The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-05, Page 146•
18D ("CHAMPION
GSS/Wednesday. Nov. 5, 1986.
eeting the c„:allen e
of today's technology
ill Dobie has seen
manufacturing change during
his 27 -year career with the
company, but the change has
always resulted in improvements to
the Champion road grader.
Today, with Champion
manufacturing lanuffactur ng the majority of the
2,500 parts .on the motor grader,
Dobie believes the company has
more' control over quality.
Manufacturing superintendent
since 1982, Bill says he is basically
responsible for making sure four
graders get off the line each day,
finding out about parts and
rescheduling graders if parts aren't
available to complete the job. In
short, Bill acts as a troubleshooter
for the manufacturing sector with
responsibility for the 488 workers on
the, shop floor.
Employed with the company since
January, 1959, Bill worked as a saw
operator in fabrication before
moving on to become a lead hand in
fabrication, general foreman and
fabrication superintendent.
His rise through the ranks, he
insists, is compatible and consistent
with the company's philosophy.
"We've returned to promotability
from within and people recognize
that the opportunity for
advancement is there,” he
"TV's a h.anized
operation and eiiipiuym5 aren't ju:
a timecard. If you have initiative
there are all kinds of opportunities
and possibilities."
Several key changes in the past
few years, the development of the
8400 transmission, the use of the
Cummins engine, new machining
equipment and the implementation
of the Manufacturing Resource
Plafining (MRP) system, have
impacted greatly on the
manufacturing sector.
"We're going to have problems
with MRP because we're working to
capacity so it's hard right now to get
to a comfortable position," Bill said.
"With some fine tuning it will
control our inventory and it will help
Continued on Page 19
Manufacturing
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