109 Seconds
Tuesday, February 7th, 2006Just read this article at FastCompany about “The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart”. It’s a very interesting article about Snapper lawnmowers but a few things caught my eye:
The main manufacturing line for Snapper’s entry-level walk-behind mowers–with 28 people–was recently charged with producing 265 lawn mowers in an eight-hour shift. The group hit the mark exactly. That’s a new lawn mower, from loose parts to sealed box, every 109 seconds.
That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. What can you do in 109 seconds?
Here’s another.
Snapper technicians start every riding mower before it leaves the McDonough plant. At the “hot start” station, a man wearing ear protectors squirts gas into the fuel tank and oil into the crankcase, pulls the starter cord, and brings the machine to life. He runs through all the gears, checks speed, engine performance, the mounting of the seat. The engine is given just enough fuel for the “run in.” If the mower passes all the tests, the man sucks the oil back out and sends the mower on to be boxed.
As Sumners watches, one of the riding mowers takes two pulls to start, then comes to life with a rough growl. In the blink of an eye, the technician shuts it down. “Did you hear how that sounded?” asks Sumners. “It’s not right. That’s a bad one.” The mower is shunted off to be inspected and properly tuned if possible. “If we didn’t,” says Sumners, “that mower would have gone to a customer.“
It’s all about creating a superior customer experience. Snapper has created a culture where even the guy testing the lawnmowers cares about the customer experience.
