Driving Continuous Improvement through Frontline Supervisors: A Conversation with TRQSS President Mark Dolsen

WLEI - Lean Enterprise Institute's Podcast

In this episode of the WLEI podcast, we sit down with Mark Dolsen, President of TRQSS, a seat belt manufacturer that supplies Toyota and other automakers in North America. Mark shares insights into TRQSS's lean journey and the critical role of frontline supervisors in driving continuous improvement.

Key takeaways include:

• TRQSS has evolved its lean practices over decades, starting with the influence of Japanese coordinators and later adopting TWI principles.

• The company's "TPS for Team Leaders" program focuses on developing supervisors' capabilities in areas like flow, standardized work, and kaizen.

• TRQSS's quality management approach is rooted in the principle of "mizenboushi" — proactively maintaining process conditions to ensure good parts every time. Read more about how TRQSS applies mizenboushi in this paper.

• Mark's leadership philosophy emphasizes coaching, teaching, and empowering employees to make decisions and contribute to the company's lean culture.