In early June 2008, Mike Barron and Gary Lent were invited to represent Chongqing Gear and Dongguan Gear at United Technologies Corporation’s Ito University in Michigan City, Indiana.
Mike Barron said, “This was a great three days and will mean a lot to our Process Improvement Goals and our journey as a leading Precision Gear Manufacturing Facility”
The event included a combination of UTC Management and Top Suppliers to spend three intensive days learning the concepts which were developed by UTC’s Quality Guru Yuzuru Ito. Dr. Ito was one of the world’s foremost experts on quality and UTC’s quality advisor from the late 1980s until his death in 2000.
Chairman Sam Deese says, “not only is UTC our biggest customer, they are also teaching us more in-depth skills for our daily Continuous Quality Goals.”
UTC Quality Vision
“Every day, in almost every country in the world, customers define our competitive excellence when they decide to buy our products and services or those of a competitor’s. Similarly, investors define our competitive excellence when they choose to invest in us or in another company. Only by offering superior value to both customers and investors will our company continue to grow and prosper. Therefore, our quest for competitive excellence has no end.”
ACE mission statement:
- A quality-first mindset governs all UTC employee actions.
- External and internal customers receive innovative products and services that completely satisfy life cycle requirements.
- Quality improvement is the job of every UTC employee.
What is ACE?
UTC is committed to Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE).
ACE is our proprietary operating system to ensure world-class quality in our products and processes. With its relentless focus on increasing efficiency and reducing waste, ACE is integral to the company’s performance model. Facilities worldwide are using the operating system to improve quality and customer satisfaction while lowering cost.
ACE is built on three main elements:
- A philosophy based on the teaching of the late Yuzuru Ito, the company’s advisor on quality methodologies. This is institutionalized in Ito University, weeklong training sessions run continuously at each business unit.
- A system that helps the organization identify and solve problems, improve processes and assist with strategic thinking.
- The competence, commitment and involvement of the entire organization.
ACE is implemented on the micro level, with employees who are trained and empowered to implement the standard processes across the company. Through a rigorous, data-driven process assessed by internal auditors, employees and their organizations progress through the qualifying, bronze, silver and gold levels of ACE.
Ito University Foundations
This internal “university” is a three day course or training sessions that teaches UTC managers the fundamentals of improving the quality of UTC products, services and business processes. Ito University Foundations is a living tribute to the late Yuzuru Ito, UTC’s quality advisor, who led quality efforts for Japan’s Matsushita Electric (known in the China as Panasonic) for decades. He was one of the world’s foremost experts on quality and UTC’s quality advisor from the late 1980s until his death in 2000.
Ito University Foundations plays an integral role in UTC’s drive to create the most educated workforce on the planet. These training sessions allow employees to pursue continuous education in areas that affect UTC’s performance. Ito University, along with UTC’s Employee Scholar Program and our executive education program at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, is another example of the importance we place on personal development for all employees.
