UK Lean Summit 2018 – Lean Strategy & The Work of Management

We are pleased to introduce the speakers for the UK Lean Summit 2018

Speakers are shown in order of appearance

David Brunt – Chief Executive, LEA

David has been both applying and researching lean since 1990. He manages activities at the Lean Enterprise Academy and helps firms making a lean transformation. He has worked with Dan Jones since 1997. During that time he has been involved in both pioneering research into lean thinking and the practical implementation of lean practice.

He spent over three and a half years as the Porsche Verbessrungs Process (PVP – Porsche Improvement Process) Manager at Porsche Cars Great Britain and carried out work to develop lean in after sales, used car processing and parts operations as well as conducting a number of other business process improvement projects at dealer and national sales company level. His work on lean dealer operations formed the basis for several chapters in James P. Womack and Daniel Jones’ book, “Lean Solutions” and led to him writing “Creating Lean Dealers – the lean route to satisfied customers, productive employees and profitable retailers” with John Kiff (2007.) He helps a growing number of dealers around the world successfully implement lean thinking and practice.

David has an MBA from Cardiff Business School where he specilaised in lean and supply chain management. In 2011 he contributed cases to the updated Lean Enterprise Institute workbook “Seeing the Whole Value Stream” by Dan Jones and Jim Womack (2011.) He is co-author of the book “Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Management – The Lean Approach” with David Taylor (2001.)

Jim Womack – Founder and Senior Advisor, Lean Enterprise Institute

Management expert James P. Womack, Ph.D., is the founder and senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc., a nonprofit training, publishing, conference, and management research company chartered in August 1997 to advance a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on Toyota’s business system and now being extended to an entire lean management system.

The intellectual basis for the Cambridge, MA-based Institute is described in a series of books and articles co-authored by Womack and Daniel Jones over the past 20 years. The most widely known books are: The Machine That Changed the World(Macmillan/Rawson Associates, 1990), Lean Thinking (Simon & Schuster, 1996), Lean Solutions (Simon & Schuster, 2005), andSeeing The Whole Value Stream (Lean Enterprise Institute, 2011). Articles include: “From Lean Production to the Lean Enterprise” (Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1994), “Beyond Toyota: How to Root Out Waste and Pursue Perfection” (Harvard Business Review, September-October, 1996), “Lean Consumption” (Harvard Business Review, March-April, 2005).

Womack received a B.A. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1970, a master’s degree in transportation systems from Harvard in 1975, and a Ph.D. in political science from MIT in 1982 (for a dissertation on comparative industrial policy in the U.S., Germany, and Japan). During the period 1975-1991, he was a full-time research scientist at MIT directing a series of comparative studies of world manufacturing practices. As research director of MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program, Womack led the research team that coined the term “lean production” to describe Toyota’s business system.

Womack served as the Institute’s chairman and CEO from 1997 until 2010 when he was succeeded by John Shook.

Oriol Cuatrecasas – President, Instituto Lean Management

Oriol Cuatrecasas, director at Instituto Lean (Barcelona), is an enthusiastic Lean practitioner. Trained in the automotive industry by Toyota sensei, he currently combines his professional activity in the Spanish Lean Institute with lectures and research in the UPC University, educational workshops, co-learning activities with organizations, and research about Lean philosophy. He studied Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), and is part of the teaching staff in Master courses in Production, Lean Practitioner, Project Management and MBA programs. At the Spanish Lean Institute, Oriol works with organizations in their path towards change, and has led many lean transformation projects.

View LinkedIn profile

Richard Blair – Director, Engineering, TechnipFMC

Details coming soon.

John Paul Tennant – Lead Engineer, Technip FMC

Details coming soon

Keith Edwards – Section Manager, Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK)

Keith has been at Toyota 25 years. He joined the maintenance department as team member and progressed to section manager of the group before moving to the TLMC group. He was an integral part of transforming the maintenance department from a reactive (firefighting) to a proactive activity (Planned Maintenance) using many lean tools ie waste elimination, visualisation, standardisation and the ability to problem solve. He is also trained as global auditor in Toyota standards, and as Section Manager of TLMC works with organisations outside Toyota to coach lean techniques. 

Ian Lewis – Group Leader, Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK)

Approaching 25 years with the Toyota Engine Manufacturing at Deeside North Wales 23 of which associated in production. Joined the company in 1993 as a Production Team Member on the final assembly line. Previous experience in British & Japanese manufacturing.

Progressed  to Team Leader position and worked in various areas of assembly leading teams to meet Toyota objectives and look to continously improve. Moved to the machining side of the business for further development and versitility. Leading production teams on Cylinder Head and Camshaft production. Promoted to position of Group Leader.

Group Leader for various machining groups and assembly support groups before moving into Toyota Lean Management Centre. As a member of TLMC tasked with coaching and mentoring what is seen as manufacturing best practice using the tools and systems of the Toyota Production System to non competetive organisations.

Monica Rossi – Assistant Professor, Politecnico di Milano

Monica is Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Milano. Since 2010 she has been engaged in research on Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD.) She has held visiting researcher positions at both Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA and Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. Monica lectures in product lifecycle management and manages a project on Design Driven Innovation. Monica conducts action research and on the field training together with Instituto Lean Management and the Lean Global Network. 

Russell Watkins – Director, Sempai Consulting

Russell is the author of “Adventures in Leanland.” He has over 20 years experience in lean implemetation. He joined the Industry Forum in 1999 – a collaboration between car manufacturers based in the UK and the SMMT to improve the competitiveness of the UK supply chain. Under the guidance of a Japanese Toyota TPS veteran, Russell learned how to apply Lean Thinking. Subsequently he went on to develop a Lean Academy for JCB and now coaches executives wanting to introduce lean. 

Morné Fourie – General Manager, Halfway Toyota Production Centre

Morné is a qualified Toyota Master Technician. Since 2009 he has worked at Halfway Toyota initially in teh after sales area where he was introduced to Lean Thinking:

  • Repair Technician 2009 – 2010 (Toyota Pro-Technician)
  • Flow Line Service Technician (2010 – 2011)
  • Specialization Mechanical, Electrical and Technical Advisor 2011-2013 (Toyota Diagnostic Technician, Toyota Master Technician)
  • Technical Leader as part of the LEAN team That Developed that Fixed Time Service (Express Bay – 1 hour service)
  • Specialization Service Advisor 2013 – 2015 (Toyota Master Service Advisor)
  • Assisted with improvements inter department 2015
  • Workshop foreman within the fitment (Preparation) Centre 2015 – 2016
  • Hands on Problem solving (Process & Development Leader), 2nd IC to General Manager at Halfway Production Centre 2016 – 2017

In 2018 Morné was appointed General Manager of Halfway Toyota’s Production Centre that prepares over 300 new Toyota vehicles per month and delivers them just-in-time to their Johannesburg dealers.

Mike Moore – Managing Partner, Mike Moore & Associates

Mike has over 25 years’ experience managing complex and fast-moving IT projects in a variety of industry sectors including retail services, healthcare, food production, pharmaceutical, materials distribution and automotive.

The underlying principle of making the complex clear informs all of Mike’s work from coaching and mentoring to application scoping and design. He prides himself on his ability to take complex concepts and to simplify them for a non-specialist audience, as a result he is in demand as a speaker where he often lectures on project troubleshooting and governance. He is also an accredited Mediator specialising in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the commercial contracts arena.

Mike’s customers vouch for his first-class communication skills, creativity and boundless enthusiasm which make working alongside him both profitable and enjoyable.

Daniel Jones – Chairman, LEA

Daniel Jones’ mission is to inspire, encourage and mentor executives to use lean thinking to solve their business problems. He co-authored the core books on lean and writes extensively to distil and share his research on the practice of lean.

He acts as an advisor to senior management on leading lean transformations, building lean management systems and designing lean value streams. He led many proof-of-concept projects in pioneering organisations to learn how lean can address new problems. He is a keynote speaker at in-company events, management meetings and public conferences.

He helped to spread lean thinking across the automotive industry and to aerospace, construction, retailing, consumer goods, services, healthcare and government in the UK and around the world. He founded the Lean Enterprise Academy in the UK and helped establish the Lean Global Network of 18 non-profit institutes to spread lean thinking around the world.

Orest Fiume – Co-Author, Real Numbers & The Lean Strategy

Orry was Chief Financial Officer and a Director of The Wiremold Company. Wiremold gained international recognition as a leader in Lean (described in Chapter 7 of Lean Thinking.) He is co-author of “Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization” and co founded the Lean Accounting movement. In 2017 he co-authored “The Lean Strategy – Using Lean to create competitive advantage, unleash innovation, and deliver sustainable growth” with Michael Balle, Dan Jones and Jaques Chaize.

Jeff Foster – Director of Performance Improvement, San Diego Zoo Global

Jeff Foster serves as director of performance improvement for San Diego Zoo Global, and is responsible for maximizing the organization’s operational efficiency. As part of his role, Foster works to implement and maintain continuous process improvement techniques and practices at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, allowing the organization to continuously develop more effective and profitable business practices.

Foster joined San Diego Zoo Global in 2011, prior to which he served as an operational consultant within Operations Support for the North American division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. His Six Sigma and Lean experience provided insights for Starwood to improve hotel operational performance and maximize room revenue. He was also part of the 4-person team responsible for Lean program implementation at 440 properties across North America. He has over 20 years of process improvement, leadership development and coaching, and hotel operations experience with multiple hotel companies including Hyatt, Marriott, and Walt Disney Resorts. Foster is certified in Six Sigma, Lean, Organizational Capacity, and Leadership Development methodologies.

Peter Devriendt – SRS Coordinator, Scania Commercial Vehicles

Peter has been the Scania Retail System (SRS) coordinator since 2007. His team coaches and Scania retailers in the adoption of Lean Principles. Prior to this role Peter was responsible for a number of Scania service centres.