Detroit Chassis LLC celebrated 20 years in business with a formal program on Friday, December 13, 2019, featuring VIP guests and a delicious luncheon. The company also celebrated 32 associates who achieved 20-year work anniversaries, along with culmination of the 2019 model year, launching of the 2020 model year, and the Christmas holiday! Detroit Chassis is proud to be an automotive manufacturing partner of Ford Motor Company, through production of the Ford F-53 motorhome chassis and the F-59 step van stripped chassis.
Michael and Carlton Guthrie, Co-Chairmen shared their personal mission statements and spoke about the journey and Detroit Chassis’ future in manufacturing with optimism. Thank you to everyone who attended. We realize that there are many demands on your time, but you prioritized your schedule so that you could be at Detroit Chassis for this momentous event.
20 YEAR CELEBRATION
The following Associates were recognized for the milestone achievement of 20 years of service:
Victor Johnson
Reginald Debold
Gregory Scott
Will Bass
Ronnie Alexander
Pete Vasquez
Rozita Stewart
Jeffrey McCoy
Winston Dennis
Brandon Johnson
Deirdre Dudley
Cynthia Sanders
Karana Harrell
Deborah Jones
Michael Smith
Tamara Johnson
Sharon Humphrey
Gregory Miller
Odell Vaughn
Chuck Watts
Janice Johnson
Willie Harris
Frank Thrasher III
Betty Jones
Prozo Green
Leonard Sanders
Debbie Morris
Linda Casaigne
Juliette Grifn-Tyus
Brenda Trice
Avis Wallace
LaShandra Williams
Guests in attendance from Ford Motor Company were:
Gary Johnson, Chief Manufacturing and Labor Affairs Ofcer
Steve Pintar, VLD C Segment Vehicles, NA LVEA Segment, PDC
Tim Young, Director of Manufacturing
John Scholtes, Chief Engineer Commercial Vehicles (retiring)
Michael Pruitt, Chief Engineer Commercial Vehicles
Fred Hallway, Commercial Vehicle Program Manager
Mike Shashlo, Forward Model Optimization GVP,
Manufacturing and Labor Affairs
Prashant Javkar, Manufacturing Business Manager
Emcee Anthony Neely, CEO of Neely Media Group, shared his early experience of meeting the Guthries in the 1990s. Tim Young from Ford provided uplifting comments, and John Scholtes noted that the Detroit Chassis team makes an amazing chassis. John noted that the event would be his last ofcial meeting at Detroit Chassis, due to his retirement on December 23, 2019, after 36 years. John has worked closely with us for several years to deliver the best engineered and best built product on the market. We wish you well in retirement. John indicated that Michael Pruitt will succeed him as Chief Engineer. Michael was introduced and waved to everyone. We look forward to his support and leadership as we move into 2020 and beyond.
John Ritchie, Chassis Control Manager, Thor Motorized Vehicles, requested an opportunity to participate and was a welcomed representative of motorhome body manufacturers. In his statements, John shared positive sentiments about Detroit Chassis, based on his experience as a 20-year customer and purchaser of the F-53 chassis.
Other guests included Aubrey Lee and Julius Readus of Merrill Lynch, Stephanie Fries of the Michigan Economic Growth Corporation, Kenyetta Hairston-Bridges, Executive VP, and Lauren Strickland, Business Retention Manager of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Duana King, President, and William Verdier, Jr. Financial Secretary and International Servicing Representative of UAW Local 155, Pastor Shelby Hunter, Kingdom on Earth Ministries, Pastor Lance Pittman and Lance Pittman II, First Praise Pentecostal Church, Ed Prentice, CEO of YEP Nation, Keith Beasley, CEO of Channel One Productions, Tanisha Bronaugh, WorkBased Learning Placement Coordinator of Breithaupt Career and Technical Center and 350 Detroit Chassis Associates.
Rachel Adenaas, Mrs. Michigan 2019, was also in attendance and was a gracious participant throughout the luncheon. She took photos with Associates and greeted guests. Rachel praised Detroit Chassis Associates for demonstrating a great work ethic and team spirit. She said that in her visits to manufacturing sites, she had never witnessed such enthusiasm, nor had she experienced the family atmosphere that exists at Detroit Chassis.
Thank you to all of the suppliers that provided services for the event, particularly Creative Marketing Solutions, Gary’s Catering, G&C Equipment Rental, and Party Paradise. Your timing, class, and professionalism were second to none, and your creativity turned our production entrance into a beautiful dining hall.
Additional contributing suppliers helped us give away 61 gifts valued at a total of $3,329. We could not have done this without you: Sigma Pac, Unifrst, MSC Direct Supply, Safety Source and Marco Net.
Kudos to members of the Detroit Chassis management team: Mike Hinton, VP HR, Pamela Edwards, Controller, Paola Cabrera, Purchasing, Paul Levandowski, Senior Manager Business Development, Jaavon Hairston, BAMM Intern and Dr. Linda Ratliff-Watkins, Director Community Support and Ministry, Senior Manager Customer Service—all of whom served as the initial Project Planning Committee. The extended committee included: Dennis Edwards, President, Jerome Huddleston, Plant Manager, Phillip White, Operations/Continuous Improvement Manager, Vernon Butler, Engineering Manager, Paul Grech, Manufacturing Engineer/Maintenance Manager, and Quinten Harris, Facilities. Nicole Gordy, Accounting Manager, Toni Siders, HR Generalist, Michelle Taylor, Accounting Analyst and Inecia McKinney, Accounts Payable assisted with decorations.
Kudos to the entire Team for inspiration, vision and tenacity, and in the words of Tim Young, Director of Manufacturing, Ford Motor Company: “Here’s to another 20 years!” The Best Motorhome Chassis is Built in the Motor City!
Michael and Carlton Guthrie Recognized at the 6th Annual Sankofa Black Business Awards Gala
DETROIT, MI – Detroit Chassis LLC, an automotive manufacturing company of niche vehicles, Motorhome and Commercial Truck chassis, celebrates being named the 2018 Black Business of the Year by the National Business League at its 2018 Sankofa Awards Gala held at the Motor City Casino November 17, 2018. Detroit Chassis was among 3,000 businesses nationwide who were considered for this prestigious award. Detroit Chassis was recognized for its vision driven, innovative and proactive approaches to economic and community development and employee empowerment and well-being.
Owners Michael and Carlton Guthrie accepted the Award on behalf of Detroit Chassis. Their strategic business plan returned skilled manufacturing jobs from Mexico to inner city Detroit through collaboration with the City of Detroit, the State of Michigan and Ford Motor Company. Detroit Chassis developed a greenfield State-of-the-Art Chassis assembly plant, worked with the UAW to design an innovative collective bargaining agreement that enhances flexibility and competitiveness, and embraced Vision, Mission, and Values that drive “World Champion” performance and Customer Joy. The Guthries have exercised transformative leadership positions in several industry, community and charitable organizations at local, state and national levels.
The Guthries, raised in Gary, IN were valedictorians of their high school senior graduating classes. (Michael – Edison HS ’68 and Carlton – West Side HS ’70). They along with their three siblings (Sheryl – Edison HS Salutatorian ’67; Cynthia – West Side HS ’73 Valedictorian; and, Joseph – West Side HS ’74) are lifetime Gary Alumni Pathways to Students (GAPS) members and are instrumental in the leadership of this organization of which Carlton is Chairman. GAPS connects current students to alumni through programs that create pathways for career and personal success.
Michael and Carlton Guthrie are Co-Chairmen and sole shareholders of Spectra LMP LLC, a Detroit, Michigan based holding company with several automotive manufacturing and engineering subsidiaries. Spectra’s subsidiaries and affiliates include: Detroit Chassis LLC, an assembler of running Class A RV and commercial truck chassis; Detroit Chassis Avon, a tier 1 provider of axles and tire & wheel assemblies to the medium-duty commercial truck industry located in Avon, OH; Detroit Custom Chassis, LLC, a provider of custom up-fits and alternative powertrain conversions for commercial truck chassis and HealthCure, LLC, a provider of infectious disease mitigation, prevention, consulting and remediation services and products that prevent nosocomial infections in healthcare facilities utilizing a patented anti-microbial and proprietary database headquartered in Charlotte, NC.
This year’s Gala was presented by Ford Motor Company and featured keynote speaker, Rosalind Brewer, COO and Group President, Starbucks, and was hosted by WXYZ Anchor, Glenda Lewis and NBL CEO Dr. Kenneth L. Harris, Ph.D.
About Detroit Chassis LLC
Detroit Chassis (detroitchassis.getbiz.net) is a subsidiary of Spectra LMP LLC, a concept to customer provider of niche vehicle manufacturing solutions owned by Michael and Carlton Guthrie. Spectra also owns Detroit Custom Chassis (www.detroitcustomchassis.com) a provider of custom up-fits, alternative powertrain conversions and complex sub-assemblies to a variety of automotive, Motorhome, commercial truck and transit industries. Detroit Chassis has been recognized by Quality Magazine on the Quality Leadership 100 list, and as “Supplier of the Year” by the National Minority Business Development Council and by On Wheels, Inc.
About the National Business League
The National Business League, Inc. (NBL) is the oldest trade association in America, founded on August 23, 1900, by Booker T. Washington, as a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian, commerce-driven institution dedicated to the economic empowerment of Black businesses, communities, and people with access to 2.6 million Black businesses across the country. Through its value-add programmatic initiatives and partnerships, it supports Black-owned businesses locally, regionally, nationally, and throughout the Pan-African Diaspora.
DETROIT, MI – Detroit Chassis LLC, an automotive manufacturer of niche vehicles, RV and Commercial Truck chassis celebrates 20 years in business. The company owned by brothers Michael and Carlton Guthrie is located on Detroit’s eastside and employees over 250 Associates.
The first F-53 RV chassis rolled off its assembly line in 1999. Since that time there have been many enhancements, launches and upgrades to this product. It has evolved into multiple wheel base and GVW options to suite customer needs. The company began production of the F-59 commercial truck chassis in 2010 and volumes have greatly increased due to enthusiastic customer acceptance. Detroit Chassis has shipped more than 190,000 F-53 and F-59 chassis since its initial launch in addition to thousands of low speed electric vehicles, postal trucks and shuttle bus chassis.
The 2020 model year brings more exciting features for both the F-53 RV and F-59 commercial truck chassis including Ford’s latest electrical architecture, its Collision Avoidance and Driver Support System (CADS) option. New offerings feature forward collision mitigation (FCM), lane departure warning (LDW), auto-high beam, and the all-new 7.3-L V8 engine.
“Detroit Chassis has prepared for disruptive changes in the transportation and mobility sectors by identifying growth opportunities and also by augmenting its senior management team and technical resources. These additions bring decades of experience in RV and commercial truck product development and manufacturing. A growing demand for commercial trucks powered by alternative energy and delivering better fuel efficiency and zero or lower emissions has once again created intriguing niche opportunities.” Michael Guthrie, Co-Chairman.
“It is exciting to celebrate this milestone achievement with so many of our Associates who will also celebrate 20 year work anniversaries this year. We have a dedicated, highly-skilled workforce and I expect that Detroit Chassis will continue to provide “Joy” to its customers by delivering outstanding performance in the heart of the city of Detroit.” Carlton Guthrie, Co-Chairman.
Detroit Chassis is actively working with technology developers of low-emission and zero-emission systems to integrate, install and market their packages on a scaled-down version of the F-59 chassis later this year. The company expects that every innovation will solidify its hard-won reputation as a valued collaborator for OEM and aftermarket clients.
About Detroit Chassis
Detroit Chassis is a subsidiary of Spectra LLC, a concept to customer provider of niche vehicle manufacturing solutions also owned by Michael and Carlton Guthrie. Spectra owns Detroit Custom
Chassis, www.detroitcustomchassis.com, a provider of custom up-fits, conversions and complex sub-assemblies to a variety of automotive, commercial truck and transit industries, and Detroit Chassis Avon provider of axles and tire & wheel assemblies to the medium and heavy duty truck industry located in Avon, OH.
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.
DCP ASSOCIATES CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IN STYLE AT THE HOTEL ST. REGIS
Detroit Chassis celebrated the season in style with two Christmas Celebrations in 2017. The 1st was at The Hotel
St. Regis in Detroit Saturday, December 16, 2017 and the 2nd was at DCA in Avon, OH the following week. Attendees
at both events had a marvelous time celebrating the spirit of the season.
Co-Chairmen Michael and Carlton Guthrie were in attendance with their lovely wives Valorie and Dawn Marie at the Detroit event. Also in attendance were Dave Taylor and his wife Helen, John Scholtes and his wife Rebecca and John Ruppert and his wife Andie. It was so nice to have some special time to interact with everyone.
We are happy to report that we were able to award 53 prizes between the two events amounting in value to more than $5,000 with the assistance of a few key suppliers.
The gracious staff of The Hotel St. Regis provided great support throughout the entire evening. Thank you Oz for the personal attention.
A heart-felt thank you is extended to everyone who made this event possible:
Michael and Carlton Guthrie for hosting the 2017 Christmas Celebration
Curtis Evans (JT Curtis/Curtis Industrial Services) for generously donating prizes amounting to 50% of the prizes for the raffle drawings and continuous support of DCP sponsored events
Air Center, ComSource, Creative Marketing Solutions, Granger, Kamar Office Express, Sigma Pack, for their generous contribution of prizes
Paul Levandowski for hosting attendee registration throughout the evening
Keith Beasley (Photographer and DJ) for accommodating our audio needs and special requests
The 2017 Christmas Celebration Focus Group and Planning Committee for your ideas and suggestions. The dancers were a nice touch.
Your time and efforts blessed us tremendously and helped us make a difference in the lives of DCP families.
May your 2018 be graced with goodness from Heaven and may you experience the BEST throughout the entire year!
ank you to all of the suppliers that provided services for the event, particularly Creative Marketing Solutions, Gary’s
Catering, G&C Equipment Rental, and Party Paradise. Your timing, class, and professionalism were second to none, and your creativity turned our production entrance into a beautiful dining hall.
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