MSW Management | Editorial

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Landfill Manager's Notebook

By Neal Bolton

Neal Bolton

It’s that same old routine: same garbage … different day. Folks who work at landfills understand. There is a degree of repetitiveness to operating a landfill. Trucks come in; they dump; you push, compact, and cover—it’s another day. The consistent routine of operating a landfill can become boring. However, the routine can also provide tremendous potential for efficiency. When you do the same thing day after day, you have the opportunity to become very good at it.

But even with the best attitude and a desire to learn, grow, and excel, routine still brings with it the risk of falling into a rut. Ironically, this risk of complacency can increase as your crew matures. On one hand, there is great benefit in having workers with lots of experience who have worked together for many years: That’s good. On the other hand, without occasional turnover, your crew can get pretty set in their ways: That’s bad.

In order to stay sharp, your crew must be challenged to continually step back, look at what they’re doing, and ask, “Why?” I’m not talking about the questioning of authority, although, with the right attitude and in the right context, legitimate questioning of authority can be beneficial. Rather, I’m saying, “Look for shortcuts, improvements, and ways to do more with less.”

When it comes to improving efficiency, there are many effective concepts and techniques, including the following:

Six Sigma—a statistical method of identifying and solving problems with the goal of eliminating mistakes

Lean Engineering—an approach for cutting waste, improving operations, and providing more to customers

Kaizen—a Japanese term meaning “improvement”

Optimization—simply finding the most efficient overall process

Each includes a somewhat different approach and analysis, yet all have a similar goal of process improvement. And more importantly, all are based on a foundation of involvement.

Here’s the idea: Instead of a high-level manager trying to make positive changes through a series of cuts and re-organization (sounds kind of counterproductive, doesn’t it?), these methodologies ask everyone in the system to evaluate and improve every activity—right down to the smallest subtask.

Need an example? OK, let’s start with one of your subtasks.

Suppose you had a cup of coffee this morning. Break it into small subtasks, and we’ll do some assessment work.

How far did you have to walk to the coffee pot?

How long did it take to get there?

How far did you have to reach for the cream and sugar?

Were the cups in a convenient location, near the coffee pot?

Were they on the right or left (are you right-handed or left-handed)?

Was some of the coffee wasted because it got cold before you drank it?

Alright, you get the picture—and you may not be impressed. It looks like an overexamination of tiny, insignificant subtasks. But wait, we aren’t finished yet.

Suppose you had to walk across the room to the refrigerator to get the creamer … say, 20 feet there, 20 feet back, for a total time of 10 seconds. And, you’ll do it three times a day, 260 days a year for, let’s say, 30 years.

The result: You’ll walk over 177 miles to and from the creamer … and spend 65 hours doing it. Perhaps there is room for improvement.

The point is that lots of little improvements, accumulated over a long period of time, can provide tremendous improvement overall. And we haven’t even addressed the fact you’d be drinking nearly 1,500 gallons of coffee … and how far is it to the restroom?

Take a few minutes and think about main tasks your crew performs every day. Select just one and see how many subtasks it comprises. A complete list of all landfill activities would contain thousands of subtasks. Now apply the coffee example and factor in the potential cost and time savings.

That’s the idea.

Based on the results of scores of operational assessments I’ve conducted, I can assure you that every operation has room for improvement—and in many cases the results can be astonishing.

Share these ideas with the members of your crew. Encourage them to bring back their own suggestions for improvement. Once you begin achieving results and everyone gets the vision, this kind of analysis can develop its own momentum. You’ll have to stay sharp to keep up with the ideas as you figure out which ones to implement first. Process improvement techniques have saved billions of dollars throughout every type of industry.

Hope I didn’t spoil your coffee break.

Consultant Neal Bolton specializes in landfill operations.

MSW - January/February 2008