Detroit Chassis’ Lean Update
10/20/2006

WE ARE COMMITTED TO EMBRACING CHANGE BY LEARNING AND GROWTH

DETROIT, MI – Detroit Chassis LLC, an automotive manufacturing company of niche vehicles and RV chassis announced that in a recent meeting salaried associates discussed the definition of kaizen in great detail. The definition included terms like ‘cross-functional, team based, rapid implementation and so on. One associate, Toshalyn Erve, defined kaizen as a cross-functional team based approach to rapid implementation of improvements to a process. Whew! It was a mouth full. But she was dead right.

Kaizen events are the mechanism used by Detroit Chassis to gain organizational efficiencies. The kaizen events are chosen based on the identification of waste and a systematic approach to eliminate the waste. Leaders constantly search for broken processes that will yield high impact but can be done with low difficulty. This mindset of continuous improvement has lead to major improvements in safety, quality and productivity.

Detroit Chassis leadership took the kaizen training to another level. Department leaders decided to test their training retention and application skills. Each department leader committed to leading a kaizen event that would yield high impact but have low difficulty in execution. This commitment has caused a whirlwind of activity and conversations. There is excitement in the air because the department leaders know how successful a kaizen event has been for DCP in the past. Everyone wants to be a part of a winning team! The hourly team leaders are attending kaizen event training to assist department leaders in planning and executing future events. DCP’s goal is to have a leader in kaizen events at every level in the organization.

Many organizations have either traveled the lean journey or have made a decision to begin the journey. They understand the benefits of implementing lean principles and tools. However, many of these organizations get stuck in the implementation phase without obtaining the benefits. The reason could lie in their failure to recognize the power of cross functional, team based approaches. As a result of our Kaizen events we are experiencing: zero recordable injuries; improved quality; increased productivity and reduced downtime. Each department is working on Kaizen events scheduled for implementation 10/31/06. Yes, we are doing it the right way and it shows!

Contact: Linda Ratliff, 313-571-2100 x 506, lratliff@detroitchassis.com