Kirk

    Kirk’s main focus is in policy deployment and lean transformation at companies.  Fifteen years ago Kirk began work with Donnelly in Michigan, USA. He worked directly for a former Toyota executive and received a much deeper exposure to a lean production system while at Donnelly. After leading a lean transformation at one of the plants, he then lead a lean transformation at a major outboard engine OEM Plant (100,000 sq. meters and 1200 IAM organized team members), including introduction and implementation of a Policy Deployment tool in the Main Plant to ensure alignment of goals and objectives. 

    Kirk was Vice President of North American Operations at the 7^th largest Tier 1 automotive supplier in the world. In this role Kirk was responsible for day to day operations, as well as Industrial Strategy, industrialization of new programs and Continuous Improvement. Several plants were recognized for their lean deployment. Additionally, Policy Deployment was introduced into the Operations team and then the rest of the North America Division. Kirk was a member of the Company Senior Management Team, participate in an advanced Global Leadership Program (GLP III) at INSEAD international business school in Fountainbleu, France. Additionally, Kirk was the first Operations Leader to successfully complete the Production System development process launched in the company (out of 32 VPs Operations).

    Kirk’s progression to various Leadership positions within manufacturing roles, including Production Supervisor (4 years), Production Manager (1 year), Plant Manager (17 years), Director of Operations (2 years), and Vice President of Operations (7 years). His skilled trades certification, combined with a B.S. in Business Administration undergraduate degree, completion of the Global Leadership Program (GLP III) at INSEAD Business School (Fountainbleu, France), and various benchmark training programs (i.e. DuPont Safety, Toyota Supplier Support Center) has equipped Kirk to provide leadership resulting in meaningfully improved performance results. DuPont equipped Kirk to lead strong Safety results, and the Toyota training drove home the basic tenets of Lead time reduction, and level production.