FOLLOWING ORDERS

Jun 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Don Marsh

Programmed solicitation of employee feedback at General Shale Brick Inc. is the cornerstone of a quality and safety initiative whose results generate few complaints.

Although the General Shale Quality (GSQ) program has improved production and delivery across 20 operations, it has had perhaps the biggest impact at the company's concrete franchise, Tri-Cities Block in Piney Flats, Tenn. There, employee suggestions on block storage and truck staging, for example, have translated to mixed-product order loading in an average of 14 minutes. At an operation logging 75 outbound trailers each day, that benchmark has left contract haulers better prepared to cope with new drivers hours of service guidelines. Development of a safety component within GSQ has helped Tri Cities log 339,223 incident free hours over the past five years.

GSQ originally required brick and block plant managers to schedule weekly meetings involving a manager and designated staff member from materials, machinery, packaging, and loading — each defined as “natural work teams.” Implementation of many employee suggestions, along with a few ideas from material suppliers and customers' contract haulers, has brought fine-tuning of work processes and a reduction of meeting frequency to monthly.

“General Shale Quality has allowed a formal, programmed method to gain feedback on processes and work flow,” notes Tri Cities Manager Bryan Hoilman. “The meetings are set up so every participant is on equal footing and able to share his or her opinions on how to improve output, quality and safety.

“People take ownership in their jobs when they see their thoughts or suggestions factoring into the operation. On the other hand, when they ask for something and hear the word ‘no’, they are informed of the reasoning behind the company's or plant manager's decision.”

Productivity gains attributed to GSQ have positioned Tri Cities to expand its market radius from about 150 miles to 250 miles, he adds. With shipments set to eclipse 20 million blocks in 2005, the plant has emerged as one of the industry's highest output operations from a rural setting. Piney Flats is near Tennessee's Tri Cities: Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol — the latter home to a charter NASCAR venue. The area is 100 miles or more to such second-tier population centers as Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn.; Roanoke, Va.; and Asheville, NC, but is linked to them by the major arteries of Interstate 81 (northeast-southwest), Interstate 75 (north-south) and Interstate 40 (east-west).

MOBILIZATION

Built on a 22-acre site with storage for 4.5 million blocks, the Tri Cities Block facility was opened five years ago to consolidate production of four dated eastern Tennessee operations. The newer plant has twin four-at-a-time Besser Ultrapac machines running two shifts, five or six days a week with a five-man crew.

Tri Cities specializes in gray, split face and architectural product, plus Versa-Lok retaining wall units. The original plan for Piney Flats was “8, 12 and 16 in. gray block,” according to Hoilman, who assured management that the offering would have to expand to maximize the twin machines' potential. The product line has since grown to upwards of 200 shapes and stock colors.

Growing demand for block and brick, coupled with management's confidence in GSQ methods, has spurred additional investment in concrete block to integrate with the brick plants and masonry distribution business serving mid-Atlantic, Southeast and South Central regions. This spring, General Shale announced plans for a tumbler- and four-at-time block machine-equipped facility on a Knoxville greenfield site, scheduled for opening later this year. The block production boost coincides with major kiln and automation investments at Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina clay brick plants. In addition to concrete and clay capacity expansion, General Shale has acquired three masonry supply businesses — Carolina Brick & Block (four South Carolina yards), Wittichen Lime & Cement (one Arkansas, two Mississippi and two Tennessee yards) and Colonial Brick (three Michigan locations) — since early 2004.

Based in Johnson City, Tenn., General Shale Brick is one of the leading exterior building materials manufacturers in the country. The company produces clay brick and concrete block, supplying residential, commercial and specialty architectural products. General Shale's parent company, Wienerberger AG, is the largest brick manufacturer in the world and is located in Vienna, Austria.