Lean Strategies Impacting the Bottom Line

Vicky Jandreau is the foundation of lean manufacturing and Six Sigma efforts at Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies. As director of its GROWTTH (Get Rid of Waste Through Team Harmony) program, she develops strategies that successfully impact the company’s bottom line.

Her colleagues say she is a powerhouse when it comes to lean manufacturing and Six Sigma initiatives. She is the first woman to lead Freudenberg-NOK’s program at its 20 manufacturing facilities spanning Canada, Mexico, and the United States. She has created workshops and targeted training programs that are saving the company about $15 million annually.

Most recently her focus has been on creating a comprehensive agenda of best practices that support rapid implementation and refinement of lean tools. The company is a leading specialist in innovative sealing applications across a wide variety of industries, including auto, civil aviation, ship construction, food, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and construction equipment. It is a partnership between Freudenberg & Co in Germany and NOK Corp. in Japan.

Jandreau is committed to expanding and perfecting Freudenberg-NOK’s lean and Six Sigma cultures – critical elements in a company that manufactures more than five billion seals and gaskets annually for everything from cars to toothbrushes.

Jandreau has been with Freudenberg-NOK for 24 years, and spent the last 18 implementing lean systems across the organization. Her colleagues say she has set a leadership example for young female engineers within the organization. Her dynamic, enthusiastic approach to all things lean has resulted in more candidates enrolling in lean and Six Sigma programs that are eliminating waste and saving money.

Jandreau’s passion rests upon her personal manufacturing experience and her insistence in promoting an open, collaborative environment that optimizes a progressive learning culture. She is unwavering in her push to build organizational commitment to a lean corporate value system. She says she knew this was the perfect career for her as she holds a strong conviction that status quo is not adequate and there is always a better way.

She holds a degree in mechanical engineering technology from MHTI and is in the process of obtaining a BS in business management at GSCs. Words she lives by are “strive for greatness in everything you do.”