North American Lighting and TQM

1. North American Lighting and TQM Kevin Blatnik

2. My Background • 1998: Graduated from EIU with BSIT • Went to work for Navistar International as a Design Engineer • 2000: Came to word for North American Lighting as a Manufacturing Engineer • 2003: Became an Industrial Engineer with NAL • 2004: Graduated from EIU with MST and a Certificate in Quality Systems • 2005: Promoted to Sr. Industrial Engineer

3. Background of NAL • Established in 1983 in Flora, Illinois • Subsidiary of Koito, the world’s largest supplier of Automotive Lighting • $500 Million in sales annually • Employ’s 2500 people in 6 facilities • 4 Manufacturing Facilities • Flora, Illinois: Forward Lighting • Salem, Illinois: Rear and Secondary Lighting

4. Background of NAL • Paris, Illinois: High Quality Forward Lighting • Muscle Shoals, Alabama: High Quality Rear and Secondary Lighting • Design group located in Farmington Hills, Michigan • Corporate Headquarters located in Paris, Illinois

5. Preferred Business Management System • A quality management system • Management responsible to create and maintain documents to ensure customer quality • Preparation of quality plans • Identification and acquisition of any controls, processes, equipment, fixtures, resources, and skills needed to achieve the required quality • Ensure the compatibility of design, production process, installation, inspection, and test procedures and the applicable documentation • Update as necessary the quality control, inspection and testing techniques, including development of new instructions • Identification and preparation of quality records • It is a continuously changing process

6. Preferred Business Management System • Specific areas of the System • Quality Manual • Manual spells out all international standards as well as NAL standards • Direct correlation between ISOO9001:2000/TS16949:2002 • Control of Documents • All documents have to go through an approval process • All documents are stored in one central controlled location

7. Preferred Business Management System • Engineering Specifications • All Engineering changes have to go through and approval process • All changes are recorded and stored in a central location • Control of Records • Records Retention • Quality records for production part approvals, tooling, purchase orders, and amendments will be maintained for a length of time equal to the time that the item(s) is active plus one calendar year

8. Customer Focus

9. Customer Focus • Performance Indicators provided by the customer • Results are plotted and verified to our goals • Green: Meets target • Yellow: Marginal • Red: Does not meet

10. Customer Focus • On-site QRE’s (Quality Resident Engineer) • Improves relationship with the customer • Located on site at major customer sites • Troubleshoot quality issues prior to contacting production facility • Try to put out fires early

11. Supplier Development • Purchasing • Procure components and raw materials of superior quality and reliability that exceeds customer expectations on a global basis • Purchasing Management will invest time and effort to understand business culture and importance of customer support at all levels of a given organization

12. Supplier Development • Supplier Quality Assurance Manual (SQAM) • All suppliers receive a copy of this document • Spells out all of NAL’s Quality expectations • Supplier Quality Engineers (SQE) are assigned to suppliers to help them along with our requirements

13. Supplier Development • SQE’s will conduct Continuous Improvement activities with the suppliers to bring the up to our quality level and expectations • Audit suppliers to ensure that they are meeting mandated TS16949 and ISO standards

14. Performance Measurement • Dimensional Measurements • Check lamps daily to ensure that we meet current customer requirements • Dimensions are charted daily to ensure visually show any trend lines • When a point is outside the control limits, engineering is notified to correct the problem

15. Performance Measurement • Glue Weight Measurements • Glue weight is checked every day • Charted using SPC Charts to determine the trend line. • Report is generated every day to inform people of the current status.

16. Performance Measurement • Gauge R & R • Repeatability and Reproducibility • Measures how repeatable the process is • 3 different operators will load 30 parts into a gauge and measure the parts • Gauge instructions ensure proper loading of the part by all operators • The results are entered into a computer to calculate the results

17. Performance Measurement • Results are reported as a percentage • 0 - 9 %: Acceptable measurement system, no action required • 10% - 30%: Improvement is encouraged, but may not be desirable • >30%: Unacceptable measurement system

18. Performance Measurement • Capability Studies • After successful R & R, parts are measured to determine capability • 20 parts are measured • After part are measured, the data is analyzed using SPC • Based on the CPK value, a determination is made as to the products capability

19. Performance Measurement • FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) • Created by Manufacturing Engineer • Identifies potential failures prior to creating a process • Works with processing departments to ensure accuracy • Controlled and living document

20. Performance Measurement • Control Plan • Created by our Quality Engineers • Lists each quality measurable for each product and each process • Details frequency of quality checks • List specific SPC tool to be used for the checks

21. Employee Motivation • NAL has a couple of motivation tools • Profit Sharing • At the end of fiscal year, NAL will deposit a percentage of salary into 401K • Improvement Suggestions • Employee will make an improvement suggestion • If implemented, employee will receive a percentage of the total money saved

22. Continuous Improvement • NAL practices continuous improvement every day • We live, eat, and breathe it • NAL follows a Kaizen philosophy • Pick a small problem and implement countermeasures to fix • Many small improvements lead to a large amount of savings

23. Continuous Improvement • Impact Activities • Diverse group that is assembled to fix a problem within the company • Group makeup is diverse to allow for a new point of view of the issue • Group is dedicated to the activity for an entire week • Problems are identified, brainstormed, and countermeasures are implemented

24. Continuous Improvement • Problem is studied again and improvement is recorded • Group presents findings to management

25. Any Questions?