Continued relationship with Oakland University and Pawley Lean Institute

Since the spring of 2009, Fitzpatrick Mfg. Co. has been a partner of Professor Doman’s Program at Oakland University in two areas that will directly benefit our company. Every semester, we sponsor a group of students that bridges the theories of lean and the actual deployment of lean in a real life setting. We believe this exposure of students to actual industry provides for a unqiue educational exprerince outside of the classroom. These thirteen semesters have allowed Fitzpatrick Mfg. Co. to work with over 70 students on a team-to-team basis. The other aspect that is equally important is that seven members of our Fitzpatrick team have taken a class with Professor Doman on the campus of Oakland Univeristy. While a huge commitment of time, this has resulted in our company obtaining seven green belts in lean. As our company continues to grow, these green belts have been charged with working on incremental improvements on our shop floor.