Maps & Metrics

Maps & Metrics

Maps & Metrics

When Jd Marhevko speaks about how to measure performance, apply solutions and improve overall quality, suppliers listen. 

Currently, Vice President of Quality for a major Tier 1 automotive supplier, Jd built her reputation over decades in the automotive industry. Starting college at just 16, Jd studied engineering, which she saw as a road out of poverty. Around the same time, she rebuilt her first engine on a fishing trip with her grandfather, a Chrysler employee and operations expert, after she accidentally dropped their boat’s motor in the water. 

The award-winning quality guru offers her sage advice on this episode of Automotive Supply Chain Prophets. She believes that silos — whether good or bad — are culturally dependent and that without looking at leading indicators, lagging indicators can create a reactive environment. 

Themes discussed in this episode: 

  • The effects of recent supply chain disruptions on problem-solving for OEMs 
  • How offshoring has given suppliers leverage in a time of shortages
  • Quality and delivery as a single, intertwined metric
  • The importance of geographic diversity when it comes to supply chain contingency planning
  • Why automotive supply chain leaders need to apply lean management to their systems

 At the heart of The Prophets’ vision are “The 24 Essential Supply Chain Processes.” What are they? Find out, and see the future yourself. Click here

Featured Guest: 


Name: Jd Marhevko

Title: Vice President of Quality, Major Tier 1 automotive supplier

What she does: Jd is a revered expert in Quality, working in Operations and LSS efforts for almost 30 years. Jd is an ASQ Fellow, Shainin Medalist and in 2016, was recognized as one of the top 100 women in manufacturing by NAM. She holds an ASQ CMQ/OE, CQE, CSSBB and is an ASQ Certified Trainer. Jd has co-authored 5 books on Quality and Lean Management systems.

Connect: LinkedIn 


Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show


[1:00] A standout: Quality expert Jd Marhevko is an ASQ fellow, a Shainin medalist, was named a “Notable Woman in Manufacturing” by Crain’s Detroit in 2018,  and in 2020, was inducted into the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame.


[2:31] Early exposure: Jd grew up working with her grandfather, a tool and die maker for Chrysler for 46 years and an operations expert. At his behest, Jd rebuilt her first engine after she accidentally dropped their boat’s motor into the water while they were fishing.


[4:35] A realignment: Jd’s most recent assignment was remote and globally distributed. Of the many disruptions the industry has experienced in recent years, Jd says the cumulative effect hasn’t been negative but has forced “an intensive readjustment to Agile problem-solving.”


[6:52] Delivery is the sum of its parts: Jd sees quality and delivery as inseparable metrics in that “delivery incorporates and includes quality of that product in that definition of delivery.” 


[10:51] Transactional analysis: Jd thinks the most effective tool to break down silos in an organization  is, “value stream mapping of the transactional activities.” 


[13:46] Preventing a reaction, preparing a response: Organizations should track lagging and leading indicators. Jd says that only tracking lagging indicators fosters, “a very reactive environment.”


[15:09] Some favorite leading indicators: Leading indicators Jd recommends OEMs track include operational equipment effectiveness (OEE),  maintenance KPIs and the upfront supply chain. 


[18:38] Check your sources: If COVID taught us anything about contingency planning it’s that, as Jd predicts, manufacturers will make sure not all of their suppliers are located in one region (i.e. Asia).


[20:18] The one thing: The one action automotive suppliers must take now to improve delivery performance from a quality perspective is to apply Lean Management to their systems because it will enable them to understand what their exact position is, “and what they can do from an Agile perspective,” Jd says.


Top quotes


[8:49] “The shortages are real but keep in mind that the supply chain themselves, this is their cash cow, this is their heyday. They are allowed to manage pricing with very little [accountability], and it's not necessarily something that they're looking to say, well, let me flood the market now, so that they can devalue and commoditize their component tree, and it puts the downstream teams in a very precarious position.”


[10:51] “The strongest process that I've seen is value stream mapping of the transactional activities. Many people are really good at doing it in the production environment, on the floor, in the cellular manufacturing, but they very rarely lay out the transactional processes and how things interact with each other, and that's absolutely key in busting silos.” 


[12:55] “As I work with teams, one of the key things that I have to have people remember is that you want the data to work for you, and in doing this you need to be very editorial in terms of what that output should be. You want that data coming in at the lowest level of the business as possible from a leading indicator perspective. ”


[13:46] “If you’re only tracking lagging indicators, which I find many companies do, it forces a very reactive environment.” 


[15:19] “If OEE (Operational Equipment Effectiveness) is not functioning well, you can’t deliver. The other key leading indicator that I look at are the maintenance KPIs, and then a third of course, is the upfront supply chain.”

DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES

White Paper
for Leveraging Risk Management in Automotive

Download here

Operational Restart Readiness
Checklist

Download here

The 24 Essential Supply Chain
Processes

Download here

STAY IN TOUCH

Keep in touch with Auto Supply Chain Prophet's co-hosts Terry Onica and Jan Griffiths on LinkedIn.

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QAD Wesbite

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