Does your Lean Culture Match your Lean Strategy?
It’s the Culture, not just the tools!

Of all the lean skills required and adopted for lean success, lean leadership and lean culture is often ignored or minimized. John Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Ross Controls, continues to make the right moves for the right reasons and has succeeded in successfully transforming

Ross Controls into a global lean organization through some of the most difficult times in its long history. In this session, John in his own pragmatic and engaging manner, will document the cultural road less traveled.

John G. Smith, Chief Operating Officer

John is the Chief Operating Officer for Ross Controls, an international manufacturer of pneumatic directional control valves. John has over twenty-five years of experience in real world senior management, including holding the positions of CFO and COO. John first introduced the philosophies of a Lean Enterprise in Ross North American Manufacturing. With demonstrated success in North American Manufacturing, he applied the Lean precept into the General and Administrative Operations as well as all of Ross’s six overseas operations.

John’s responsibilities have included opening a seventh subsidiary operation in Shanghai, China in February 2006 where he introduced Lean as a part of the start-up operation.

In addition to his responsibilities at Ross, John has given presentations at Clemson University and Oakland University, teaching a class on Lean Accounting at Oakland University.