Dedicated to the Core: DENSO's Core-and-Customize Strategy
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During the 11th Quality Control Conference in November 1961, Torao Hayashi, DENSO’s first president, receives a heartwarming award certificate for winning the Deming Prize for quality.
In 1961, DENSO President Hayashi shared the good news that DENSO had earned the prestigious Deming Award, a globally recognized emblem of unparalleled quality control. In his comments on September 21, 1961, he spoke these prescient words:
“Our work is directly related to human life. If automobiles cause accidents, human lives are at risk … We must establish and embellish the reputation that DENSO is a great company that manufactures quality products. Let us all continue to unite and work now and in the future toward those common ends.”
Just a few decades later, as consumers in North America were grappling with consecutive automotive safety events, DENSO set out to re-energize President Hayashi’s words. In 2009, DENSO International America (DIAM) launched a quality campaign to strengthen associates’ quality mindset and emphasize the foundational aspect of excellence in everything they did.
The “What If” Scenario
To that end, Benson and his team created scenarios of what could happen if complacency resulted in a defect and caused a vehicle to, say, overheat on the freeway or stall in a remote area.
Associates responded to that strategy.
“We asked them to consider their family being stranded in the middle of nowhere or stuck on a busy highway. Then we challenged associates to achieve perfect quality with the reminder of what was at stake,” Benson explained.
Benson said the campaign improved quality while creating greater awareness of the many products and systems DENSO provides. Additionally, associate training now includes connecting associates to the product he or she manufactures, showing them where that part is installed on the vehicle, and how it functions.