CASE STUDY 8.3 (The Fl Pitstop)
The Fl Pit Stop can be the difference between being first or second on the podium, the difference of winning and losing a season long title, or in fact completing or being out of a race. The pit crew are responsible for meeting the 3 second target time of a planned pit stop; to prepare, engage, change tires, make adjustments and relaunch, within a pit lane that can prove to be a very dangerous place.
In 2012, Kamui Kobayashi was fined €25000 by the FIA, for braking late and running over his Sauber team pit crew, injuring three mechanics during a pit-stop in the British Grand Prix, and Williams's celebrations of a first Grand Prix victory in eight years were marred by injuries to 31 people following a pit fire.
Technology allows the cars to be continually reviewed, transmitting key data from the car, to the team's computers in the pit lane, streamed automatically to the team's HQ, where constant analysis is taking place, keeping the team management, pit crews and drivers in touch with every working part of the Fl car.
The pit crew can be made up of up to 20 well trained, fast, highly skilled and disciplined individuals of whom all with a critical job in delivering an efficient, fast and above all dependable pit stop, moving with synergy around each other, in what is a well practiced, finely tuned process that has been continually developed and improved over the last three decades. Any failure is clearly visible to any observer due to the streamlined process, the Pit Stop is truly a process where waste of any form is minimized, continuous improvement is at its core, and the knowledge and movement of people are incremental to its success.
The Process The driver enters the pit lane, brakes to adhere to speed limitations, and stops the car in the precise spot the pit crew expect, the lollipop man brings down his lollipop in front of the driver, informing the driver to keep his foot on the breaks whilst prevent the engine from stalling.
It is essential that the driver stop at precisely the same place that his crew are awaiting him. Failure to do so means that the crew have to drag their equipment and tires up to the car, costing very valuable time.
Crouching next to the lollipop man is the front jack man. The instant the car stops he levers his jack under the nose of the car and lifts it into the air to an average height of around two inches. The rear jack man has to wait until the car has passed him before getting into position, he then places his jack beneath the car and raises the rear of the car. The rear jack has a fitting incorporated into it for a starter motor. The starter is there ready to bring the engine back into life if the car stalls.
the compressed air-driven gun that removes the single, central retaining nut. The other removes the old wheel and fits the new. The gun man then re-attaches the magnetic nut and tightens it to around 500 lb/ft. To prevent the nuts working loose, the right-hand side of the car uses righthanded threads, the left-hand side of the car leftsided threads. This means that the guns of the right and left sides have to work in opposite ways. Teams usually color code them to denote which is which. Each wheel man has a spare gun with him and usually a couple of spare wheel nuts too, just in case.
The lollipop man, who's been watching the whole operation intently, lifts the lollipop, he does so only when he's satisfied that all anticipated actions have successfully and safely completed. The driver, while waiting for the crew to finish, will have armed his launch control, this in concert with his pit lane speed limiter, governs his getaway. As he crosses the line denoting the end of the pit lane speed limit he disengages the speed limiter and accelerates hard back up to race speed.
Questions:
1. Read the case study and draw a process map for the Pit-stop processes.
2. Discuss why organisations should follow the path of the F1 pit crew to improve their process management in their organisations.
3. Discuss how can this Pit-stop process be improved