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As Chinese-American entrepreneurs, the Du family has spent nearly two decades growing DDH into one of the largest manufacturers of turnkey cable, harness and mechanical assembly companies in Southern California.

And now they’re continuing to grow overseas. The Du family recently expanded their Xiamen New East Asia Electronic Enterprise (NEAEE) by relocating to a larger, 67,000-square-foot facility. The new building was dedicated on November 7, 2006 during a grand opening ceremony that hosted notable dignitaries from both China and the U.S. A sister company to Vista-based DDH Enterprise Inc., NEAEE is a central initiative in the parent company’s growth strategy.

DDH has been offering off-shore manufacturing solutions to its clients since 2003 with stellar quality and delivery outcomes. Currently representing 6% of DDH’s revenue, the China operation moved to the larger facility to accommodate the business’s growth and has already begun to affect revenue and work output.

The plant has a wide range of equipment and assembly capabilities. Because of our parallel capabilities locally, DDH offers clients with significant volume and labor content a no-risk opportunity to work with our overseas operation. Clients will appreciate the same high delivery and quality standards they’ve come to expect from DDH. Most importantly, they will also realize the benefits of off-shore manufacturing cost savings up to 40% without dealing with a middleman.

With growth comes challenge and 2006 really put us to the test. Change was needed to meet demand, especially in the way DDH approached production scheduling and controlling. DDH has ample capacity and resources, but with over 1,000 different work orders and line items on the floor at any given time, keeping track of priorities becomes a complex process. Both delivery and quality output was falling short of our high performance standards.

A crack team of supervisors was empowered to evaluate organizational challenges on the shop floor and use solutions-driven strategies to overcome obstacles. Knowing their success would be measured as a team versus as individual departments, team work and communications were instrumental to evaluate priorities and meet daily demands.

By reviewing schedules, consulting on issues and devising work-share strategies between department labor, our on-time delivery improved 7% in just one month. This trend continued, allowing us to achieve a 99.3% on-time delivery success rate within three months. The first pass yield also improved from 99.1 % to 99.7 % during the last quarter of 2006.

“Team work and communications were instrumental to evaluate priorities and meet daily demands.”

Productivity on the floor has reached all-time highs, with the work force absorbing all of the increased flow while also experiencing significant reductions in overtime and no increase in headcount. By breaking down barriers and focusing on the big picture, our supervisory team has helped unite the production floor as we charge into 2007.

DDH Newsletter Vol 2 - Issue 1 - 2007

DDH receives top honors from the industry’s toughest critics — our clients!	Thinking Inside the Box Work cells improve productivity

Romer, a Hexagon Metrology company, named DDH Enterprises its 2006 Supplier of the Year. Longtime client Kontron America also recognized DDH as a top supplier and presented us with its Quality Award in recognition of outstanding performance. Said Yasser Abusalih, Kontron’s Director of Quality Assurance, “This commendation reflects the level of management and pride of ownership DDH takes in its work.”

DDH recently invested in its Plant 8 box-build operations by improving system integration with the installation of new work cells that will allow us to increase our productivity. The upgrades offer lean manufacturing solutions that maximize floor space and provide more flexibility in product builds. The upgrade also streamlines materials flow, reduces waste and material movement and positively affects cycle time reduction and floor inventory levels.