APM Terminals Enhances Truck Driver Safety In Mumbai

By creating a "lock arrester" to keep truck drivers safe, APM Terminals hopes to improve protection for truck drivers in Mumbai. APM Terminals said that every day, 3,500 trucks visit its facility at Gateway Terminals India (GTI) in Mumbai, India. Several people got out of their trailer cabin on a regular basis to see if the trailer was freed from the container it was hauling. They worried that if the twist lock was still in place, the vehicle would accidentally be lifted along with the container. They ran a risk, though, by "double-checking" the twist lock.

During the Kaikaku Kaizen week earlier this year, Natarajan Swaminathan (Swami), Assistant Manager - Engineering at APM Terminals Mumbai, noticed the issue. The Japanese business approach known as Kaikaku Kaizen calls for making fundamental and drastic improvements to manufacturing systems. These recurring activities, which take place often throughout our international terminals, let us identify areas for development and guarantee that we continually achieve improved efficiency, particularly in safety.

According to Swami, "I saw the truck drivers' actions and I comprehended their justification. They weren't safe, but I knew that. I could not get the concept out of my head: "How can we prevent the trailer lock from moving so that it would stay in place and persuade truckers that there is no need for them to get out of their vehicles?"

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Swami organized a "try storming" to solve this problem. This LEAN-inspired working technique promotes learning and experimentation by doing in a secure environment. Working on a small team, Swami adds, "We discovered that a straightforward lock arrester maintained the unlocked twist lock in place. Even if the trailer was empty or exposed to rough roads, the twist locks would not spin while kept in place by the lock arrester.

Conclusion

"We conducted thorough testing, and every test was successful. With the help of a skilled pilot driver, we were able to mimic every scenario and show the truck drivers how it operated. 100 external trailers have now adopted the solution after we won the trust of the trucking industry. Swami noted that all of our activities, not just our terminal, are reaping the advantages.