Success Story

Total Door

Waterford MI
43 employees

Pictured (l to r): Patricia Yulkowski, President and Leon Yulkowski, Founder

Identify, quantify and prioritize operational improvement opportunities

Significant reductions in work in process, manufacturing footprint and product defects

Innovation is part of the heritage of Total Door. Leon Yulkowski created the first mortise lock design specifically for levers for which he won one of his sixteen patents. Both he and his wife are still active in the company they founded in the 1950s and which their daughter Patricia now leads.

An initial meeting with MMTC has evolved into a long-tem relationship in the course of which Total door has undergone a complete operational transformation and culture change. Strategic planning, along with the training in and application of LEAN manufacturing principles has helped the company remain nimble. Recent major investments in new machinery, technologies and facility are making Total Door even more competitive in an industry dominated by two, large foreign-owned rivals.

Praising MMTC’s approach to transfer knowledge to her employees Patricia stated, “When we started seeing improvements, it was contagious. Everyone wanted to chip in and make improvements in their work space. No one wanted to be left out.” And, she continued those improvements really moved the hard business measures: “After our training, we saw a production volume increase of 9.8%  and quality improvements which led to more than $500,000 in bottomline savings. Every new improvement adds a spark to our jobs. It is exciting to come to work.”

For more information, please contact us at 888-414-6682 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .