Jim Thomas Email & Phone Number

PO Box 345, Burgin, KY 40310 USA

Assembled and managing a team of Lean Manufacturing Experts, or Sensei, to implement Lean manufacturing for clients within the U. S. and internationally.Custom designs Lean Manufacturing that meets client’s requirements. Advise clients on strategic planning for Lean Manufacturing implementation. Coach the client’s top management on their new roles and.

Elkridge, MD

• Principal consultant to Ford Motor Company to design and launch the Ford Production System in 163 Ford assembly plants, power train plants, and automotive component plants around the world.
• Assembled and managed a team of 75 Lean Manufacturing consultants to assist Ford with the conversion to Lean Manufacturing in the following areas: United States Canada Mexico South America Europe Australia Asia
• Principal consultant to Chrysler implementing the Chrysler Operating System
• Assembled and managed a team of Lean Manufacturing consultants to help Chrysler implement the Chrysler Operating System in their plants.

Versailles, KY

• Managed the implementation of Lean Manufacturing at Kuhlman Electric, an electrical distribution transformer manufacturing company.
• Reduced manufacturing lead-time from 26 weeks to 5 days from order to delivery.
• This was UAW union plant.Reduced lead time from 26 weeks to 5 days. Reduced inventory by 90%. Improved productivity by 25 %.

Mount Sterling, KY

• An Automotive window supplier for Toyota and Honda
• Started up and managed this lean plant to supply windows to Toyota and HondaImproved the Toyota customer reject rate from 23,000 PPM to 0 PPM, and improved the Honda customer reject rate from 744 PPM to 0 PPM. One.

Kingston, Tennessee

Responsible for the engineering and technical support for a plant that burns low-level radioactive liquid mixed waste. Responsible for the redesign of the plant to meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation on “burning hazardous waste in boilers and industrial furnaces”. This is the only plant certified by the EPA to process.

Fayetteville, Arkansas Area

• Plant Manager – K D Tools Plant, Fayetteville, ARPlant Manager – Gastonia, NC PlantPlant Manager – Springdale, AR Plant
• Trained with retired Toyota masters that helped Taiichi Ohno develop the Toyota Production System.
• Freed up enough space in one plant to move the packing and distribution operation for the whole company into one plant.
• Reduced inventory from $44,000,000 to $11,000,000 and improved on time delivery.Improved productivity by 25%. Reduced inventory by 50%. Implemented a Kanban system within the plant and with suppliers.

Frankort, KY

• A joint venture company with Nissan family company and an American Company
• Learned the Nissan Production System from the Nissan masters
• Managed this joint venture operation and supplied Nissan in the U.S.
• Trained in Japan with the Nissan masters.

Lexington, Kentucky Area

• A joint venture company with Toyota Auto Body and Johnson Controls supplying seat sets to Toyota just-in-time and just-in-sequence.
• Helped start up and managed this joint venture company.
• Ishikawa the president of this joint venture company helped Taiichi Ohno develop the Toyota Production System.
• Learned the Toyota Production System from this Toyota masters.