1. Teaching Continuous Improvement From Generation to Generation

Plan Do Check Act (PDCA). Kaizen. Learning what failure looks like. Celebrating Successes.

Forty-one-year-old Katie Walters says “the DENSO way” of tackling challenges has trained her to keep reaching higher for superior results. The Director in Supply Chain and Logistics at DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee (DMTN) said she’s worked for DENSO “my entire adult life” … and she’s the better for it.

“As a young DENSO associate hired in 2004, I learned so many things on the job, by just doing the job. I think in Japan and here in North America, DENSO’s PDCA cycle of continuous improvement is integrated throughout the organization as a management style, helping people learn and grow,” she said.

“If you don’t try, you aren’t going to learn. If you fail, learn from the failure and don’t do it again. You can’t grow and be better if you don’t struggle through some hard times. The world’s greatest innovations come after years of failures. And we can’t innovate if we don’t try new things,” Walters said.

She saw some tough situations in the years shortly after she joined the company: Lehman Shock, natural disasters, port strikes and COVID-19. Through it all, she said she was surrounded by leaders who were supportive in teaching her to navigate uncertain waters, showing her the importance of collaboration across departments.

“We all have very high expectations here, and sometimes it’s a little challenging. When we manage our disruptions each time they happen, we build the capability to handle it in the future. DENSO always has that ability to kaizen our systems to be more resilient next time,” she said.

As a rising leader, Walters says she’s trying to pass on that philosophy to the associates she supervises, saying that “one of the great things is when someone on my team is successful or grows a new capability when they didn’t expect it.

“When newer associates get nudged or pushed out of their comfort zones, I like seeing their pride in knowing that they now have a stronger foundation, a sense of connection and teamwork. It’s transformed many people and taught them how to thrive in a crisis,” she said.

Walters said DENSO’s commitment to quality and delivering to the customers is inspirational.

“Our desire to solve problems is relentless. We dig in. We work tougher. That’s our mindset, it’s who we are. I’d challenge any company to do that as well,” she said.