From Paint Supplier to General Assembly: Diane Miller’s Journey

It made sense, because her husband, an American, was already a paint supplier there. Aston Martin paint is quite different from Ford Transit paint, she found: “I started off thinking five jobs an hour would be easier than 60 jobs an hour, but that was completely wrong. True, Aston paint was very different – many more coats and lots of polishing – but the big difference was the fact that the operators had so much to remember.

The Transit takt (process) time was around five minutes, explains Miller, whereas at Aston it was more like 25 minutes. People had to remember 25 minutes’ work rather than five, which is clearly much more difficult.

Still, Miller thrived there for six years – until Ford sold Aston Martin and suggested, once again, that she return to central engineering. Just in time a GM headhunter arrived with an offer to move to Ellesmere Port where Vauxhall was about to launch the Astra D2, but there were big problems with the paint shop.

Miller, uniquely qualified to take hold of the process and fix it, was perfect for the job. Aston was small by comparison, and Miller liked the Liverpool area where she had been at university.

“We decided to make the move, and I joined the company at a high enough level to make the changes needed,” she says. “Our Astra launch was the best in the company’s history, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From that I was asked to take over general assembly, another progression. I had enjoyed paint, but there are many more people in general assembly, and I guess that’s where my skills are. We made some good progress; people felt able to tell me about their difficulties.