A couple of mechanics at the Paw Paw repair facility for the Michigan Department of Transportation have figured out a way to save us all money, and since they're taxpayers too, they get to share in those savings.
The MDOT culture is to continuously look for innovative ways to do business statewide, helping deliver the highest quality of service to the public at the lowest possible cost. Here in the MDOT Southwest Region serving Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph Counties, a couple of maintenance mechanics have created the "calibrated salt-door stop." That's a stainless steel bar installed on MDOT plow trucks to help regulate the flow of sale onto state trunkline routes with the designation of "I" (as in I-94), "M" (as in M-139) and "US" (as in US-31).
Jordan Claus and Ryan Piasecki are mechanics at the MDOT Paw Paw repair facility. They created the salt-door stops at a cost of just $22 apiece. The bar is attached to the movable gate on salt hoppers, setting a calibrated level for salt release.
Janine Cooper is the Engineer of Operations for MDOT's Southwest Region. She says, "Traditionally, our plow operators have relied on their lines of sight to set the salt doors, resulting in varying door heights and sale use from one operator to the next." She notes, "These salt-door stops will eliminate the varying heights of salt doors and allow each operator to simply lower the door to a pre-determined and calibrated height, resulting in reducing salt use and saving money."
The new device ensures the correct amount of salt — not too much and not too little — is applied, making driving conditions as safe as possible and saving money. Implementation of the innovative $22 device has the potential to save thousands of dollars each winter season.
The salt-door stops have installed on all 80 plow trucks in the Southwest Region, and statewide implementation is possible for next winter.
The calibrated salt-door stop is the subject of the first in a series of videos created by the MDOT Southwest Region. Called, "Innovation in a Minute," the video series will showcase innovative ideas of region employees in an easily understood format. By presenting these innovations in short videos with explanations by the employees who thought of them, other MDOT facilities can adopt these ideas, and the public can learn how the agency is continuously looking for ways to improve its service statewide.
The calibrated salt-door stop video is featured on MDOT's YouTube channel and can be watched by clicking this link:
