DMMI Experts to Speak at Lean Mfg. Conference
Date: 2005-05-05

BATTLE CREEK--Joe Stich, General Manager of Production; Andris Staltmanis, Assistant General Manager of Manufacturing Engineering; and Bryan Denbrock, Section Leader in Manufacturing Engineering, will speak at the 11th Annual Lean Manufacturing Conference sponsored by the University of Michigan, May 16-19.

At the opening plenary session on May 17, Stich will join other keynote speakers from Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, and New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), to discuss how their companies are creating lean manufacturing cultures. Stich will discuss several key concepts that DENSO Manufacturing Michigan, Inc. (DMMI) is using to achieve this goal including:

• Creating a kaizen culture of continuous improvement

• Frequent delivery/order system

• Frequent pick-up of parts

• Basic tools to operate the system

• Standard analysis tools

• Small lot production

In a session entitled Learning from the Toyota Group Experience, Staltmanis, and Denbrock will follow-up on Stich’s presentation, sharing their experiences and initiatives in implementing “Efficient Factory.” Efficient Factory is DMMI’s effort over the last two years to become lean and continue its successful adaptation of the Toyota Production System. Topics they will discuss include the EF vision within the plant, the importance of multi-level communication to serve as a catalyst for change and creating ownership plant-wide of the Efficient Factory vision. They also will discuss improvements that have resulted from the vigorous EF efforts.

Joe Stitch has been at DMMI since 1988 and was named General Manager of Production in 2004. He is responsible for Manufacturing and Operations as well as Plant Engineering, Efficient Factory Leadership and Toyota Production System (TPS) Promotion.

Andris Staltmanis was named Assistant General Manager of Manufacturing Engineering in 2004 with the responsibility of promoting and introducing lean manufacturing concepts (TPS). Staltmanis began his career as a Process Engineer at DENSO in 1986.

As a Section Leader, Bryan Denbrock’s main responsibility is to improve the productivity of the HVAC plant by promoting Efficient Factory activities and TPS tools. He has been a DMMI employee for 16 years.

DENSO Corporation, headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, is a leading global supplier of advanced technology, systems and components. Its customers include all the world’s major carmakers. Worldwide, the company employs 104,000 people in 31 countries and regions, including Japan. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005 totaled US$26.2 billion. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.globaldenso.com. In the Americas, DENSO employs more than 14,000 people at 33 companies.

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