DC Echo: April 8, 2022

DC Echo: April 8, 2022

State-of-the-Art Technology Command Center with Real-time Reporting

Detroit Chassis recently showed its new Command Center to visitors from Ford Motor Company and F-59 Commercial Step-Van Body Builders, and they were highly impressed.

This change is a dramatic move in the right direction away from the antiquated manual process that involved hours of tedious collection of paperwork, copying documents, distribution, and manual input. Maurice Lucas, Data Analyst, came aboard and quickly discovered opportunities to eliminate wasted time and energy by eliminating the old way of doing things, introducing the possibilities of a new process.

It involved training Quality Inspectors on the use of Tablets. Though met with resistance initially, they all agree that implementing this new technology helps them do their job. For example, Janice Johnson, Quality Team Leader, and Rob Colvard, Manufacturing Team Leader, were hesitant to use the new process when first introduced. Still, now they see the value in entering information that gets communicated in real-time, allowing
the organization to move quickly and respond to issues.

It works like this: Real-time data gets captured in Airtable for Downtime and Quality. Data is transferred from Airtable to a SQL database which then feeds the Tableau Analytics Website accessible online from your computer. This technology allows Operations, Quality, Engineering, and Materials to see issues as they occur to focus on driving Interim and Permanent Corrective Actions. The Team appreciates the system’s ability to track the problems by Zone, Workstation, Inspector, and Associate to determine the fix and reduce downtime and defects.

Great job, Team and thank you, Maurice! We appreciate your Silicone Valley thinking that propelled DCP forward. Our Command Center is a cutting-edge breakthrough and will help us achieve World Champion performance.

This process improvement is only one of the ways Maurice contributed to the Team. He also helped automate the data analysis process for Customer Service. Unfortunately, we will miss him as he returns to California. Still, we know that he will hold us in his heart, and though he will be miles away and living in a different time zone, he can continue to make a positive impact remotely.

Thank you for your contributions to the Detroit Chassis Team.
The Best Motorhome Chassis is Built in the Motor City.

DC Echo: March 25, 2022

DC Echo: March 25, 2022

Why We Celebrate Women’s History Month

In 1980, a group of leaders convinced Congress and the White House of the need for our nation to celebrate and recognize women’s role in history on an annual basis. It is important because the contributions of women through the years have often gone unappreciated and forgotten but each year, in March, Women’s History Month is a time for reflection, appreciation, and celebration. Women’s History Month is an important time to recognize
contributions both large and small that have changed our lives for the better.

We celebrate women’s accomplishments and the contributions that they have made to make life better for others. Most women history makers equip, empower, and encourage not only other women but men and the community to believe they can achieve. 

The LEADING LADIES at DCP are forever a part of the history and their efforts are engrained in the fabric of what makes this company work. Many of them have been with DCP since the very beginning. So for more than 20 years, these women made their careers contributing to further the quest to World Champion Performance through their commitment to excellence in manufacturing and specifically to the Motorhome and Commercial Step-Van Industry.

So, for all you do, LADIES…this one’s for you!

Avis Wallace, Manufacturing Technician
Betty Jones, MT Team Leader
Brenda Trice, Operations Coordinator
Carlene Moore, Manufacturing Technician
Carmen Bass, Quality Coordinator
Deanna Williams, Material Handler
Debbie Morris, Quality Technician Team Leader
Debbie Williams, MT Team Leader
Deborah Jones, Manufacturing Technician
Deidre Dudley, Quality Technician

Ingrid Walker, MT Team Leader
Janice Johnson, Quality Technician Team Leader
Juliette Griffin-Tyus, Quality Coordinator
Karana Harrell, Operations Coordinator
LaShandra Williams, MT Team Leader
Rozita Stewart, MT Team Leader
Tamara Johnson, Production Leader
Edwina Milligan, VP Human Resources
Linda Ratliff-Watkins, Director of CS

Thank you for your contributions to the Detroit Chassis Team.

The Best Motorhome Chassis is Built in the Motor City.

Detroit Chassis ‘Return to Work’ Information

Detroit Chassis ‘Return to Work’ Information

HUMAN CAPITAL/RESOURCES & SECURITY

HOW CAN I COMPLETE OR SUBMIT MY COBRA ELECTION FORM? WHERE DO I SUBMIT IT?

You may pick up your COBRA form on Tuesday, June 8th between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., or on Wednesday, June 9th between the hours of 12 p.m. and 2.p.m. You can submit the form to Human Capital/Human Resources.

RECRUITMENT

IS DETROIT CHASSIS STILL HIRING, AND IF SO, WHAT IS THE PAY RATE? HOW CAN I REFER SOMEONE?

YES!!! We are still hiring! All interested applicants may contact our recruiter, Ms. Gholston at: 313.286.5805 or via email at: lgholston@detroitchassis.com. The pay rate is $14.40 per hour, plus great benefits!

ARE THERE ANY INCENTIVES FOR EMPLOYEE REFERRALS?

YES!!! The DCP Associate who refers the most employees in the months of June and July will be entered into a raffle drawing for a prize! (*The referral must work for DCP for at least 90 days before prizes are awarded.)

OPERATIONS

WHAT IS THE RETURN DATE FOR ALL DCP ASSOCIATES? 

All DCP Associates should report to work on Monday, June 14, 2021. Production starts at 7:00 a.m.

WHO DO I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT PRODUCTION?

Please contact Jeffrey (JT) Talton at (313) 743-2343.

SAFETY

IF I HAVE RECEIVED MY COVID-19 VACCINATION SHOT, DO I STILL NEED TO WEAR A MASK ON SITE AT ALL TIMES?

All of the same protocols are still in place and have not been adjusted since the shutdown. We are also currently reviewing best practices for those who have elected to get a vaccination shot.”

Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement

Six Sigma DMAIC Problem Solving!

Each and every day at Detroit Chassis, our people help move the world forward with exceptional assembly of products. We encounter different challenges, we innovate with creativity to address those obstacles, we strive to make a difference in the lives we touch, and satisfy the needs of our customers. We must take great pride in our reputation on delivering Customer Joy for those products and services and we must never be satisfied with the status quo. Our market requires us to continuously strive to improve in everything we do day in and day out. In our journey to deliver on our commitment of Customer Joy, we need to consistently drive measurable improvements in quality, safety of our employees, on-time delivery, and exceed customer expectations. The focus of our journey will be towards achieving operational excellence and implementing the building blocks of Continuous Improvement utilizing six sigma and lean manufacturing methodologies. We launched several projects already in 2018 targeted at reenergizing our team to eliminate waste with “7S” Kaizen events, Six Sigma DMAIC problem solving on top internal concerns, and soon we will start a value stream mapping event to streamline one of main process areas. I am encouraged by our progress and I know the leaders of Detroit Chassis will take this challenge to heart and ensure we deliver on the commitments made with our Customers, our Company, and our People.

Dennis Edwards, President

The DCP Team has taken the next step in Problem Solving. We are now utilizing Six Sigma Methodology via the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve and Replicate (DMAIC) Method to push improvement in our systems and drive Customer Joy. In order to achieve World Class Performance, we engaged an outside team, 12StarService Consultants Richard Nave and Dennis Cutwright, who worked alongside our DCP Team to tackle one of our biggest internal concerns – No Fill at the Fluid Fill Machine. The Team (pictured above from left to right) Ranson Smith, Quality Mgr., Richard Nave, Consultant, Demetrius Gun, Team Leader, Jeff McCoy, Program Mgr., Richard Bott, Controls Engineer, Will Bass, Quality Supervisor, Sharon Humphrey, Production Lead, Edward Richardson, Quality Engineer, David Forney, Engineering Mgr., and (not pictured) TaJuana Jeter, Industrial Engineer, were all excited to be a part of the new initiative. The team realized there were several root causes and set a goal by fixing a number of areas that resulted in Daily Improvements at times exceeding 90%!! Good work on driving Continuous Improvement, Team!! We can’t wait to see the outcome of the next project!

 

DETROIT CHASSIS SUCCESSFUL ISO9001:2015 AUDIT

This is a significant milestone for Detroit Chassis, as we upgraded the system to the 2015 standard, which enhances our Quality Operating System (QOS) to meet the ever increasing demands of our customers and continue to be a leader in the industry. This certification allows us to build upon successes, and continue to grow the business. The auditor was pleased with the effectiveness of our systems and he noted several areas for follow up that will be observed during the surveillance audit in 2019. The team also identified these areas through the internal auditing process and they are working to improve these areas to ensure robustness of the quality system. The success of this audit is a team effort. Thank you to all team members for participation and support. A special THANK YOU is extended to Aslam Saeed, Quality Engineer, for continued diligence and perseverance in ensuring Detroit Chassis was prepared for the audit.

 

THE FORD/DC TEAM’S F59 PILOT REVIEW

Representatives from UPS and Morgan Olson were in attendance to tour the assembly line and discuss the F59 2020MY PDP chassis build. UPS commented that they like the quality of the F59 chassis and Morgan Olson added that they have not experienced any quality problems with the F59 PDP chassis. The team will observe a completed unit at the next Pilot Review meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at Morgan Olson in Loudon, TN.

DETROIT CHASSIS “7S” KAIZEN EVENT: SORT, SET IN ORDER, SHINE, STANDARDIZE, SUSTAIN, SAFETY and SPIRIT

The team has made significant progress with “7S” activities in the Tire & Wheel area and achieved success! We will see Continuous Improvement activities throughout the organization.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

The Detroit Chassis “Customer Joy” survey conducted in late 2017 resulted in an overall rating of 94% an increase of 3% from the pervious survey results collected in early 2017 with 77% F53/59 manufacturers responding. The next survey will be conducted later this month so be on the lookout for notifications. We appreciate your feedback on our performance.

 

Important Dates

VQR
Friday, May 18, 2018

2016 Safety Review

2016 Safety Review

CONTINUING THE FOCUS ON WORLD CHAMPION PERFORMANCE!

Great things are happening at Detroit Chassis and we are eager to talk about it!

  1. Our Safety performance improved for the 3rd straight year, from a peak of 16 annual recordable injuries in 2014, 13 in 2015 and then a dramatic reduction to only 3 injuries in 2016.
  2. Our incident rate for recordable injuries was 1.49, down from 7.3 in 2014 and considerably below the industry average rate of 5.6 injuries for every 100 man/ years.
  3. We operated 240 consecutive days in 2016 without a recordable accident, the 4th longest stretch without a recordable in our history. Our record is 636 days from the 3rd quarter in 2005 to the 4th quarter in 2007.

This performance is exemplary! What have we done to drive such dramatic improvement?

  • Increased Awareness and Identification of Potential Hazards
  • Increased Job Rotation – Reduction of Repetitive Motion Injuries
  • Increased Safety Walks – Hazard Awareness to Identify and Fix Concerns
  • Encouraged everyone to report Concerns – See Something – Say Something
  • Continuous Improvement – Improvements can be made anywhere
  • TEAM WORK – Team Leaders, Production Leaders, Safety Committee and You – Working Together to Work Safely

Detroit Chassis strives for Continuous Improvement. We continually evaluate tooling and processes to build a Quality Product for our customer.

Other examples of our efforts

  • Added new remotes and controllers for the Frame Flip Process
  • Replaced and continue to replace the casters and toe guards on all moving carriers
  • Replaced and extended 2 large concrete pads in the back of the facility that were cracked and potentially hazardous
  • Proactively had all Overhead Steel Structures inspected, certified and tagged for integrity:

A Safety and Process Improvement Kaizen Event was held on January 21st in the Birdcage area. Twentyeight Action Items were identified during this event, not only for safety but also for material delivery, line side presentation, tooling improvements, floor plan redesign and much more.

Safety Update

  • David Forney
  • Pauline Player
  • Donna Rush
  • Jacqueline Durham
  • Ramara Jackson
  • Halim Sailor
  • Daisha Davis
  • Ed Mobley Jr.
  • Crawford Latham
  • Felicio McWillie
  • Cynthia Sanders
  • Greg Miller
  • Danon Dupree

Thank you team for your input and passion to address the concerns that have been identified and for such diligent follow up.

Other Developments:

Detroit Chassis has a new E-Maintenance Work Order tracking data base and system. Since the rollout in early 2016, we have successfully addressed and closed 247 of the 250 work orders entered into the system. Sixty percent of the work orders were related to safety. The E-Maintenance Work Order System is open to all Detroit Chassis Associates and work orders can be entered by everyone.

We are working towards ISO 14001 Certification by September 2017.
You ask, What is ISO 14001?

ISO 14001 is an internationally agreed standard that sets the requirements for an environmental management system. It helps organizations improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste, gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of stakeholders.


Improvements with product flow and material delivery are coming to the Mustang line. Production will be starting back up this month for the Mustang Line and we want to shine so we are painting the floor, moving and improving the racking systems, adding new lift assists and making more changes to improve efficiency. Stop by and check on our progress.


Think Car is getting dusted off, recharged and placed back in service. We are hoping to utilize the Think Car to respond to Medical Emergencies and Tours of the facility.


Nope you’re not seeing things, our Hi-Lo’s actually have Blue Lights. Blue Lights indicates that the HI-Lo is in reverse.

Keep an eye out for the blue lights…

Kudos to the team for all of your efforts in making Safety the #1 priority at Detroit Chassis!

Our next publication will highlight developments at Detroit Chassis in Avon, Ohio (DCA).

Stay tuned!

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

F53 Motor Home and F59 Commercial Truck manufacturers recently participated in the Detroit Chassis Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Detroit Chassis has made it a point to conduct this survey annually since 2005.

The survey conducted in July 2016 reflects that F53 Motor Home and F59 Commercial Truck manufacturers continue to be pleased with the services they receive from Detroit Chassis and they appreciate the focus on delivering customer joy.

The overall rating is 92% with 92% F53/59 manufacturers responding. We are excited that this rating positively increased by 1% as we continue to strive for World Champion performance.

Our goal remains 100% Customer Joy!

“…The performance of the DCP team has been terrific for the last 4 months! Great to see the quality focus on our products. It is the key to our ongoing relationship with RV accounts. Thanks again to all who contribute!”

Dennis Bearden
RV and Pool Account Manager
NAFLRO, Market Sales and Service
Ford Motor Company

CONTINUING THE FOCUS ON WORLD CHAMPION PERFORMANCE!

Manufacturers reported receiving timely solutions to their concerns. In fact, 100% of responders reported that Detroit Chassis provided satisfactory solutions and 70% credit the Detroit Chassis customer focus with positively affecting their chassis buying strategies.

Detroit Chassis will continue to increase communication and escalate matters to surpass your expectations and improve your customer experience.

Manufacturers stated that Detroit Chassis is their Ford F53 Motor Home and F59 Commercial Truck Chassis provider of choice and they are interested in touring the Detroit Chassis production operation.

Manufacturers want to be notified when quality holds occur that will disrupt expected deliveries.

They also want to be able to obtain replacement components when necessary.

A few manufacturers noted issues that occurred during delivery and suggested a sign-off process be implemented to insure: no damage has occurred during transportation, units are being delivered to the correct location and that the expected delivery is complete.

Communication is vital for manufacturers to adequately plan their production schedule and while communication has improved, they request more improvement in this area.

Overall, manufacturers are grateful to Ford Motor Company for the F53 Motor Home and F59 Commercial Truck chassis and for offering competitively priced options that assist with the manufacturing process.

In response to your feedback, Detroit Chassis will continue to:

Log requests to ensure timely response and closure

Serve as a conduit for the flow of information and work through the Ford/Detroit Chassis team to communicate vital information

Continue to make ACE (Achieving Championship Expectations) trips to manufacturer’s locations to observe processes and offer assistance

Do everything within our power to ensure customers have a rewarding experience

Detroit Chassis would like to thank all of the manufacturers for taking time to provide this valuable feedback.

We are committed to ensuring your customer experience is filled with JOY!

The next survey is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2017 but you do not have to wait until then to provide feedback.

Send information to:

DETROIT CHASSIS, LLC
Linda Ratliff-Watkins
Manager – Customer Service
6501 Lynch Rd.
Detroit, MI 48234
lratliff@detroitchassis.com.
(313) 743-2357 Office
(313) 350-9017 Mobile

We look forward to hearing from you!