__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dee
Zee
My door is always open, and while we’ ve grown from about 350 employees to more than 1100, I still try to know people by name across shifts and locations as best I can
Kelli began her career in the automotive industry as an accountant for United Parcel Service and later worked at an international truck dealership. Having spent her career in traditionally male-dominated industries, she is undaunted by that environment. She emphasizes that running a large operation like Dee Zee requires strong teammates and leaders, regardless of gender, and her focus has always been on building an effective, collaborative team.
“ Dee Zee currently has eight facilities, all within the Des Moines metro area and about 20 minutes apart,” Kelli continues.“ As part of our 2027 plan, we’ re consolidating some of these locations into two main campuses. Our Pleasant Hill operations include four facilities, handling stamping, tool and die, CNC milling, robotic welding, and other functions. At our Broadway campus, we’ re constructing a third building and moving our corporate headquarters to the new West building, while converting the main plant to focus on aftermarket production. By consolidating facilities, we’ ll increase efficiency, reduce logistics, and ensure our buildings have the latest technology, including temperature control, which some of our older sites lack.
“ We completed our East building at the Broadway campus in 2024, and in that facility, we installed a vertical powder coating line from SAT in Italy. While we already have four other horizontal powder coating lines; this line allows us to hang products vertically, which
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