MEET VINCENT: coordinator of continuous improvement

As captain of the Montmagny Fire Services, Vincent Ayotte understands better than most how clear communication keeps people safe. And as the coordinator of continuous improvement in production at Montel, he also knows that our high-caliber shelving solutions exist because of our healthy and communicative workforce.

But there is always room for improvement. Vincent and his team are always on the lookout for opportunities. He sees them as challenges to overcome, where the rewards are cost savings for the company, a more supportive working environment for Montel employees, and a stronger product for the customer.

Five years ago, as he reviewed customer satisfaction surveys, Vincent noticed that some customers mentioned long delivery times as one area where Montel could improve. When he ran the numbers, Vincent found that Montel delivered products within a three-day window about 85 percent of the time. That’s not too bad, but every hour that Montel clients spent waiting for their shelving solutions was an hour more they had to pay their workers to wait, or an hour spent waiting when their workers would be more productive elsewhere.It was also an opportunity for the Montel team to improve their system for identifying priorities using visual management techniques. 

In response, Vincent and the team took a closer look at its ordering and delivery processes and found a handful of ways to make delivery more reliable. Today, Montel’s delivery window is under two days 93 percent of the time. It might seem like a small improvement, but Vincent hopes it speaks volumes to how much the customer experience matters to Montel.”

Vincent is a huge fan of Mobilex, one of Montel’s signature storage solutions, because of his work on improving its design and production processes over the years. He helped find a middle ground between fast, efficient production and careful attention to quality that focuses on training assembly workers. To him, Mobilex is a great product that has evolved alongside Montel.

But if you ask us, we think Vincent loves Mobilex because his favorite hockey team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, partnered with Montel to build a Mobilex high-density powered mobile storage system in their equipment room.

“The owner, Mario Lemieux, is a pure Quebecer,” he said.