BOSTON—Goodyear will be among companies presenting at the upcoming Northeast L.E.A.N. Conference, Oct. 1-2 at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, Mass.
Hosting the 10th annual L.E.A.N. Conference is the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership Inc., a not-for-profit organization with the mission to help U.S. companies “implement the philosophies and tools of continuous improvement to enable them to compete profitably in the global economy,” according to GBMP.
Billy Ray Taylor, director of Commercial Manufacturing North America for Goodyear, will present the conference's opening keynote address. GBMP describes him as “a visionary leader with more than 20 years of experience in all phases of manufacturing management and leadership.
“He has been repeatedly called upon to implement improvement strategies in under-performing operations, to improve production efficiency and employee engagement.”
As plant manager for Goodyear's 2.2 million sq.-ft. consumer tire manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, N.C., Taylor “was instrumental in improving performance across all areas of production efficiency, labor costs, quality and safety,” GBMP said. In June 2012, he was appointed director of commercial manufacturing for Goodyear and oversees operations at four commercial tire manufacturing plants in Buffalo, N.Y.; Danville, Va.; Social Circle, Ga.; and Topeka, Kan.
Others participating in the conference include:
• Jamie Bonini, vice president of TSSC (Toyota Production System Support Center Inc.) at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., who will present the conference's closing keynote.
• Kim Barnas, senior vice president of ThedaCare and president of Appleton Medical Center; and
• Russ Scaffede, retired vice president of manufacturing for Toyota Motor Manufacturing and Toyoda Boshuku U.S.A.
Conference organizers said the event is focused on “providing today's process improvement and operational excellence professionals with interactive learning, not only from the outstanding roster of world class keynotes, but also from peers from an impressive list of American companies, including Whirlpool, IBM, MillerCoors, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and others, who will share their stories and provide valuable takeaways from their Lean journeys.”
GBMP is located in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston.