Patrick Ferguson is an eighteen (18) year veteran of contract business improvement following his tenure as a Senior Engineer and Cost Reduction Program Specialist for Newell-Rubbermaid, Inc.He holds a Materials Science and Engineering degree from North Carolina State University. Patrick is an expert trainer and implementation specialist in:Profit Improvement, Management by Data, Lean Manufacturing, Problem Solving, Kaizen, Quality Systems, Waste Analysis and Countermeasures, Program Management, Operations Management, Cost Reduction, Product Development and Visual Factory/5S.He is the author of a complete book of business improvement tools entitled "The Science of Business Improvement: Visual Management by Data for Profit Maximization", April 2010.He has completed over one hundred twenty (120) formal projects in twenty three (23) U.S. states and six (6) countries. Patrick is the co-author of a complete ISO TS: 16949 Operating System (automotive supplier level) with visual compliance mapping.His industry experience has included industrial, consumer goods, durable goods, automotive suppliers, health care, distribution, electronics, computer hardware, food and medical.Prior to his work in contract business improvement, Patrick was a published scientist in metallurgy, a product engineer and inventor, a contract manufacturing specialist, and an operations manager in composites manufacturing.Specialties: Profit Improvement, Kaizen, waste reduction, lean training, 5S, Value Stream Mapping, Lean Layout, Balanced Production, Standard Work, Setup Reduction, restructuring, quality, visual scheduling.