Stories of Leadership, Lean, and Learning
I had many stops in my corporate career. I worked in furniture, ceiling grid, ceiling tile, ceramic tile, and vinyl flooring all over the world. My most challenging assignment was working for Dal-Tile in Dallas Texas. I was the environmental, health, safety, mining, and industrial engineering liaison for the twelve manufacturing locations around the country.
Read MoreHere’s a mining story from my time at Dal-Tile that involves blowing up a hill!
Read MoreI was the Industrial Engineering manager at a ceramic tile factory in western New York for two years. During that time, I participated in many improvement projects. As a member of staff, I was responsible for various administrative and plant coverage duties. One of the most critical responsibilities I had was holiday coverage for the tile firing and curing process.
Read MoreIn 2005, I was working in the central engineering group for Armstrong in Lancaster PA. One day, while I was sitting in my cubicle, the CEO of our division came up to me and told me that he needed my help at our newly acquired cabinet plant in Auburn Nebraska. I asked him what help I could provide. He looked at me and said, “Fix it – you’ll know what I mean when you get there.”
Read MoreIn 2005, I was asked to help a team reduce the changeover time of a painting operation at a ceiling tile manufacturing plant in Oregon. The approach I used was SMED – Single Minute Exchange of Die. The goal was to reduce the existing changeover time by 50% or more, while improving the safety of the work.
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