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VALENCIA, CA – April 30, 2007 – Several members of the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce recently visited Auton Motorized Systems facilities to learn about its progressive manufacturing principles. Auton frequently serves as a successful model of lean manufacturing for local businesses to emulate.

Lean manufacturing is changing businesses around the world, creating outstanding results and translating directly into bottom-line profits. Lean manufacturing:

• Shrinks lead times
• Saves turnover expenses
• Increases sales growth
• Reduces set-up times
• Avoids unnecessary equipment expenses
• Multiplies inventory turns
• Increases profits

Ricardo Melara, plant manager at Auton, described the flow of manufacturing and the benefits of lean manufacturing to the Chamber members. He explained that after implementing lean manufacturing principles, Auton has realized the following benefits:

• A reduction in backlog from five weeks to less than three days
• A reduction in lead time from two to three weeks down to two to six days.
• Identification of a bottleneck where water-based paint was taking 2-3 days to dry. Sherman Williams developed a special paint for Auton that dries within hours.
• Improved plant floor management. Complete review of the manufacturing process now takes less than 15 minutes.
• Cross-training of employees, especially in welding area which requires lengthy training.
• Standardized work areas
• Reduction in routine overtime to almost nil.

Additionally, Auton has it’s employees’ best interests at heart. All Auton employees are empowered to make decisions and take action. They are also given the opportunity for upward mobility within the company through numerous education and training programs. Turnover is extremely low - many employees have a tenure of 10 or more years. And Auton’s employees almost never miss a day of work. Auton’s high employee morale translates into highly skilled, precision manufacturing and the best quality products.