The best practices case study portion of the LMU4 portion will be Tuesday, May 24, and Wednesday, May 25.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Rex Gallaher, former manager USPS Maintenance Technical Support Center
Rex Gallaher, the former manager of the United States Postal Service's (USPS) Maintenance Technical Support Center and one of the most respected people in the maintenance community, will provide a keynote address. Gallaher retired from the USPS in 2004 and currently runs an education and training company based in Washington. 

While with the USPS, Gallaher oversaw its Maintenance Technical Support Center, a Norman, Oklahoma-based hub that provides methods, documentation, technology and processes to optimize the field maintenance operations at all USPS processing facilities. MTSC annually has responsibility for depot repair of 150,000 assemblies.

Gallaher, the 2001 winner of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' coveted Frederick P. Smarro Award, will speak on the importance of skills and personal development in a lean program. "Respect for people" and "the maximization of human capital" are two of the most important (and forgotten) drivers in a lean system. While many believe they actively engage in seeking solutions from their human capital, proactive thinkers such as Gallaher stress identifying the root cause of how to unleash true potential.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Mike Burmood, technology and infrastructure manager, facility services, Raytheon Company. Mike Burmood oversees all technology and infrastructure issues for the facility services organization at Raytheon's 3 million-square-foot missile systems site in Tucson, Ariz. Burmood will present a case study on that plant's use of agile and Six Sigma techniques in its maintenance operations.

Marme Peerman, maintenance area coordinator, Alcoa
Marme Peerman has played a key role as Alcoa's Warrick Operations in Newburgh, Ind., changed its maintenance strategy from two-day weekend outages to multiple, weekday short-burst outages on a production center that moved from a continuous operation to a customer-demand (pull system) operation.

"One of the resounding themes in the manufacturing arena in the early 21st century is the need for rapid and effective change," states Peerman. "The application of lean manufacturing concepts is a cornerstone providing a systematic approach to sustain required changes and add flexibility to new concepts."

Warren Landry Jr., total productive management coordinator, Ogihara America Corp.
Landry was instrumental in Ogihara-Alabama winning the 2003 Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance Award for TPM Excellence. He is also helping the division pursue the Alabama Quality Award as well as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Ogihara America is a Tier 1 supplier to Mercedes Benz, Saturn and Nissan.

"This is a six-year road map that I know we are able to achieve," says Landry. "A workforce that keeps the 'end in mind' obtains its goals."

Dr. Jay Lee, director of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Lee is the founding director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) on Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS), a multi-campus NSF Center of Excellence between the University of Cincinnati and the University of Michigan. He leads a team to develop frontier remote monitoring and prognostics technologies and tools for near-zero-breakdown productivity. The center is supported by a diversified list of companies including Rockwell Automation, GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Harley-Davidson, Intel, UTC, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Omron, etc.

Robert M. Williamson, president, Strategic Work Systems, Greenville, S.C.
Bob is a consultant, award-winning author and educator of Strategic Work Systems for modern manufacturing. His 30 years of experience with the people side of manufacturing operations and maintenance improvement spans well over 250 companies and plant locations in the U.S., Jamaica, Canada, South America and Saudi Arabia. For more than a decade, Bob has studied NASCAR racing as a model for improving the way people work together and focus on improving equipment performance.

Mark Frogley, maintenance strategy specialist, SKF Reliability Systems
Mark Frogley is currently a Maintenance Strategy Specialist with SKF Reliability Systems. Mark has had 20 years experience working in the field of machine reliability. During this time, Mr. Frogley has worked in industries including Marine, Pulp & Paper, Power, Mineral processing and has recently been focused on manufacturing.  Mr. Frogley has implemented maintenance management systems, preventative maintenance programs, predictive maintenance programs and industrial decision support systems. Recently, Mr. Frogley has been focused on implementing Asset Management strategies. These strategies utilize all elements of current, evolving technologies coupled with refined processes and methods that recognize the existing manufacturing culture. The objectives are a release of hidden or unrealized process capacity while simultaneously reducing manufacturing costs.

Elton Ebersole, associate manager – reliability centered maintenance, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Elton has over 36 years experience in industrial maintenance management.  He has been instrumental in the set-up of Maintenance Best Practices in many industries.  Elton has expertise in CMMS Implementation, Business Process Mapping, Zero-Based Budgeting, Planning & Scheduling and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.  He is presently the Associate Manager – RCM for Bristol-Myers Squibb – Wallingford – Central New Jersey Region. Elton has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management, both from Kennedy-Western University.  He is also a Certified Maintenance Reliability Professional from SMRP.

Dennis Constantinou, Senior Director, Life Sciences, Oracle Corporation
Dennis Constantinou is senior director of life sciences industry strategy & marketing at Oracle Corporation.  With more than 25 years of experience in the life science industry, his background has been focused on marketing and sales management and business development. Prior to Oracle, Dennis was vice president of global marketing for Metagenics, a biotechnology- based neutraceutical company where he developed and directed the company’s global marketing product plans. At Toshiba, he developed marketing programs and procedures that focused on customer satisfaction and retention.  He managed new product launches, product positioning and the development of marketing and sales collaterals, as well as oversaw pricing and contract policies.

Dave Melhus, vice president, Simpler, Pella, Iowa
Dave has applied Toyota Production Systems principles in a myriad of industries. His lean skills were developed at Hon Industries while holding positions of plant manager, general manager and VP. Before joining Simpler, Dave was executive VP of operations for Vermeer Manufacturing. Simpler has become the world¹s largest and fastest-growing lean-focused consulting company by holding itself accountable for helping its clients achieve lasting, measurable results and a culture of never-ending improvement. The company learned from the original key members of Toyota's Autonomous Study Group.

Enrique Mora, TPM
Enrique Mora has many years of experience in direct supervision of assembly operations and plant maintenance. He has planned and implement Kaizen events, 5S Workshops, cellular manufacturing, SMEC, TPM and ZQC. He is a certified consultant on TPM and Lean manufacturing. He is currently associated with or subcontracting for the California Manufacturing Technologies Center, the California Training Cooperative, the Marshall Institute, Anitech Inc., Bbasics LLC and Methods, Organization Resources and Achievement LLC.