David Shiplett is a Corporate and Plant Lean Leader with over 35 years’ experience in leading, coaching and managing all phases of plant and enterprise Lean/Six Sigma deployment. He has helped 4 global manufacturing companies strategically transform from a traditional manufacturing posture to a flexible, responsive and customer-centered organization. His experience spans the nuclear, chemical, commercial / home appliance and home furnishings industries.

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In these transformations, David used the normal Lean toolkit (5S, Visual Factory, VSM, SMED, Standard Work, 3P, TPM, Kanban, PDCA, Line Balancing, and One-Piece Flow) as well as some more advanced applications such as 3P, TRIZ, PFEP, and Extended Supply Chain Fulfillment. These improvements were implemented using events such as Kaizen, workout sessions, and DMAIC.

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Prior to joining The ProAction Group, David was the North America Lean Leader for a major appliance company, responsible for implementing lean manufacturing principles in 9 plants, in 3 countries. He provided leadership, coaching, assessment and corrective action to improve production performance and achieve cost savings, stability, and sustainable profitability. His expertise and training allowed the company to see inventory reductions, increased throughput and YoY cost savings.

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As the Corporate Lean Leader for a global chemical company, David analyzed a $12M demurrage problem that had been plaguing the company for years. Through a four-month series of scheduling and capacity events, he was able to identify and eliminate 96% of the annual waste and posted a $11.7M savings.

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David has a BA in International Business Studies from University of South Carolina and a masters in Adult Learning Theory from Gordon-Conwell / Boston University. He has certifications in Toyota Production Systems training, Lean Enterprise Practitioner and Six Sigma Master Black Belt from the University of Missouri – Rolla and Project Management (PMI Body of Knowledge) from the US Army.