PRESIDENT
MUNRO & ASSOCIATES, AUBURN HILLS
EMPLOYEES: 100
REVENUE: NA
COLLEGE: BAKER COLLEGE
It isn’t every manufacturing consultancy that gets the opportunity to help out a street-sweeper company, but Jordan Arocha offers just such a case as a recent success at Munro & Associates in Auburn Hills.
The call had come from Schwarze Industries in Huntsville, Ala., which makes more than a dozen different sweepers. The goal was to boost profits.
“Our task was to help take cost out of the product,” says Arocha, president of Munro & Associates. However, during a site visit, his team discovered cost-reduction was the wrong pursuit.
“What we actually did is totally flipped the statement-of-work on its head, and we focused on throughput,” Arocha says. “We focused on good lean-design principles.”
The process entailed a review of every stage of manufacturing, from engineering to purchasing. Arocha and his team made suggestions; after their implementation, throughput increased and Schwarze achieved a return on investment faster than expected.
The story helps Arocha explain his twofold mission as company president. He raises his tall brow even higher while laying out part one, which is messaging. The challenge is how to explain the value of Munro’s services.
For 35 years, the company has been refining its lean-design methodology for industry clients. Besides optimizing the manufacturing process, the company provides assistance with benchmarking and new-product development.
“The second piece of it is working with our Munro team, such that they feel bought into the mission,” he adds.
Indeed, the two parts together comprise many intangibles.
“I liken it to panning for gold. You can find a lot of gold dust. Rarely do you find those nuggets. When you do, there’s something to be excited about. Success is often defined in millimeters, not miles, in what we do.”
Arocha has gained this wisdom since 2010, when he joined Munro & Associates as a facilities coordinator racking parts in the back of the house. Before long, he was assisting engineers with vehicle teardowns for benchmarking purposes. He was a student at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, but Munro dangled the prospect of tuition assistance if he would change schools and stay with the company. Arocha focused on automotive technology at Baker College in Auburn Hills, and later obtained a Project Management Professional certificate.
In 2025, following a yearlong interlude as vice president of vehicle engineering and CAE at Roush Industries in Livonia, Arocha returned to Munro & Associates as president. He applies his efforts toward commercial and defense clients, overseeing project execution, finances, and sales.
While hard work and single-mindedness have characterized Arocha’s career path, the ability to focus applies in his personal life, as well. When he was dating his wife-to-be, Leticia, who is Brazilian, he learned Portuguese, her native language, and jokes that he’s good enough to know when his in-laws speak ill of him. A highlight of his family time is towing the kids around on sleds and puttering over the family’s rural estate on an ATV.
Having achieved all this through hard work and diligent application, Arocha deflects the credit.
“There’s no way I’d be doing what I’m doing right now if it weren’t for a multitude of people. No one gets through this life solo.”
— Ronald Ahrens
