DLW PARTNERS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• General Manager

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive

Lininger is a native of Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering. Chuck lives in Florida with wife, Ginger and they have one son Mark, who is married with two children. Chuck's hobbies include golf, fly fishing, muscle cars and homebrewing beer.

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Managing Partner
• President

David Westphal founded DLW Partners, LLC in early 2009, just as the most recent recession peaked. This period of recession was the most dramatic reduction in consumer spending, employment contraction and job loss since the Great Depression of 1929. In 2008 and 2009, the U.S. labor market lost 8.4 million jobs or 6.1% of all payroll employment. Wanting to make a positive difference in North America and disheartened by the trend of manufacturing offshoring (which compounded the recession problem), David began with a mission to transform organizations through lean. David was already well prepared for the job, having trained under some of the leading minds in operational excellence and lean, most notably Mr. Tom Harada of Toyota. He also honed his leadership skills on a tough playing field of North American automotive manufacturing. David developed an exceptional industry reputation for leading large-scale manufacturing operation restructuring and turnarounds. During his formative years, he was tasked with fixing some of the most troubled manufacturing operations within GM and Delphi: In 2006, David led the single largest North American improvement and restructuring effort in history for the then Delphi Automotive, Saginaw Division. With Tom's guidance and continued mentoring, David began the process of working with additional companies, helping them achieve transformational performance change for the better-a task he is still driven to do today.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Lean Implementation Leader

Dave started his lean career as a General Motors Supervisor for Saginaw Steering in Michigan. David held various leadership roles in production, quality, and logistics in his 37+ years with the organization. While Dave was working with General Motors, he received training at the New United Motors Venture (NUMMI) in Fremont California. David participated in two lean development projects (1) Supply chain project involving identifying local sourcing to reduce costs. (2) Manning vs. automation improvements and identifying optimum solutions using both. David also did a 2.5 year Lean Development assignment at Akebono Corporation in Elizabethtown Kentucky. At this joint venture, David worked with Toyota leadership on implementing lean principles on projects supporting Georgetown Assembly operations. Dave then worked for (3) years at Brose Corporation as the Lean Manufacturing manager for their Tuscaloosa Alabama Plant. Dave has been a Lean Implementation Leader with DLW-Partners for the last 5 years. David makes his home in both Florida and Michigan with his wife and enjoys golfing and boating.

Job Titles:

• Manufacturing Manager
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Lean Implementation Leader

Deb Liefer has over 40 years of manufacturing experience. Her career in manufacturing started in the automotive industry as a frontline Supervisor responsible for 50 employees working on various equipment and assembly processes. As a traditional "get er done"- "traditional manufacturing" leader, she accepted any challenge presented, worked hard, and excelled at leading teams through many automotive launches and changes. Deb never missed a chance to learn from mistakes and continued Leadership and team-building development through self-learning, classes, seminars, and school of hard knocks. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor's of Business Operations Management Degree while working full time. Lean was introduced in the late 1980s through intense training sessions with Japanese consultants our Leader at that time brought in for training. Deb volunteered for every opportunity to participate and took the knowledge to her teams where she had to learn new skills for team opposition to creating change. Realizing that in order to create and implement change, behaviors had to change and had to start with herself. She had to learn how to lead through knowledge to improvement and not the traditional way of leading and "walk the talk". One of Deb's strengths is the ability to gain trust and alliance from team members and associates. She is adept at recognizing ability of team members and developing them. Having been taught and experiencing success with team participation she was able to create significant improvements in productivity, quality, and morale. Eventually, Deb became the Manufacturing Manager and then the Lean Improvement Facilitator for 6 sites including Mexico and Spain. She was responsible for all improvement strategy that included all the Lean tools, Kaizen's, and yearly goals along with team member development and engagement. Another of Deb's strengths is change management. Because she is able to quickly assess culture, processes and can "see" the site realities time is not wasted and a plan can be presented and implemented quickly. After 20 years Deb became a successful full-time coach. Most of her work was from a network of peers, referrals, and associates that had experienced her strengths. Some of the industries included furniture, boat building, service bodies and mounting, pharmaceutical, medical devices, distribution, and medical facilities to mention a few.

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Team
• Lean Implementation Leader / Welding Specialist

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Team
• Lean Implementation Leader

Jason started his career as an Occupational Therapist for a large healthcare system in East Tennessee. Through his 19 years with the organization, he held multiple leadership roles in operations with a heavy emphasis on team growth and development, financial performance, and patient outcomes. While Jason was responsible for the rehabilitation services of a secondary hospital, skilled nursing facility, and outpatient rehabilitation clinic, he was appointed Lean Facilitator for the outpatient service line. This appointment was granted based on his history of performance improvement, relentless pursuit of improved patient outcomes, and the daily challenge of what "good" looked like. Over the next two years, he received intense training and mentorship from multiple Lean Sensei. This was a pivotal moment in his career as it opened his eyes to a formal methodology and toolset that proved to be successful in most all situations and challenges. He used that opportunity to invest in others through A3 thinking, rapid Kaizen events, performance sustainability, program development, and leadership development. This growth led to an opportunity, Director of Continuous Improvement, to initiate efforts and build a continuous improvement team for a large financial institution. He has experience using Lean methodology in multiple healthcare segments, including durable medical equipment, orthotics and prosthetics, wound care, sleep laboratory, rehabilitation services, patient access, and revenue cycle. Jason resides in east Tennessee with his wife and three children. He enjoys outdoor recreational activities and experiences.

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Member of the Executive Team
• Senior Executive
• Senior Executive, Life Sciences

During his 35-year professional career, Keith has fixed an enormously wide variety of problems in pharmaceutical, medical device, and cell+gene therapy manufacturing as well as industrial chemical manufacturing and R&D. Keith grew up on a farm; he has been fixing and building things since he was old enough to hold a screwdriver. He also knows how much hard work, diligence, and patience is required to help things grow from seeds to maturity. Before he graduated high school, Keith started his professional career as a co-op student in Dow Corning's Analytical R&D labs. He went on to earn an international award-winning Ph.D. in analytical chemistry, specializing in solving problems in the commercial manufacture of single crystals of electro-optical materials using, in part, the exact same tools he first used at Dow Corning. Since then, his scientific expertise has expanded to also include manufacturing, quality, engineering, coding, regulatory compliance, influencing government policy, management, and three entrepreneurial endeavors. Two characteristics remained constant throughout this journey: team leadership, and problem-solving. Keith's reputation is simple: if you have a manufacturing problem, then you want Keith to lead your team to fix it. Why? Because from the executive leadership perspective, he is a straight-shooting Level 5 leader who understands the importance of putting people first and strategy second, and he thinks, plans, and acts accordingly. (-Jim Collins, Good to Great). From the "There's hard work to be done" perspective, Keith is a relentless hands-on / eyes-on / ears-on problem-solver who helps his team believe in themselves, solve their problems as a team, and get across the finish line as a team. Teamwork means equity in Keith's perspective, and that's why in 2000, he became the first male member of Lubrizol's Women In Technology advocacy group. With such a people-first mentality, it's not surprising that so many of his co-workers-past and present-say "I'll work with him anytime, anywhere, any project." Today, Keith fixes technical, business, regulatory compliance and quality problems at the executive level, at the individual contributor level, and everything in between. Keith has been trained in twenty-five different quality systems; consequently, he knows painfully well the good, the bad, and the ugly in quality management. Keith has participated in and/or led remediation of aging life sciences manufacturing facilities as well as design, commissioning, qualification, and validation (CQV) of new facilities. Keith has also participated in and/or led remediation efforts for FDA Consent Decrees (3), Warning Letters (9), and 483's (many); as such he understands the urgency, the pain, and the practical economics driving these difficult situations. Keith's personal long-term goal is to end critical drug shortages. To that end, Keith works with dozens of other top executives and SMEs from nearly 200 prominent life science supply chain and customer organizations who are members of the End Drug Shortages Alliance (EDSA), a new but well-respected and high-visibility industry organization. Keith volunteers his time leading the Albuterol Supply Readiness project as part of the EDSA's Supply Readiness Committee. He also does whatever he can to support his friends who run a non-profit pediatric oncology and drug shortages advocacy group called Angels for Change, a group led by one of CNN's 2023 Champions of Change, Dr. Laura Bray. When Keith finally steps away from work, he loves to grill, host neighborhood gatherings with his wife, and attend live theater performances (frontstage and backstage). In a throwback to his childhood days on the farm, Keith also enjoys doing the hard manual labor that makes his home's yard and landscaping the envy of his neighborhood.

Job Titles:

• Senior Administrative Partner

Lori Westphal co-founded DLW Partners, LLC in 2009 with her husband, David. She is a natural-born problem solver and lean thinker, able to work efficiently in and out of the office. As a first-generation college student and one of two college graduates among her siblings, Lori values persistence, hard work, and optimism. Lori's corporate experience spans from the boardroom to the back office and she serves the vital role of keeping all things administrative running smoothly for the DLW Partners team and their clients. "Honesty and integrity are paramount. We value those attributes in our team and clients above all others." With more than a decade of experience in a Fortune 50 organization, as well as numerous other volunteer and civic groups, Lori is well equipped to handle client engagements and needs. Since founding DLW Partners LLC in 2009, David and Lori Westphal have organized an impressive, knowledgeable executive team including the members below.

Job Titles:

• Senior Partner

Ron Taylor wants to make a positive difference in North America manufacturing and is disheartened by the trend of manufacturing offshoring. He is an executive with +30 years experience inspiring clarity of an organization's customer value-driven purpose and hot spots; transformative change and innovation; a culture of continuous improvement; and breakthrough results. He has worked as an Interim Executive and Business Transformation, Operational Excellence and Leadership Development Consultant for numerous worldwide companies from 500 to +10,000 employees in manufacturing, distribution, service industries, and healthcare. Ron has spent the past 18 years learning and applying a "hands-on" "learn-by-doing" approach from CEO to frontline transformations to highly customized versions of the Toyota Production System. Transformations conducted with the purpose of harnessing benefits from freeing up hidden capacity, changing cost structure and enhancing customer value. Ron is especially strong at flow and system kaizen and at the cultural side of OpEx/Lean transformation. The first 14 years of Ron's career entailed steady progress through hourly, trades, maintenance supervisor, engineering manager, production manager, launch leader, and facility manager. In 12 of those 14 years, he implemented lean manufacturing transformation at Johnson Controls plants that received both recognition as a high performing Toyota Supplier, Chairman's Award and the Shingo Award.

Mr. Tomo (Tom) Harada, started working for Toyota in 1964 in the production engineering department. Tom had no graduate school, no technical degree, no specialization and no title. At this time in history, General Motors annual vehicle production was 100 times the volume of Toyota's annual production. Mr. Taichi Ohno set the first vision and target to be one of the "Big-3" for the Toyota team. In early 1965, Tom moved to the famed "Ohno Plant" known as Kamigo Powertrain. It was there that at this time that Mr. Taiichi Ohno, known today as the father of the modern Toyota Production System or TPS was the plant manager and Director of Toyota. It was here that Tom started on his journey of Genchi Genbutsu. Assigned to the engineering staff under Ohno's direction, Tom specialized in the areas of equipment performance and stability. From 1965-1975, the capability of the Kamigo plant increased rapidly, and the plant, and Ohno began to become famous for the production efficiency, quality and technology they were achieving. In 1970-75 Tom was made responsible for the various transmission production lines and from 1975 to 1980 Tom was charged to oversee the "Crown Engine" production line. In the mid-1980s, Tom was tasked to oversee an engine plant launch in Australia. In the latter 1980s, Tom was instrumental in the startup of Toyotas largest overseas engine facility in Georgetown Kentucky. Tom continued his work until 1992, when he started a company to provide specialized equipment and engineering for Toyota that was needed for ongoing global expansion. In his career with Toyota, "Kamigo Engine Tom" earned the highest respect of the leadership of Toyota and learned and worked under one of the most influential leaders in the history of modern manufacturing. Tom is one of the last living direct connections to Ohno, and his wealth and depth of knowledge in manufacturing is unprecedented. Tom was often regularly dispatched during the course of his career to overseas equipment manufacturing companies for the purpose of studying machine tools and methods It was from the American and Japanese machine tool makers that Tom learned a great deal about machining, and process capabilities. Tom used this knowledge to improve Toyota equipment uptime, scrap, and reliability metric performance. He was also instrumental in helping to improve Japanese equipment and manufacturing technologies such that they eventually exceeded western capabilities. In 1998, Dave, Tom, and John Shook first met, at Delphi Automotive, and have worked together now for more than 20 years. Indeed Ohno's Hoshin and goal was on target - as of today, Toyota is number 1 in vehicle production globally.

Job Titles:

• Advisor