenge
Each of the cars at the production plant is carefully constructed, meticulously produced, and fastidiously tested to meet the company’s high standards of excellence. Every minute, another impeccably crafted vehicle is driven off the lot and into the holding area. However, there was no system in place to ensure that the scrupulous level of care applied to the manufacturing process was also applied as the newly crafted vehicles were driven from the manufacturing facility to the holding area. Other than observational data, the company had no way to monitor vehicle speeds and ensure that the cars were being handled with the meticulous care their level of excellence demands. The management at the production plant was looking for a solution that could:
- Confirm whether team members were driving the vehicles at the posted speed limits and handling them with the care appropriate to the brand new vehicles
- Alert team members to their speeds so that they were aware of how fast they were driving
- Monitor vehicle speeds regularly so that the company was immediately aware of any potential concern regarding the handling of the vehicles
- Provide easily accessible data and reporting that could be reviewed and shared with drivers to encourage them to improve their driving and provide the level of care that the company expects of the pristine new vehicles.
The Solution
After researching a variety of solutions that could meet their varied needs, the manufacturer chose Traffic Logix SafePace radar signs to use at their Cambridge and Woodstock manufacturing plants in Canada. The signs offer the ability to monitor and report on driving behavior while also alerting team members who exceed the indicated speed to remind them to obey posted speed limits. Its slim design make it an attractive addition to the plants while the user-friendly, robust cloud interface offer the reporting abilities that make the program effective in monitoring, reviewing, and reporting possible lapses in the appropriate handling of the brand new vehicles.
The SafePace signs offer:
- Light enhancing, anti-glare LEDs that show team members the speeds they are driving at in bright, highly visible digits
- The ability to choose the speeds at which the digits, or in-sign strobe, flash to warn drivers that they are exceeding the speed they should be driving at
- Built-in monitoring abilities that provide up to the minute statistics on driver behaviors
- Stealth mode that allows driver data to be collected while the sign appears to be off
- A user-friendly interface that allows customization of sign parameters, a wealth of traffic data, and a variety of robust statistical reports
- A portable, lightweight design that allows the sign to be used at different locations throughout the plant
The Benefits
The new driver feedback signs have been met with enthusiasm by the company as they allow them to apply the same high standards to transporting vehicles out of the plant as the company does to the rest of the production process.
One of the managers of operations at the plant commented, “it’s really great how we can download the data and share it with team members to show them how well they are doing. The response to the signs has been excellent; they have really been well received here as part of our protocol for excellence.”
The signs are currently in use at two branches of the manufacturing plants and reports are generated and discussed weekly. The company has found that in most cases the cars were already being driven with the care and precision they expected from their team members.
In situations where someone is found to be driving over the threshold speed, intervention is conducted immediately to ensure that the team member is aware of the issue and is taking measures to improve improve.
The SafePace signs:
- Provide the leading Japanese car manufacturer with an effective way to monitor driver behaviour
- Instill team members with a sense of awareness of the speeds they are driving at
- Notify drivers who exceed thresholds immediately with flashing digits and/or strobes
- Allow management to actively review driving performance and ensure that it meets with the unsurpassed standards of the car manufacturer
