Feb 02, 2015 
Saline Lectronics, Inc., a leading electronics contract manufacturer, announces the addition of Jeff Riedel as Lean Champion to its manufacturing team. Saline Lectronics’ commitment to the implementation of a lean culture will allow the company to maintain current growth trajectories and make holistic process efficiency improvements.
Riedel has an extensive professional background in electronics and automotive manufacturing, and joins Saline Lectronics with years of experience implementing lean initiatives across a variety of different industries. His customized approach to developing a lean culture as well as his plan to engage and encourage employees to voice their ideas and solutions, makes Riedel an exciting asset to the Saline Lectronics team.
“Hiring Jeff as our Lean Champion shows a commitment from Saline Lectronics to bring in world-class talent that matches our growth and future ambitions,” said Scott Sober, VP of Quality and Continuous Improvements. “His extensive lean and cross-industry background will enlighten our team to innovative and unique approaches that will enable us to better suit our customer’s needs.”
With a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Riedel started his career as an Electronics Technician at Reliance Electric Company. He soon moved over to Ford Motor Company where he remained for more than 25 years in a variety of capacities including Test Operations Manager, Lean Manufacturing Manager and Advanced Manufacturing Manager. While at Ford, Riedel designed an innovative, new lean manufacturing system for an engine program that required extensive lean training. Riedel was trained by Toyota, Kentucky Lean Sensei’s for more than two years, and also received certification from the Lean Learning Institute.
After his tenure with Ford, Riedel went to the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center as a Senior Lean Manufacturing Program Manager, where he partnered with local businesses to not only teach the lean approach, but to conduct on-site assessments to develop and structure lean programs. A few of Saline Lectronics’ current employees also received lean training at MMTC.
Riedel likens a true lean organization to a strong football team where each player understands their role and game plan before hitting the field. If a football team played a game without clear, pre-defined structures there would be absolute chaos on the field – no one would know who the quarterback was or even where to throw the ball! Once the players, or employees, have a clear structure coupled with the appropriate tools in place to perform their role, success is actualized and winning results are achieved.
“As the saying goes ‘people make the company’ and this is very apparent at Saline Lectronics. The skill and dedication of personnel at all levels is deeply encouraging,” said Riedel. “I am really excited to be a part of Saline Lectronics’ great future.”
Saline Lectronics, Inc. is a PCB assembly house located in Saline, Michigan. The company specializes in complex, high-mix electronic printed circuit board and electro-mechanical box build assemblies. In addition to its extensive knowledge of PCB assembly manufacturing, other strengths include test development, DFM, DFT and prototyping through production lifecycle. For more information, visit www.lectronics.net.
