Richard Kunst
Vice-President of Continuous Improvement / La-Z-Boy

Richard spent time with CAMI (assembly plant for the Suzuki Side-Kick and GM Metro) as Director of Production Control implementing Lean Manufacturing Principals. During his tenure at Stackpole Richard was the leading coach facilitating Lean Principals under the banner of the Stackpole Production System.  The Stackpole Production System resulted in a 70% reduction of inventory and reduced PPM from 1500 to 15.  Recently, Richard was asked to assist the La-Z-Boy Residential Division to develop, deploy and implement a manufacturing excellence program known as the LZBPS.

Linda Hebish
Administrative Director, Corporate Kaizen Promotion Office
Virginia Mason Medical Center

Douglas Grove
Administrative Director, Corporate Kaizen Promotion Office
Virginia Mason Medical Center

Seeking Perfection in Healthcare: Applying the Toyota Production System to Medicine

Linda is the senior director responsible for implementing the Virginia Mason Production System throughout the Virginia Mason Medical Center overhead departments with emphasis in Revenue Cycle Management and the Supply Chain.  Linda has been with Virginia Mason since 1982 and was formerly the budget director at Virginia Mason.

As Administrative Director, Doug is responsible for implementing the Virginia Mason Production System in Virginia Mason Medical Center corporate overhead departments, with emphasis in Revenue Cycle Management.

Louis M. Pope
CEO & President/ US Synthetic

Rob Galloway
Vice President of Operations / US Synthetic

Louis Pope formed US Synthetic in April 1978 and has served as the company’s president and CEO since 1992.   US Synthetic is one of the world’s leading suppliers of polycrystalline diamond cutters to the oil industry, providing service for thirty-five international companies in over eighteen countries.  Because of Louis’s success in business he was nominated as Ernst & Young’s Utah Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998. 

Rob Galloway is the Vice President of Operations at US Synthetic, an Orem, Utah company that supplies synthetic diamond components to the oil and gas drilling market.  In his 8 ½ years at US Synthetic he has also worked as a research engineer, sales engineer, division manager and production manager.  In 2003, Rob was introduced to lean manufacturing concepts.  He has spent the last three years championing the conversion to lean manufacturing that has helped US Synthetic take advantage of a rapidly growing market to claim millions of dollars each month that would have otherwise been out of reach.

Dale Lucht
Vice President of Quality/The Hon Company

Dale Lucht is the Vice President Quality for The HON Company. Prior to his current position, Dale has been Vice President Supply Chain, Vice President Distribution, and Plant General Manager with HON. Dale has been heavily involved in HON's lean journey and has been trained in Lean processes in Japan. He is a Shingo Prize Examiner and a Lead Examiner for HNI Corporation's internal Lean Assessment process. Before joining HON, he was with Emerson Electric in various management roles in Quality, Operations, Materials, Marketing and Engineering.

Joel Raup
Manager, 737 Airplane program
The Boeing Company

Joel Raup attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, graduating in 1996 with a bachelor of science in civil engineering.  Upon graduation, he was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  After active military duty, Joel attended the University of Michigan where he completed a dual-masters degree program in business administration and industrial engineering and was a member of the Tauber Manufacturing Institute.  After graduating, Joel joined Boeing Commercial Airplanes.  He previously worked as a manager in the Procurement Division Lean Promotion Office and as a production supervisor in the 777 Airplane Program.  Currently, he is a manager in the Boeing Production System office for the 737 Airplane Program.

Mr. George L. Falldine is the director of Plans and Programs, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. As the director he is responsible for business planning, overseeing the development of strategic and tactical plans, and representing the center as the senior business planner. He oversees planning for center activities ranging from work load transfers to mission assignments, and heads the center business office. He is responsible for manpower and quality programs, facility and contingency planning. He also represents the commander on the Governor’s Military Advisory Committee and serves as liaison with the community’s 21st Century Partnership. In 1974, Falldine was selected to be an Air Force Logistics Command Management intern and was assigned to the Directorate of Maintenance at Robins. After a two-year assignment for broad training in depot maintenance management, he was assigned to the deputy chief of staff for maintenance, Headquarter Air Force Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He returned to Robins in 1984 as the deputy chief of resource management in the Directorate of Maintenance.

Donald A. Dinero
Principal, Round Pond Consulting

TWI: The Foundation of Lean Thinking

Donald A. Dinero, PE, CPIM has more than thirty-five years of experience designing and implementing manufacturing methods and processes and is the principal of Round Pond Consulting Services. His BS degree in Mechanical Engineering is from the University of Rochester and his MBA and MS (Career and Human Resource Development) degrees are from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He received his Professional Engineering license (NYS) in 1983 and his Certification in Production and Inventory Control from APICS in 1986.

Mr. Dinero helps companies implement Lean principles and believes that the Lean movement is hindered by its omission of TWI training.  TWI offers fundamental skills training which helps to stabilize an organization, preparing it to seriously begin its Lean journey. In order to assist in stabilizing an organization and thus assist in the acceptance of Lean, Mr. Dinero is concentrating his efforts on spreading the word of TWI. He delivers training in all three of the ‘J’ programs and will add sessions in Program Development in the near future. In keeping with the “multiplier effect” cited by the Training Within Industry Service, Mr. Dinero also offers Train The Trainer sessions for the three ‘J’ programs.  This allows an organization’s employees to independently deliver the training.

Bryan Crowell

Bryan Crowell has worked at Autoliv for the past seventeen years. During this time Bryan has experienced almost every aspect of the company working in Engineering capacities, Machine Build, Operations and Quality Management.  Bryan has the opportunity to set up the first model TPS area at the inflator facility in Brigham City, Utah, under the tutelage of Harada-san from Toyota for three years.  Bryan currently serves as the Autoliv Module Plant Manager in Ogden. He received a Bachelors in Physics for WSU, and an MBA from Utah State.  Bryan resides in North Ogden with his wife and three kids. 

Colonel (Retired) William A. Guinn
LetterKenny Army Depot

During his U.S. Army career, COL (Retired) Bill Guinn served in a variety of command and staff positions both in the United States and overseas.  Among his command assignments, he commanded a company in the 7th Infantry Division and commanded the 1st Armor Division’s Main Support Battalion in Bosnia, Croatia, and Germany.  COL Guinn’s staff assignments include Headquarters, Department of the Army Staff in the Pentagon as well the Deputy J4 (Logistics) for the United States Pacific Command in Honolulu and East Timor.  His last military assignment was as the Commander of Letterkenny Army Depot.   

Rand Scherff
Plant Manager of Steelcase North America

Rand Scherff is plant manager of the City of Industry Plant for Steelcase North America. Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry, delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products.

Appointed to this role in 2001, Rand is responsible for all operations at the plant, located in City of Industry, Calif.

Rand joined Steelcase in 1973 and has held a number of different roles at our California plant. Before becoming manager of the new City of Industry facility, Rand was director of Logistics (1991-2001) for the plant when it was still located in Tustin, Calif. In this capacity, he managed the PIC, Distribution and Sourcing functions.

Mike Collins
VP Lean Enterprise Development
O.C. Tanner Company

Lean Leadership

Mike began his study of Toyota Production System in the late 70’s.  In 1983 he was hired to be the Vice President and General Manager of Shizuki North America, an electrical components manufacturer, he reported directly to Mr. Otsu, President and CEO of Shizuki and held the responsibility of managing all operations in the U.S. and Mexico.

J. BRIAN ATWATER
Professor, Utah State University

Understanding the Systemic Thinking in the Toyota Production System

J. Brian Atwater is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at Utah State University.  He earned his Ph.D. in operations management at the University of Georgia in 1991.  He currently teaches courses in operations management, continuous improvement techniques, and systems thinking.

Co-sponsors

American Society for Quality – Golden Spike Section 620 Brent Thackeray, Chair 797 East 5050 South Ogden, Utah 84403 Phone: 435.753.7820 Email: [email protected] Website: www.goldenspikeasq.com	American Society for Quality – Salt Lake Section 615 Carol Freasier, President 1405 West 9000 South West Jordan, Utah 84088 Phone: (801) 619-3420 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.asqslc.org
APICS – The Educational Society for Resource Management – Salt Lake Chapter Troy Nye, President 4067 S. 3420 W. Salt Lake City, UT 84119 Phone: (801) 537.6545 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.apicsutah.org	APICS – The Educational Society for Resource Management – Sundance Chapter Ken Danielson, President P.O. Box 50025 Provo, Utah 84605-0025 Phone: (801) 861-9448 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.apicsutah.org
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership – Utah Melanie Butterfield, Director, Client Relations 800 West University Parkway Orem, Utah 84058-5999 Phone: (801) 863-7902 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.mep.org	Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Ross Robson, Executive Director 3521 Old Main Hill College of Business Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322-3521 Phone: (435) 797-2279 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.shingoprize.org
Society of Manufacturing Engineers Bruce Longstroth, Chapter 85 Chair Phone: (801) 974-0638 Email: [email protected] Web site: chapters.sme.org/085/homepage.htm	Utah Manufacturers Association Thomas E. Bingham, President 136 East south Temple, Suite 1740 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-1134 Phone: (801) 363-3885 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.umaweb.org