Q&A: How Micro Bird BOOSTED PRODUCTION AND EFFICIENCY with a Bold Plant Expansion In this two-part Q&A, we talk with Micro Bird executive Normand Paquet. As a leader in the Type A bus industry, Micro Bird has strengthened its position over the past year by doubling the size of its production facility and preparing for an electric vehicle boom. Paquet says that as the future of the market is changing, Micro Bird is ahead of the curve. ADVERTORIAL Normand Paquet is chief commercial officer of Micro Bird. What were the goals of Micro Bird’s recent plant expansion? Normand Paquet: The goals were to support our growth and improve efficiency. We increased the plant by 115,000 square feet, for a total of 200,000 square feet, which more than doubled the production floor. That new space is all dedicated to production and inventory. And that inventory, it’s 100% to supply the assembly line. Previously, we had a warehouse that was about 3 miles from the assembly line, and we wanted to eliminate that distance and bring the parts inventory within the same building. So of the 115,000 square feet that we added, 70,000 square feet is for inventory to supply the assembly line directly from the plant instead of from outside. And in the rest of the new space, about 40,000 square feet, we have seven working stations as well as nine bays. How were the employees involved in the plant expansion, and how do the changes benefit them? That’s a great question. The team that was the most involved is our manufacturing engineers. They were involved in terms of saving time with the additional work stations as well as the post-production. They also looked at the design of the plant and how to maximize the output of our manufacturing environment. As an example, they highlighted the need to avoid placing column posts in the wrong places, because the posts can limit access. So the structure was designed by the architect, making sure that we can do the job with fewer posts. Another group of employees who were involved in the plant expansion were the warehouse and logistics management team. They were instrumental in improving efficiency and productivity. Optimizing workflow to maximize productivity is an ongoing mission, which is why it’s so important that we continue to listen to employees for their valuable insights. So the plant expansion helps our employees work more efficiently, and it improves the work environment for them. For example, we installed solar walls that recover heat from the sun and redistribute it throughout the building. This means we don’t have to run gas or electric heaters, which reduces emissions and improves air quality in the plant for our workers. Has Micro Bird’s new plant configuration reduced emissions in other ways? Another goal was to shorten our production cycle — what we call order-to-delivery — by capturing some post-production activities that had been done from other sources outside of the building. So, altogether, it’s improving our manufacturing turnaround by approximately 70%. As an example, within the plant we added two paint shops to rapidly perform the second paint, second color or third color, as well as touch-ups. We’ve also added a booth for undercoating, for rust protection. We have an official alignment station. And we have a station for cleaning the buses, which used to be done outside in the bay. Now it’s incorporated into the normal process. When all of the parts were in another warehouse 3 miles down the road, we had about 16 18-wheelers going back and forth throughout the day, bringing parts to feed the assembly line. By bringing this all in-house and not having those trucks on the road, we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 35 tons per year. In Part 2 of this conversation, Normand Paquet will discuss Micro Bird’s developments in alternative-fuel buses, and how the plant expansion is helping increase production of electric vehicles to meet growing demand. To learn more about Micro Bird, go to www.microbird.com . Sponsored By: