Dixie Off Road Photography

For the past few year I have attended the annual event of the Sheriff's JeepFest in Jasper, Georgia. I'm guessing that I have grown especially fond of the JeepFest because it reminds me of my younger years when I participated in unorganized four wheeling events. Okay, I really had no business being out in the woods four wheeling around as if I knew what I was doing and I know that part of the excitement was probably the risk of getting caught but these are different times and we are well beyond the statute of limitations.

The JeepFest is a well organized, fun event for people of all ages and though my time there this year was especially limited I was still able to have a great time thanks to Dixie Off Road Photography being kind enough to share pictures on their facebook page. It's not the first time Dixie Off Road Photography caught my attention so I contacted them in regard to their full line of services.

Here's the great news for you! Whether you use your equipment for agriculture, mining or excavation Dixie Off Road Photography of Monroe, Georgia is happy to provide their services throughout the United States. If you want to display the qualities of your business Dixie Off Road Photography can capture the essence of it through their photography. Contact them on facebook or their web site DIXIE OFF ROAD PHOTOGRAPHY.

Photos by Dixie Off Road Photography, Monroe, GA

It's History. Today, Mining

Pearl Buck is quoted as to saying, 'If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday'.  I couldn't agree more.  History can actual help us understand what is going to happen in the future.  We can't ignore the past.  I believe we should celebrate it.

This evening I was reading Details of Practical Mining, published in 1916 by McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., edited by Lee O. Kellogg. Mr. Kellogg was a standing member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

This is an ebook, an old book that has been scanned. There may be typos and errors. The original book that was published in 1912 was put together from articles that appeared in Engineering and Mining Details.

I hope you enjoy seeing the advancements in mining as much as I did.

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Back to Lean Management

Once again, we are back to practicing lean management!  We would guess that your business already has a program in line to use for lean management but perhaps it would be a good idea to try a different approach and incorporate something a little different. Lean manufacturing optimizes processes and eliminates waste.  This helps cut costs and taking a few hours to inspect a situation more closely can also enhance safety of an operation.

People are constantly trying to make sense of the world the live in.  They form opinions about every interaction and situation they experience.  It is only logical to find that when two people stand in different locations they see things differently and though each has a point of view no two are ever quite the same.
 
We at GHC use the Takt Time formula: available production time / customer demand per day.  The variables can easily be modified and we admit that we quickly learned that activities that do not contribute need to be eliminated as these non-value added steps are a waste.  

Large facilities will prefer to use something that is more sophisticated such as the Six Sigma program.  Six Sigma is a set of techniques developed by Motorola in 1985.  Motorola determined that processes vary over time but the company had years of data that they had collected.  The formula for Six Sigma is:
     Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO) = ((Total Defects) / (Total Opportunities)) per million
     Defects (%) = ((Total Defect) / (Total Opportunities)) per 100
     Yield (%) = 100 - (Defect Percentage)
     process Sigma = NORMSINV (1-((Total Defects) / (Total Opportunities))) +1.5

Six Sigma works great when long term information is available to work with but GHC is small and doesn't mass produce anything.

The whole idea of Lean Management is simple and can be applied to any situation.  First, identify the waste. Second, analyze the waste and find the cause of the problem.  Third, correct the cause problem.  Repeat each month or every ten working days.

Both techniques mentioned above are proven solutions for fixing waste within an organization.  Benefits of a company's effort include increase in productivity, reduced space requirements, and improvements in quality.
Visit our This Matters page and find more ideas.   

Using Your Voice

How many of you use your voice in our government? Currently there are 122 open petitions directed to the White House that require signatures to advance to the next level of review. Some seem to be personal but some need our attention.  

One of the petitions that we should be paying attention to asks the president to End His Assault on our Nation's Coal Mining Families.  I can't imagine a world without coal and can't understand why it would be considered a mistake.

What I do see as a mistake is 18 day vacations that are scheduled by elected officials who haven't done their jobs properly while there are two new food assistance recipients for every one job created.  I just don't see this as a job well done that is deserving of reward.

If elected officials want to create a legacy for themselves they should not be doing to at the expense of the hard working, tax paying citizens of their country. 

Please help our coal mining industry by signing the petition so we can keep those 700,000 plus people working.

Gold Rush - an American Dream

We've been waiting to read the article about Dave Turin of Gold Rush in Aggregates Manager's July issue. Today the issue arrived and we were thrilled to see Gold Rush right on the cover!

It was refreshing to read that Dave Turin questioned Todd Hoffman and his vision from the very beginning. I know that as my family and I watched Gold Rush through the seasons I wondered aloud how these guys could simply up and leave the lives they had established to follow a dream. The television series never really showed us how much consideration any one of these men had put in to their decision, but they did think long and hard about their choices.

We were all happy to read that Dave Turin contacted KPI-JCI/Astec Companies not only based on his past experience with the company but because of it being an American company with local ties.  

As a 'Friday evening miner' I will say that I saw many mistakes but these Gold Rush guys were not unaware of their mistakes. They're still willing to take a chance and willing to make mistakes while they are following their dreams.

Don't miss Michelle Cwach's inspiring article, Golden Boy, in Aggregates Manager and be ready to tune in to Discovery Channel on August 2 when the new season starts.

http://www.kpijci.com/

Georgianna Hardware Corporation

The War on Coal

I tuned in to the news tonight so I could hear what the president had announced at Georgetown University today and I caught that he had made his decisive environmental policies.

The news report fell on deaf ears because the statement was clouded by hearing that this decision was, “for the sake of our children and the health and safety of all Americans”.

I am tired of the president of the United States including my children in every powerful message he needs to make. My children have always been resilient and they speak their minds but I dare say they might see through the smoke and mirrors and suggest that if he feels this is the right decision for our country he should stand up at the podium and accept responsibility for his decisions.

Questions rush through my mind. What employment options are available to people that will find themselves out of work? What resources do we have available to replace the power that we will be losing because of the “war on coal”? What are we going to replace the $16 billion of exported coal with? When will we be able to see the cost-benefit analysis of the plan? Is coal really combative?

My questions are unanswered but I urge you to let the “war on coal” be your reason to contact your representatives and ask your own questions. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml