Lean Leadership BASICS (PDF)

Mike Meyers has over 24 years of manufacturing experience filling a variety of leadership roles. For 17 years, Mike worked at Donnelly Corporation where he focused on mastering and implementing the Donnelly Production Sysstem (DPS) company-wide. The DPS system is a lean philosophy modeled after the Toyota Production System. Starting as a Production Supervisor and being promoted to positions of Manufacturing Manager, Operations Manager and Plant Manager, Mike developed his skills for continuous improvement through a combination of comprehensive training sessions and shop floor experiences. He used these techniques and his distinct ability to work with teams to drive change and successfully turn around non-performing plants. Mike managed the benchmark production plant at Donnelly based on successful implementation of Lean Systems. Mike also supervised the start-up and expansion of a "Greenfield" facility while managing multiple consecutive and concurrent major models launches. During this period, plants he managed were awarded Toyota's coveted "Most Improved Supplier of the Year" award based on implementation of Lean Systems and were the subject of a worldwide benchmarking tour looking for Lean best practices by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Mike's primary focus over the past 7 years has been applying Lean at underperforming or distressed organizations, assisting them in either focused process improvement events or providing them with crisis or interim management. His knowledge and understanding of all levels of the manufacturing world give him a unique perspective and range of expertise to assist companies in ensuring that they emphasize speed, sustainability, team work, alignment, structure and a disciplined approach to implementation of a complete system. Charles Protzman spent over 13 years with AlliedSignal and has a total of 32 years experience in Materials and Operations Management. The first Lean Master and a Strategic Operations Manager for