About Me

Senior Kaizen & Lean Management Consultant

James started his Lean Journey in 1997 while working for Stanley Hydraulic Tools a division of the Stanley Works and has worked very closely with Shingijutsu a Japanese Lean consulting company and has attended numerous Lean training seminars in Japan. James moved from the USA in 2003 to Europe to help lead the ESSELTE corporation in its Lean journey. He setup Lean departments in 12 manufacturing sites and 7 Logistic sites and improved the inventory turns from 3 turns to over 20 turns and freeing up over $100 million dollars in inventory at the same time improving the service to the customer. James worked directly with Art Byrne and John Childs the owners of Esselte. During his 18 years at Esselte, he ran over 6,000 workshops and trained over 10,000 employees how to use the Lean tools. James is an Industrial Engineer with over 40 years experience working in many Manufacturing environments.

Experience counts

30+ year of Lean experience by running Kaizens

Just to list a few results:
Injection Molding Changeover 4.5 hours taken to 4.5 minutes
Designed a Stapler and Staple gun assembly cell using the 3 P process from 9 operator to 1.5 operators
Setup a Raw material Pull system in 12 sites
Organized Japan Lean training for over 30 Managers

Learn more

25 years with The Stanley Works. 1989 was to sent to Japan for Lean Shop floor and Distribution training.

4 years with Eastman Kodak. I was responsible for setting up the Lean offices in Rochester, NY, Chalon, France and Xiamen, China.

18 Years with Esselte/ ACCO Brands, Europe. I setup Lean offices in 14 production sites, 8 Logistic sites, central Finance center and in 5 IT offices in Europe.

$100+ Million

Reduced inventory at Esselte.

Lean Accomplishments

Setup the Manufacturing Pull System for all Esselte sites
Ran the first Kaizen for the Stanley Works in 1985.
Reduced Liquid waste by $1.2m at Kodak.

Shingijutsu Gimba Kaizen Trainings Workshop

James has organized 14 study groups of Lean thinkers from various companies to attend the weeklong Gemba Kaizen workshop lead by Mr. Nakao in Japan. The training begins with a full-day classroom session that covers the basic lean concepts and tools required to conduct a Gemba kaizen by Mr. Nakao and other Consultants. This session is followed by a crucial and intensive four-day process improvement workshop where attendees apply what is learned in the classroom to a real factory environment. This is followed up with a visit to the Toyota Museum and a Toyota factory. This is an experience of a lifetime and a great time to learn the Lean tools outside your work environment. Contact me for more details.