MRO Today - Pam Edwards

Pam Edwards
CI team leader, ArvinMeritor

Pam Edwards is as much a proponent of tradition as she is a proponent of change. In fact, this Continuous Improvement team leader at ArvinMeritor’s vehicle component facilities in the Asheville, N.C., area believes change can actually further tradition.

“People who work here like working here. It’s an excellent place to work and one of the highest-paying companies in our area,” says Edwards. “Because of all that, we have a tradition of longevity. There isn’t much turnover and we have many people with 20 or more years on the job. I want that to continue. I want to work here 20 years or more.”

Edwards was hired in 1999 as an assembler and over the next year gained experience as a welder and CNC machine operator. Working in several different areas of the plants gave her a good understanding of the company’s products and shortcomings.

“If I and everyone else were going to work here 20 years, we had to find ways to control our costs,” she says. “We had to do things cheaper, better and faster.”

The vehicle for enacting important change was Continuous Improvement, a component of the ArvinMeritor Performance System (an interpretation of the Toyota Production System). Edwards received CI concept training in 2000, and was hooked.

When the company looked for volunteers to teach CI concepts and also serve as the leader of a CI project team, she raised her hand on both counts.

“I juggled being a team lead and teaching sessions with my full-time job as a machine operator,” she says.

Edwards’ involvement increased when manufacturing manager Dennis Schlernitzauer asked her to take a 13-week CI leadership course and then assume a position as a full-time CI team leader.

Today, she oversees the progress of CI at three local ArvinMeritor facilities along with Schlernitzauer and CI site leader Greg Underwood. In that capacity, she trains project team leader candidates, serves as a resource to dozens of individual project teams and generally makes sure that all teams are “going in the right direction.”

The direction is up. Since 2001, the quality level is up 43 percent, inventory turns are up 22 percent, and labor and burden performance is up 14 percent.

“I spend at least half my day on the plant floor,” she says. “I want them to know that I’m there for them.”

As the overall CI team leader, she also serves on the 16-member site steering committee (one of only two hourly workers in the group).

Edwards calls her CI job extremely rewarding.

“With our experienced workforce, there are traditional attitudes,” she says. “When people are negative, it’s a tough sell. ‘We’ve seen this before. I don’t like this.’ The best part is when you get them involved and see the light go on. Then all it takes is for that person to tell someone else, ‘Just try this; I think it’s good for us.’ That’s fulfilling.”

This article appeared in the December 2003/January 2004 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2003.

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