CASE STUDIES

Skid Steer Loader Transition

John Deere Construction and Forestry Division

Business Requirement:

Transition of Skid Steer Operator Station and Attachment manufacturing cells from Deere facility in Loudon, Tennessee to Morton Metalcraft facility in Morton, Illinois.

Solution:

Morton Metalcraft Co. has proven abilities to manage product from prototype to full production for its customers. Morton has fully equipped in-house engineering, project management, and manufacturing capabilities that enable seamless integration with customers.

In January 2002 John Deere announced their intention to transfer Skid Steer Loader production from their facility in Loudon, Tennessee to Dubuque, Iowa. In March 2002 Morton Metalcraft Co. was selected as the supplier for the Skid Steer Operator Station and Attachment products. This project involved the transfer of production lines for the Operator Station and Attachments from Loudon to Morton by the end of June 2002, with full production required by mid July 2002 without interrupting production at the Loudon or Dubuque facilities.

In order to manage the project Morton assembled a transition team that included members of both Deere and Morton organizations. The team included Project Management, Engineering, Purchasing, Quality, and Manufacturing resources from Morton working directly with Deere personnel.

Project Highlights:

• Relocated production equipment from Loudon to Morton — this included robot and manual weld stations, punch press, brake press, tooling, work in process, and overhead Gantry systems
• Joint data collection to establish and document current process capabilities/limitations
• Created detailed work instructions and quality documentation for each product
• Trained Morton personnel during production ramp-down in Loudon.
• Managed second tier suppliers — Morton tasked with establishing new suppliers and transferring inventory from Deere to Morton.
• PPAP 1st samples produced in Morton

Results:

Morton Metalcraft Co.’s ability to assemble the proper resources necessary to coordinate this extensive project allowed Deere to achieve the aggressive transition timeline for Skid Steer production. Morton Metalcraft’s business with the Skidsteer Loader group has increased since the completion of this project.