'The Receivers' from Koyo win JTEKT competition

'The Receivers' from Koyo Bearing Plant in Orangeburg are, from left, Brandi Coons, Tiffany Robinson, Lisa Acuff, Susan Neal and Bobby Washington.

A team from the Koyo Bearings Plant in Orangeburg won a company-wide competion among JTEKT Corp. facilities and now will present their Quality Circles project at JTEKT global headquarters in Japan later this year.

Associates from the Parts Department (Storeroom) of the Koyo Bearings Plant formed a Quality Circles team to improve the efficiency in their department and plant operations.

Quality Circles are comprised of a group of employees that meet regularly to consider ways of resolving problems and improving production in their organization. They employ a systematic approach to find root causes of issues and resolve, or render improved results.

The task the Orangeburg Team, “The Receivers,” chose was to find a method to quickly locate and retrieve parts from inventory. This would help reduce idle machine time on the shop floor.

The team presented the project in a competition with other teams in the Orangeburg facility. They won the local competition, which earned them the opportunity to present the project at the company headquarters in Greenville.

Earlier this month, over 110 people from 12 plants and a corporate function competed for the honor to be one of the top three JTEKT QC Circles teams in North America. In addition to learning problem-solving skills, team members also developed leadership and team skills.

Winning first place earned The Receivers the opportunity to present their project at JTEKT global headquarters in Japan.

Koyo Bearings North America is a part of the JTEKT Corp., which opened the facility in Orangeburg in 1975. The Orangeburg facility has been a supplier to both original equipment and aftermarket customers in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, agriculture, electric motor and repair, steel mill, wind energy and more.