Daniel Doerrfeld · Rockford, Illinois
Innovative where the shop stopped looking. Culture that makes people want the change. Relentless about the problems everyone else lives with.
Manufacturing operations leader.
Selected work
Tools I built and put on the floor.
In development
Seven floor tools, specified and mocked up.
Designed for any manufacturer, not only a machine shop, and not yet deployed. Each one names the number it exists to move.
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FloorSignal
A QR code on every machine opens a phone form; reports land on a triage board with an owner and a due date, and the floor sees what was fixed.
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IdeaLoop
A QR at every line opens a one-minute form. A decision within ten days, an owner within fourteen, two photos to close, and only the submitter can verify.
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Beacon
A tablet at every work center, a video call before anyone walks, and a timed record of every raised hand. No wiring, no stack lights, no PLC.
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Skills Matrix
One record per person per station, a level from 0 to 4 earned by a signed assessment, and views for employees, supervisors, and trainers from the same data.
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FirstCycle
Scan the machine, pass or fail each item, photograph the fails, sign. A fail opens a ticket; a critical fail blocks the machine until a supervisor acts.
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Upstream
Replaces the days-since-last-injury sign with six inputs people control, counted against targets by shift and area. Incidents are a line, never a headline.
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Noticed
Pick a person, pick the value they showed, write one sentence. Twenty seconds, no points, no prizes, no leaderboard, and the quiet people get seen.
About me
Off the floor.
I grew up in Algonquin, Illinois, and went to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on a tennis scholarship, playing for a nationally ranked team. I left with a business degree and a competitive streak that never went away.
These days the racket mostly stays in the bag and the golf clubs come out instead. I cheer for the Chicago teams, and on fall Saturdays, for Michigan football.
Nothing beats time with my wife and our two young boys. We live in Rockford, Illinois.