Hello Team Dee Zee! Ready or not 2024 is here!
I hope all of you were able to spend some time relaxing and enjoying your friends and family over the holidays. I look forward to starting the new year off together with plenty of energy and ideas. The new year is always a great opportunity for new beginnings, new ventures and new projects, a time to refresh attitudes and renew enthusiasm towards that to do list.
We have many projects launching in 2024. New products, new programs, new coworkers, new buildings, and new opportunities to be the best we can be. To be successful we must keep our foot on the gas pedal and keep working on continual improvement. The Lean Team has been remarkably busy with 6S Blitzes in 2023 and continuing in 2024. I expect every department to be able to sustain the improvements and keep up on the 6S in 2024. We are continuing to dedicate capital to improving the facilities in 2024. There are many projects such as concrete repairs, bathroom and breakroom remodels, roof repairs, painting and general updates scheduled to occur across all facilities. I hope you have noticed these projects and are able to benefit from the improvements.
In 2024, we need to communicate more frequently and clearly with each other and our suppliers and customers. We need to be kind and listen to each other, all perspectives, and ideas. We need to take better care of our equipment and facilities to prevent careless damage and repairs. We need to help each other out. We are on Team Dee Zee to be the best!
2023 was a good year for the company. The best year we have had in the last 5 years. Great job! To keep it going we really need to be agile and prepared. Keeping our eyes on inventory, first time through quality and delivery. Continuing to eliminate waste and be more efficient. It takes the ENTIRE TEAM to sustain and improve.
Thank you for your contributions over the past year. I wish you all an incredibly happy and prosperous 2024. May this new year bring happiness and joy to everyone on our team.
Thank you!
Kelli Gallagher
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS
AWARDS
MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR
DeeZee received the Manufacturer of the Year award at the SEMA Show!The SEMA Show is one of the premier automotive trade events in the world, and receiving the Manufacturer of the Year award is a significant achievement. It’s a testament to the hard work, dedication, and innovation of the entire Dee Zee team. Being recognized as an industry leader among over 2,200 manufacturers is a remarkable accomplishment. Congratulations and thank you for your efforts.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Dee Zee’s leaders were on hand to receive an Economic Impact Award from the Greater Des Moines Partnership in recognition of our continued investments and growth in Central Iowa.
Dee Zee is a proud ambassador for the U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants of Des Moines. We embrace diversity and value the learning opportunities brought from our multi-cultural team.
SAFETY UPDATE
Hello Team!
I’m excited to join the Dee Zee team as your Health & Safety Manager. I look forward to enhancing our strong safety culture and growing our safety program. Our recordable injury rate is 2.37, reflecting your continued efforts and commitment to safety.
Winter Walking: Navigating the Cold Safely
As the chill sets in, let’s adopt safe walking practices in icy and snowy conditions to prevent slips and falls:
• Wear footwear with good traction.
• Walk slowly and deliberately, taking small steps.
• Keep your hands out of your pockets for balance.
• Use handrails wherever available.
• Avoid carrying heavy loads that could affect your balance.
Proper Lifting Techniques: Protect Your Back
Back injuries are a common concern, and ergonomic practices are crucial to prevention:
• Keep a wide base of support with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Bend at the knees and hips, not the back.
• Hold the item close to your body at belly button level.
• Use your leg muscles for lifting, not your back.
•Avoid twisting while lifting. Pivot with your feet instead.
Looking Ahead
As we move forward, my vision is to maintain our excellent safety standards while seeking innovative improvements. We’ll explore new tools and strategies to enhance workplace health and safety. Enhanced training programs, access to safety resources, and improved communication strategies are on the horizon.
Your active participation, feedback, and ideas are both welcome and necessary for our success. We’re in this together, and everyone’s input will drive our progress.
Let’s have a safe and successful end to the year.
Respectfully,
SunJo Chang
MANUFACTURING DAY
Dee Zee welcomed 225 students from around the state for Manufacturing Day to showcase the viable and rewarding careers offered in the manufacturing sector.
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION
To recognize our outstanding team, we held an employee appreciation event in November to recognize your contributions. It featured raffle prize giveaways, catered food, bounce house/slide, games, as well as ice cream and slushy trucks. It also gave us an opportunity to let everyone see our newest building in Pleasant Hill and our latest new products on the SEMA trucks. Thank you to those that participated!
DIVERSITY
Dee Zee is a proud ambassador for the U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants of Des Moines. We embrace diversity and value the learning opportunities brought from our multi-cultural team.
HUMAN RESOURCES
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Fitness Reimbursements for 2023 must be submitted by January 17!
Please see the Gym Reimbursement Form on the HUB under Quick Links or visit HR.
Are you starting an exercise routine starting January 2024?? To help stay motivated & achieve your fitness goals, Dee Zee will reimburse up to $300 towards your fitness center membership fees!! See the Gym Reimbursement Form for details on the Hub or visit HR.
EMPLOYEE REFERRAL BONUS
Do you know someone that would be a great addition to Team Dee Zee? You can apply for the Referral Bonus Program and if all requirements are met, both you and your referral will receive the bonus!
This is a 2-part process.
#1 – When your candidate fills out the online application, they need to put your name in the ‘SOURCE’ where the question states, ‘How did you hear about this position?’.
#2 – The Referral Form and detailed requirements is located on the HUB in Day Force.
This form MUST be filled out by you and the candidate and submitted to the recruiter or HR within 15 days of the candidate’s application submission.
All requirements must be met or the referral bonus will not be paid out.
***Look for the Quick Link on the HUB in Day Force for all the details & form!!
SALES
AFTERMARKET
Hello, my name is Meridith, and I am happy to introduce myself as the newest addition to Team Dee Zee as the Social Media Analyst. I grew up in a small town here in Iowa before I moved to Ames to attend Iowa State where I earned a bachelor’s degree in business entrepreneurship. With a solid two years of experience in the social media industry, I have developed a deep appreciation for the field. Now, I am eagerly looking forward to bringing my expertise and enthusiasm to the table here at Dee Zee.
If you ever come across something you believe would be a valuable addition to our social media platforms, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I am always open to fresh ideas and engaging content that will resonate with our audience. My email is [email protected].
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PURCHASING
Aluminum running boards were the very first automotive products offered by Dee Zee back in the 1970’s. Even today, aluminum continues to be Dee Zee’s most essential commodity used when it comes to manufacturing running boards, toolboxes, braces, and the list goes on.
Here are some interesting facts about aluminum.
-Third most common element in the world.-Dee Zee consumes well over 20+ million lbs. per year.
-The moon contains a large amount of aluminum.
-Australia is the largest producer of aluminum.
-75% of all aluminum ever made is still in use due to recycling.
-Dee Zee recycles over 3+ million lbs. of aluminum per year.
-Aluminum foil was invented in 1910.
-Around 120,000 aluminum cans are recycled every minute.
The benefits of aluminum are staggering, it is vital to everyone across the globe in so many ways. From building airplanes, trucks, and the Empire State building, to making running boards in Des Moines, Iowa. Dee Zee will continue to rely on aluminum for years to come.
OEM SALES / RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
OEM SALES
December is a busy month with some exciting new OEM programs starting up production to finish out the year. The all new Toyota Tacoma pickup starts production this month and Dee Zee has several new products on this truck (molle panels, bed divider, and a cargo rack). We have a new Nissan Frontier pickup hoopstep rail launching in parallel to the current hoopstep program which is now utilizing a cost savings idea from our R&D department to reduce the number of fasteners used during assembly. Finally, we have the Ford F150 BEV running board launching with the light removed as part of a cost savings initiative.
As we finish out 2023, our OEM sales and sales budget for the year has been challenged by the downturn and idling of the GM ELCV program. We do however have multiple customers like (Ford/Nissan/Toyota/Subaru) that have exceeded our sales goals for the year which has made up for some of the difference and still allowed us to finish out the year at 95% of budgeted totals.
December is also the time of year where we start planning for next year sales by reviewing sales forecasts/history for all our customers and new programs that will start production this next year. We have several Subaru crossbar programs launching in the 1st quarter of next year along with our largest roofrail program for the GM Equinox SUV. We will also have both the Nissan Frontier pickup and Toyota 4 runner cast running board programs launching next summer/fall timing. Ford has several programs launching next year with the Bronco 3 door and 5 door cast running board programs, Ford Expedition timberline cast running board program, and Ford transit step. We also expect the GM ELCV program to startup production in the spring of next year.
Dee Zee has also been receiving a lot of new program quotes recently which is a great testament to our customer relationships and being selected as a preferred supplier for bidding on these new programs. Some of our largest programs we are bidding on are the F150 BEV running board programs and F150 ICE running board programs as well as a potential new customer with Hyundai’s new factory requesting bids on a bed rail project. OEM Sales will be working diligently to secure all of these new programs for the future.
Research and Development
R&D recently completed all of their team projects for 2023 with some great projects already completed and others that will be pursued going into next year. Great job to everyone involved! We also recently hired a new design engineer in R&D, Joshua Pasa. If you haven’t already done so, please make sure you welcome Josh to the Dee Zee team.
BUILDING UPDATES
BROADWAY
The training department has been quite busy this year and is proud to have achieved remarkable progress. As we near the end of the year, we continue to strive for continual support from all team members.
In the past few months, the training department has worked closely with plant managers and Support Teams to improve On-The-Job training. We are pleased to inform everyone we have eliminated over 500+ OJT Training Curriculums!!!!
We have also created a new training curriculum called EMPDEV22-MO “Manufacturing Operations”. This exercise has helped identify internal trainers and made production training less overwhelming to effectively meet required expectations.
The Training Team would like to express their gratitude for your support in participating in ongoing training and look forward to collaborating with you in 2024!
STAMPING
During Q4 2023 Stamping completed its Blitz run. The Blitz were mainly focused around driving Sort and Shine, and plenty of that was done by the team. Through the quarter we found a mountain of items that were old and dusty, and even a throwback cassette tape! The Blitz teams did a great job scrubbing up the Powder lines, Ecoat machine, and tackling even the challenges of the Press’ themselves. Throughout the events we also focused on setting proper spots for everything, and driving routines that will allow us to uphold our new cleaning standards. If the Blitz hasn’t come to your area yet, I recommend you watch for the invites on the televisions and volunteer to be on the team.
WAREHOUSES
It has been a while since either of the warehouses has been written about for the newsletter and since then there have been some big changes at both the OEM, aftermarket, and raw material warehouses.
Some of you may have noticed at the OEM warehouse that some pallet racking has been removed and one of the large push back racks has been moved to the south. This will allow us to move the Ford finished FIFO area that is currently staged in Bay 2 at Broadway to Bay 3 with the rest of the OEM finished product. Once completed this will provide more space in Bay 2 for empty OEM racks and will give the warehouse in Bay 3 much better control of the inventory accuracy, follow the proper FIFO process, as well as separate empty racks from finished good racks.
The major changes at the aftermarket warehouse and raw material warehouse go hand and hand. Over a year ago the raw material warehouse was bursting at the seams and got to the point that there was just nowhere at all to put anything. At that same time the aftermarket warehouse had some excess space due to some customer changes. It was decided that we would be best to move the smaller palletized raw materials to the aftermarket warehouse to store in the racking space that was available. The end goal is to have only extrusions, sheets of metal, and cast boards at the raw material space at VIA and everything else stored at the aftermarket warehouse. This will help us safely store everything we need to at the raw material warehouse at VIA as well as maximize the space that is available at the Aftermarket warehouse.
DEPARTMENT UPDATES
I.T.
Warning: Heightened Risk – Booking.com Scam Targets Travelers
As the holiday season approaches, a disturbing trend has surfaced – scammers exploiting Booking.com accounts through a sophisticated hotel booking scam. Cybercriminals adeptly pose as hotel owners, manipulating unsuspecting guests into divulging sensitive payment details via deceptive Booking.com messages.
Security research firm Secureworks’ recent findings detail a two-step scam, exemplified by a scammer posing as a former guest. This individual successfully infiltrates a hotel’s Booking.com account, gaining access to upcoming bookings. Exploiting this newfound control, the scammer contacts guests directly, leading to unauthorized financial transactions and causing distress among travelers.
To shield against this escalating threat:
- Implement Multi-Factor Authentication: Secure your digital accounts with an additional layer of protection. Multi-factor authentication fortifies defenses against unauthorized access.
- Educate Staff about Social Engineering: Equip your team with knowledge on social engineering and phishing tactics. Awareness is the first line of defense against manipulation.
- Exercise Caution with URLs: Prioritize cybersecurity hygiene by double-checking URLs before opening any links. Verify the legitimacy of web addresses to mitigate the risk of falling victim to scams.
As reports of financial losses incurred by hotel guests surface, it is evident that scammers are capitalizing on the success of this scheme. Popular darkweb forums are witnessing increased demand for Booking.com property credentials, underscoring the prevalence of this threat.
By staying informed and implementing these precautionary measures, we collectively fortify our defenses against evolving cyber threats. Remain vigilant, protect your personal information, and ensure your holiday plans unfold without unexpected disruptions.
LEAN UPDATE
Hello Dee Zee Team!
As we previously announced, the Lean Team has been focused on improving each plant’s 6S to the standard level through 6S Blitzes. Last quarter we finished the blitzes at VIA, so we shifted our focus to Stamping this quarter. With the help of production and other support departments, we were able to complete 11 6S Blitzes. Below are some of the highlights that these cross functional teams were able to accomplish.
419 Improvement opportunities identified through waste walks!
384 Improvements made in areas through blitzes and follow ups!
67 Dee Zee team members completed LEADZ Basics training
Looking forward to 2024, the Lean Team will start with Main Plant in Q1 then move to Broadway during Q2. We want to thank all the 2023 6S Blitz participants for their hard work and commitment to this initiative and are excited for the sustainment and new improvements that 2024 will bring.