ABOUT DIODE DYNAMICS. St. Louis County, Missouri is home to this highly successful company. Knowing that if you want it to be the best, you have to make it yourself, Diode Dynamics prides itself on being a top-quality domestic manufacturer of LED lighting products for the automotive industry – one of very few companies manufacturing such products on U.S. soil. This gives Diode Dynamics total control of quality and allows them to bring unique items to market faster than the competition, with industry leading warranties and optimal customer service and support. The company is a recognized innovator and manufacturer of replacement LED bulbs, full LED assemblies, multicolor accents, unique lighting control modules and other specialty LED lighting products. To position itself strongly against lower cost competition, Diode Dynamics focuses on making high-quality products with unique functionality, which gives the automotive industry the long-term value and innovative solutions they demand.
THE CHALLENGE. With innovation, quality and service as their main goals, Diode Dynamics absolutely must maximize efficiency and minimize waste to compete successfully against foreign competition. The company was growing so quickly, they needed to bring stability to their production processes and minimize costly mistakes and errors that impacted margins and impeded growth. They knew implementing ISO 9001:2015 standards into their operations was the best way to do it, but they also knew that to do it right, they couldn’t rely on their already taxed internal resources. They reached out to Missouri Enterprise as the ideal outside expert to come in and help them efficiently achieve their ISO certification.
MEP CENTER’S ROLE. The first step for Diode Dynamics was a detailed gap analysis to identify where they needed to make changes and improvements to move towards their goal of ISO 9001: 2015 compliance. Missouri Enterprise’s quality management Project Manager met with Diode Dynamics’ leaders, management team and key production staff to understand and document their current operational environment, then worked closely with their team to produce an accurate gap analysis to guide Diode Dynamics on their journey to ISO certification. With the gap analysis in hand, Missouri enterprise got in the trenches with team members at all levels of the organization to document and implement the positive changes necessary to improve operational efficiency and minimize production errors and non-conformities. Special attention was given to ensuring the team understood and recognized the value of the changes so they became a part of how the company does business. The result was a dramatic improvement in efficiency, consistent product quality and a unified team effort where everyone was on the same page, focused on the same goals. Diode Dynamics achieved compliance and gained their ISO 9001: 2015 certification on their first attempt and has embraced the ISO standard to continuously improve their operational excellence and grow.
“This was not a boiler plate engagement. Missouri Enterprise customized their approach and took the time to learn and understand the internal operations of our business, then presented the ISO principles and concepts in ways our team could understand and embrace. Missouri Enterprise brought us world-class services that have helped us grow and be better, and we’ve gotten a fantastic ROI on our work with them. They did a great job!” Paul McCain, CEO
RESULTS.
- $100,000 increased investment in products and processes.
- $50,000 in retained sales.
- $20,000 increase investment in information systems/software.
- $10,000 increased investment in workforce and employee skills.
- 2 new jobs created.