RR 489: Louis Altazan – Total Quality Management Comes From Great Processes-Systems

Louis Altazan, President of AGCO Automotive Corporation. He studied under Dr. W. Edwards Demming the father of Quality Management. Louis’s approach to handling clients, leadership and auto repair is worthy of a series of interviews.  He is a regular contributor on the Shop Management forum on iATN.

Key Talking Points

• Studied under Dr. Edwards Deming the father of Quality Revolution
• Technicians understand over owners when you talk processes
• Most managers in the US want a cafeteria plan for Quality Mangement. 
  • They want to pick and choose what they want to implement
• To get it right you’ve got to implement all 14 principles of Total Quality Management
• The aftermarket has been slow to accept the principles of Quality Mangement
• When times are good Deming’s plan works. When times are bad it works even better
  • You can survive the lean times even better
  • In spite of itself,  the aftermarket does well
• Louis does not make a large margin on parts but makes it up on his labor charge.
  • Anyone can find out the price of parts whenever they want
• Everyone in the shop contributes to improving processes and systems
  • He assigns a project and pays for the time his people invest.
  • Plan – Do – Study – Act. is the process for evaluating a project
•  Some people are unwilling to implement and can use the Plan/Do/Study/Act discipline to start the project on a small scale without hurting the company
  • Don’t overanalyze
  • You’ll never know if it will work unless you try it
• White Shirts on the techs
• White Floors in the shop
• To become a continuous improvement leader:
  • Have the theory of a system
  • Understand numbers or statistics
  • Knowledge of physiology. How people think
  • Theory of knowledge. How do we know the things we know

Resources:

• Thanks to Louis Altazan for his contribution to the aftermarket’s premier podcast.
• Link to the ‘BOOKS‘ page highlighting all books discussed in the podcast library HERE. Leaders are readers.
• Leave me an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one of them.
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