Since 2005, Mission Rubber has pursued an ongoing Continuous Improvement initiative. Each year, dozens of projects are selected from employee suggestions, business unit strategy, and chronic industry issues.
Cross-departmental teams work to improve quality, safety, energy conservation, infrastructure, lead times, efficiency, and to reduce our organization’s carbon footprint.
Pictured above: Rod Gurrola, Cal/OSHA Safety Consultant (far right) and Golden Gate Safety Award recipients, the Mission Safety Team.
Six Sigma-certified Green Belts and Black Belts serve as project sponsors and team leaders, providing support by gathering data, conducting analytical work, managing change and implementing the project. Teams also include direct manufacturing personnel, office staff, and interns from local universities. Project completion times range from just a few weeks up to 12 months.
In addition to the Six Sigma process, teams utilize tools from Kanban, Single Piece Flow, Poke-Yoke, SMED, and Total Preventative Maintenance. Project leaders also borrow from classic concepts such as World Class Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints, Total Quality Management, and Schewart/Deming.
For Mission Rubber, Continuous Improvement means new projects, new challenges, and new goals for ever-improving product offering, workplace efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Together we’re working to ensure that all the lives we touch are… connected, for good™!
