Probing LEAN Space with Dave Tucker

Dave Tucker

Dave Tucker – Director, LSS Initiatives
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt

Most companies have the same basic question they are trying to answer from a model project.  How can I make more stuff quicker?  Whether it is manufacturing, government, healthcare, or most any other industry, they all want to get more items through their processes faster and often they want to do it with fewer resources.  That’s the climate we are in now.  Everyone has to do more with less.

I have observed that many problems in Manufacturing can be directly attributed to having too much WIP.  Excess WIP inventory ties up money, creates the need for storage, increases cycle time, reduces throughput, and wastes Resources time.  But Managers want to keep everyone busy so they allow more work to be introduced into their systems instead of looking for Lean ways to better manage the “pull” of work.  Companies that learn to control the amount of WIP to meet their orders always do better financially then other companies that continually flood the workplace with inventory.

So I get excited when a model shows some new information that a company has never seen or understood before.  When they can see the process waste, understand how to remove it and implement the plan – that’s a great thing.

Check out Dave’s work on the Space Shuttle Program with United Space Alliance and NASA…. 

ABOUT DAVE

Dave Tucker is ProModel’s Director of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Initiatives and also serves as a Senior Management Consultant and Project Manager.  He assists our clients primarily by providing simulation training, model consulting services, and LSS implementation advice.  Prior to joining ProModel, Dave was the Lead Lean Six Sigma (L6S) Master Black Belt at United Space Alliance (USA), located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  USA is the prime contractor to NASA responsible for the Space Shuttle Program.

Dave has over 25 years’ experience leading teams, mentoring employees, solving problems, conducting training, and improving operations. He has led more than forty Kaizen Events, completed dozens of process simulation modeling projects, conducted hundreds of training sessions, facilitated over two hundred Belts & Team Leaders, and assisted with the implementation of numerous process improvements saving millions of dollars.

Dave has an extensive background in numerous process improvement tools utilized in Lean Six Sigma DMAIC & DMEDI approaches, as well as Kaizen team methods and process simulation modeling.  He has about 14 years’ experience using ProModel process simulation modeling tools for process improvement.  In addition, he is a sought after speaker and has made many well-received presentations at Process Improvement, Simulation, Industrial Engineering, and Aerospace Conferences.  He has a BSBA in Management from the University of Central Florida.  Dave is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Certified Master Black Belt.

The Great Geek Debate – Who Shot First?

Troy Taysom – ProModel Development

In the technology world I’m ancient.  I was alive during the Vietnam War—enough said.  When I started my career at ProModel, two and a half years ago, it was a major change for me.  I had worked with technology but never in technology.   I knew that I would have to learn a new vocabulary but I had no idea the extent to which my language skills would be tested.  My first day in the office a raging debate was taking place about Star Wars and Jedi powers, superheroes and video games and which ones were more powerful.  The words that my fellow employees were using were English but it might as well have been Klingon.  Luckily for me, I have three teenage sons and I texted them furiously for translations to what I was hearing.  Hey, what’s a rogue?  Is getting ganked bad?  Do I need to join a guild?  Did episode 4 really get made before episode 1? Are Marvel superheroes better than D.C. superheroes?  Who should I say is my favorite superhero?  Can Batman defeat Spiderman? MMO, RPG, was I back in the army?   My confusion was overwhelming.  Apparently this type of knowledge is required to work in the bowels of the software development world.  I studied feverishly at home with my sons.  I needed to know what WOW was and RL.  Who shot first Han or Guido?  These facts were absolutely vital to my survival in this new world. I also didn’t realize that being called a geek was just fine with them, in fact they call themselves geeks; not to be confused with nerds those are the accounting guys.  As time passed I found out that WoW is World of Warcraft and RL is real life.  I even own my own superhero tee-shirt now—Aquaman, I like being different. Getting ganked is bad and I’m a rogue.  Guilds are clubs and yes Lucas made the episodes of Star Wars out of order.  And no matter what George Lucas says—Han shot first.