AGCO Corporation is a global leader in the design, manufacturing and distribution of agriculture equipment. In 2017, the AGCO's Jackson campus became the first agricultural manufacturer to receive the AME Excellence Award. In its award evaluation, assessors highlighted AGCO’s highly engaged workforce, policy deployment, success in converting its Jackson facility into a mixed model line, and its augmented reality technology, which has taken standardized work instructions to the next level.
Pearls of Excellence:
AGCO’s Employee Suggestion Program has created incredible value and engagement. In 2013, the company created an online tool (an electronic copy of the KAS problem-solving sheet), on the Jackson intranet, available to all employees. Employees are encouraged to enter ideas that will add safety, quality or cost reduction to their work/area. Since its inception, employees have not only entered, but completed 13,095 ideas and counting. In 2016, the recordable savings for the ideas was just under $1 million.
The policy deployment process at AGCO, led by the continuous improvement team, begins in June each year. The Jackson site leadership team—comprised of nine cross functional leads representing operations, manufacturing, lean, finance, HR, supply chain, quality, design engineering, and technical support—meets bi-monthly to align and set goals for following year. It uses an X-matrix to guide goals, strategies, projects and owners, all consistent with a long-term vision.
AGCO is pioneering the use of informed reality on the shop floor, a form of augmented reality that uses wearable devices. Employees now have standardized work instructions at eye level with the touch of a finger or simple voice command that gives them instant access to a manual or photo providing instructions for assembly, installation or inspection. Since the move to Google Glass, AGCO has reported significant reductions in process time of low volume assembly, quality control checks and training costs.
Presenter:
Rick Reuter is global smart manufacturing transformation lead for AGCO. He has been with AGCO for the past 12 years. During his time at AGCO, he has held many positions focused on process improvement. Currently, he is leading a global initiative to bring smart factory and industry 4.0 technologies to all of AGCO’s global manufacturing sites.
