JR Automation

Joel Cooper is the Director of Facilities and EHS for JR Automation, a leading provider of intelligent automated manufacturing and technology solutions that solve customers’ key operational and productivity challenges. In this interview, Cooper explains why safety is a key tenant how JR Automation operates 28 facilities worldwide for over 2,000 employees

Why Does Jr Automation Have Such Big Safety Goals?

At JR Automation, we take the safety of our employees very seriously. Incidents are more than just paperwork and corrective actions. We believe that we can and should positively impact the health and safety of our team at work and at home. When one of our team members is hurt, they are affected, their family is affected, and so is their team. Since our acquisition by Hitachi (2019), we have accelerated our commitment to safety thanks to their desire in making safety a core tenant of our organization.

With Thousands of Employees and Dozens of Facilities, How do you Consistently Make Safety a Priority?

It starts with ensuring that everyone sees safety as not just a policy but a value of the organization. That means we need to incorporate it into how we train our employees and how we lead as management. When employees see that we are committed to this in every decision we make, it energizes them to step up and lead as well. All JR Automation employees are empowered to keep our company safe. Our “stop work authority” policy allows any employee, no matter their title, to stop any work being done at our facilities when a potentially unsafe situation occurs. We also encourage employees to report all safety issues immediately. Sometimes organizations are concerned that more reporting will lead to higher totals, but in order to have a truly safe organization you must be committed to open and honest tracking.

“The active promotion of the journey towards a healthy and safe workplace will increase employee engagement, bring about a better organized manufacturing space, and reduce waste”

What is an Example of a Program you Implemented that led to Improvements?

One area of focus over the past several years has been preventing head injuries. We noticed that head injuries were reoccurring safety issues, year after year. To remedy this, we implemented a comprehensive, common-sense strategy that included things like increased use of bump caps, identifying safety issues sooner and improving how we mark our work areas. Since improving this policy, head injuries have disappeared completely across the entire organization.

What Would you tell other Facility Supervisors they Need to Prioritize when it comes to safety?

To create success, the first step is living out the values yourself. Let your team and colleagues experience it firsthand. It can be incredibly empowering to the team. The active promotion of and the journey towards a healthy and safe workplace will increase employee engagement, bring about a better organized manufacturing space, and reduce waste.

Second, you should always be aware of the risks. This is especially true in the automation field, as during a machine build process the operating paradigm becomes very dynamic. Our facilities are more like a building construction site than a traditional manufacturing plant. In this ever-changing environment, you have to be vigilant in identifying new risks and addressing them in the moment. There are all kinds of programs you can use to do this: 5x5’s, safety step backs, stop work authority, pre-task planning, risk assessments. They are all valuable tools. You don’t necessarily need all of them, but if you pick a few and improve at them you will start to see consistent success.

Beyond Safety, What Other Facility Initiatives are in Motion at JR Automation?

Our safety focus is part of a larger Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability (EHS&S) strategy. As EHS&S leaders, we see an opportunity to be change agents across all departments and divisions. We continue to identify ways to improve our sustainability as we move forward on our path to being carbon neutral and injury free.