William Guggina, managing director of the Kokomo operations of Delphi Electronics & Safety, spoke volumes on the subject while taking the Tribune on a two-hour tour of Delphi's local manufacturing operations. Transferring to Kokomo as a manufacturing engineer for Delphi-Delco in 1986, Guggina has since advanced through Delphi with positions in both the United States and Mexico.

Guggina said Delphi implemented lean manufacturing in the early 1990s. The company's standardized approach is now known as the Delphi Manufacturing System.

"It means build only what you need when you need it -- nothing more, nothing less," Guggina said. "We hold a very specific amount on the line. It's kind of like the supermarket mentality: We only use what we need."

He said one principle of lean manufacturing is building quality into each part of the process.

From the beginning to the end of Delphi's manufacturing process, the system ensures maximized efficiency, quality and performance, Guggina said.

"The auto industry is the most demanding industry in terms of quality," he said. "Failures are not acceptable to the customer. They're also expensive."

Integrated circuits

Based in Troy, Mich., Delphi has about 185,000 employees worldwide.

Kokomo is the world divisional headquarters of Delphi Electronic & Safety. About 5,500 of the division's 29,900 employees work in Kokomo -- with about 2,500 of these Kokomo employees involved in manufacturing.

Local Delphi operations include both the designing and manufacturing of customized integrated circuits.

Guggina said Delphi buys five- and eight-inch silicon wafers with which to begin its manufacturing process.

Wafers are taken into a 60,000-square-foot "clean room" designed to ensure the wafers are not contaminated by air particles.

"The environment requires extreme cleanliness to levels we aren't used to," Guggina said. "We circulate 5 million cubic feet of air per minute through this facility."

Guggina said the clean room is about 1,000 times as clean as a hospital operating room.

Temperature, humidity and lighting are closely controlled in the clean room. Employees wear Goretex suits that prevent their bodies from contaminating the wafers.

Each wafer has about 400 to 2,000 chips on it, Guggina said. Chips can have about 250,000 transistors.

Guggina said the Delphi facility makes integrated circuits for use worldwide, but mainly in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"It's a phenomenal facility. It was built in the mid-80s, but it's still thought of as state-of-the-art," he said. "It's a substantial part of our Kokomo operations."

After going through the clean room, a wafer is taken to another Delphi facility where it is cut with a diamond saw into small chips.

The chips are later put into containers and taken to the electronics assembly area.

Mechanical testing

Delphi subjects its products to both mechanical and magnetic testing.

"For automotive electronics, the environment is extremely harsh," Guggina said. "We've got to make products that are extremely robust in a number of ways, and these operations allow us to do that."

An engineering validation lab in Plant 8 is used to perform accelerated mechanical tests on Delphi's body and chassis, powertrain and radio products.

Testing allows Delphi to both measure the quality of current products and improve future designs, said lab manager Bill Brown.

Lab supervisor Rob Bugher said the 20,000-square-foot facility has 77 chambers of various types. He said workers document problems identified through the tests.

"You're always going to find something," he said. "We want to make the product better as it comes through."

About 20 of the chambers subject the products to temperatures ranging from about -40 to 85 degrees Celsius.

"Various products call for various types of chambers to get us the temperatures we need," Bugher said.

A dust chamber subjects the products to the effects of dust, while another tests a product's resistance to high-pressure doses of water.

Two cyclic corrosion chambers test a product's resistance to salt in a spray form and an atomized form.

Employees spill grease, gasoline and beverages on products in the fluid-testing room.

Nearby is the "squeak and rattle room," a microphone picks up any noises caused by vibrations to the product, which can be vibrated both vertically and horizontally.

Voltage tests, thermal shock tests and humidity tests are performed in other chambers.

Employees wear ear plugs inside the vibration lab, where a product's resistance to vibration, temperature and humidity are tested. Other equipment is used to drop and shake products.

Magnetic testing

In Plant 10, Delphi employees perform a total of about six weeks of electromagnetic testing in several labs.

Testing charges range from about 8,000 to 25,000 volts.

"We've got to test both polarities -- positive and negative," said Delphi employee Paul Zimmerman.

In one lab, two robots perform repetitive precision testing. A robot zaps each pin on the product three to 10 times with a controlled charge of electricity, grounding the charge after each zap.

Electronics assembly

A variety of Delphi electronics components are assembled in Kokomo, including transmission controls, engine controls, powertrain controls, climate controls, radio controls and safety electronics.

Julie Oberlin, operations manager for powertrain products, said Delphi's Kokomo operations make about 1.5 million powertrain control modules a year.

She said about 97 percent to 98 percent of the facility's products are without defect, adding "if there is a failure, we don't send it down the line."

The powertrain assembly process begins with a circuit board known as a "bare board" or "green board." Each of the boards receives a unique bar code as it moves down the production line. This allows employees to locate any board at any part of the production process.

A stainless steel stencil puts a paste onto the board that is about the consistency of peanut butter.

Automated component assembly equipment then takes integrated circuits made in Kokomo and puts them on the circuit board.

The boards then go through ovens with computer-controlled temperatures that turn the paste and circuits into a solid solder joint. Fourteen alarms indicate any problems.

Then the circuit board is flipped over as it proceeds down the automated line and circuit units are put on the board.

Employees manually perform "sticklead assembly," and any boards with problems are separated from the assembly line.

"You can see the product flow like water through the whole area here," Oberlin said.

The boards then go into their cases and undergo additional testing before reaching the end of the line. Bar codes and computer sensors ensure that the finished product is put into the correct box.

"We've got strict procedures around every part of the process -- even packaging," Guggina said.

Each morning for local manufacturing workers begins with a "huddle meeting" in which groups discuss a variety of operations issues.

Guggina said Delphi has been recognized as an industry leader in its application of lean manufacturing.

"Our people go through all kinds of training and experiences," he said. "Here in Kokomo we've got a thorough understanding. It shows in our system and our results."

In 2004, Plants 7 and 9 of Delphi's Kokomo operations earned the coveted Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.

Derek Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at derek.smith@kokomotribune.com.