Arctic Cat

Inspiring change by embracing industry excellence

"Now employees are coming to management with ideas. Our teams are very focused on seeing results every week and the training has accelerated and enhanced our product development efforts."

- Christopher Twomey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Arctic Cat

Location: Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Industry: Designs, engineers, manufacturers and markets snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and related parts and merchandise
Employees: 1,500
Annual sales: $556.1 million

The challenge:
Arctic Cat wanted its employees to think and work more competitively and instill a vision and commitment to improvement that would continue long after the training.

The solution:
Arctic Cat and Northland Community and Technical College developed a unique three-year employee training program that embraces the company's products, its customers and its competitive industry culture.

The results:

• 800 employees trained
• $2.5 million in cost reductions
• Excellent OSHA ratings
• Reduced accidents and lost time due to injuries
• Positive employee attitudes and a leaner, more organized factory

The comprehensive program is designed to improve the company's commitment to operational excellence and promote lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. Training courses include waste elimination, set-up time reduction, mistake proofing, cycle time reduction, and employee safety and liability. The curriculum also involves coaching and post-training application of techniques to reinforce the training.

Because of Arctic Cat's close ties to the racing industry, some training programs are designed around the idiom of racing and the spirit of competition in manufacturing. The program promotes teamwork and healthy competition within the company and is designed to change the culture of the organization. Special units within the curriculum and a company incentive program encourage "racing teams" of employees to apply what they have learned at work through production-based learning activities.

"Having access to this type of resource right here in our community has allowed us to create a program of enough duration to really effect cultural change in our organization," said Ron Ray, vice president of manufacturing for Arctic Cat. "The college is supportive of our goals and Northland faculty have the skills and the desire to work with us."

Arctic Cat president and chief executive officer Chris Twomey is enthusiastic about the long-term training program. "The college has been effective in bringing these concepts to our workforce in easy-to-understand ways," he said.

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