Corporations Send Employees to Pit Crew U.

April 9, 2006 — -- Even if you're not a racing fan, you can probably appreciate the skills required for a pit crew to return a car from the pit box to the racetrack in mere seconds.

It's teamwork at its best -- a synchronized ballet. Four fresh tires, 22 gallons of fuel, a clean windshield, and water for the driver -- all in less than 13 seconds. It's more than winning or losing a race that's at stake. Poorly orchestrated pit stops can result in injuries, lost earnings, lost sponsors or lost jobs.

Lost earnings? Lost jobs? Those are the same fears that companies face. Instructors at PIT Instruction & Training in Mooresville, N.C., have taken their expertise to corporate America. They say the key is thinking "inside the box."

"It was just so obvious," said Patrick Bernall, a senior lead instructor at PIT Instruction & Training. "Any kind of manufacturing, a sales position, any kind of job -- there's always that correlation there."

Bernall, who pits for NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, says by emphasizing pit-stop basics like safety, teamwork, communication and standardization, almost any business can cut operating costs and improve productivity.

United Airlines, fresh from three years of bankruptcy court protection, was eager to take the pit-crew challenge -- sending its ramp supervisors to Pit Crew U., corporate-style.

"Our airplanes don't earn money while they're sitting on the ground," said Larry DeShon, senior vice president of airport operations for United. "They need to be in the air. So, if we can shave even four or five minutes off of every aircraft turn, we can fly well over a hundred more flights a day."

Pit Crew U. course work includes several hours of lectures over a three-day period and introductions in pit-stop basics. Then the students divide into teams to try their hands in the pit box. At first, it was chaos. The pit stops took the students more than 2.5 minutes to complete.

"It was an adrenaline rush the first time coming out here and [doing] something different that you've never done before," said Denise Ambrose, a United employee from Denver. "And it was exciting -- every time, it just got better and better."

Eventually, with a lot of coaching and cheering by PIT coaches, the connection between a pit stop and ramp work became clear.

"It's not rocket science, so it's stuff you can carry back like cleaning up your work area, being set up for that airplane to arrive like the pit crews are ready for that car to get here," said Marc Abbatacola of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

By the end of an exhausting day, pit times dropped to 37 seconds. The United group hasn't achieved the 13 seconds of a NASCAR crew, but it has achieved something very important: teamwork.