Carolyn Seale

As manager of industrial engineering at Denso Manufacturing, Carolyn Seale of Cleveland, Tennessee, draws on more than 15 years of professional experience. She joined the company in 2001, shortly after she received her bachelor of science in industrial and engineering management from the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Carolyn Seale blends this expertise with an in-depth knowledge of kaizen, a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement.

In her role as manager of her plant's kaizen fabrication team, Cleveland-area resident Carolyn Seale works continuously to optimize resource use and reduce the total time involved in product manufacture. She uses profit target numbers to set annual productivity improvement goals, which she then uses to develop manpower targets. Committed to applying lean business concepts in human resource development throughout the plant, she also draws on similar ideas to improve equipment specification design.

Carolyn Seale shares her knowledge of continuous improvement and efficiency principles as a facilitator for kaizen circles across her campus. As a result of her efforts, her campus stands out among Denso sites as a five-time Excellent Factory champion.