Mauro Pino is fluent in World Class Manufacturing -- the continuous-improvement system that’s driving success at Chrysler.
Mauro Pino is a towering Sicilian with a baritone voice that’s fit for an opera singer. And that rich voice fills with excitement when he talks about the role of World Class Manufacturing, or WCM, in Chrysler’s latest renaissance.
“WCM is not another project or initiative,” says Pino, who was named Chrysler’s head of North American World Class Manufacturing on Feb. 1. “There will not be another initiative next year. There will not be another initiative in 2014. It’s not the flavor of the week. This is the way we run our business.”
And with good reason. WCM -- an operating methodology that focuses on trimming waste, boosting productivity and improving quality and safety -- helped resurrect Fiat SpA (IW 1000/48), “a company that was really close to the cemetery,” notes Pino.
Pino, who joined Fiat in 1987, sees WCM perhaps playing an even larger role in Chrysler’s resurgence.
While Fiat’s comeback largely hinged on improvements in product design, logistics and purchasing, he asserts, Chrysler’s spectacular turnaround has been driven by a transformation of its manufacturing operations.
“In Chrysler, it’s a different story,” he emphasizes.
The importance of WCM was underscored this year during Chrysler’s first-quarter earnings call, when CEO Sergio Marchionne told investors and analysts that WCM is “having significant benefits in terms of earnings.”
Pino believes it was the first time that Marchionne has made such an explicit connection -- at least on an earnings call -- between WCM and the automaker’s financial results.
“I tell you if the big boss decides to speak about this, it means that the contribution is not secondary,” Pino says in his heavy Italian accent. “It was a big surprise.”
