danvermeesch@micronmfg.net
Direct #: 616.735.1085

• Lean Champion
• Plant Leader
• Fish Fry Guy
• ISO Representative

I started in June, 1996, wandering aimlessly looking for general ways to cut waste, define responsibilities and establish a culture of accountability. You can imagine how well all that went over coming from a guy with a degree in electrical engineering (from Michigan Tech University), 5 years of experience in aerospace electronics, 2 in commercial electronics and zip, zero, none in precision machining.

In October, 1997, I was put in the position of plant manager and immediately started to look for ways to eliminate my job (I was successful about 2 years ago, but don’t tell my boss, shhhh). In 1999, as ISO rep, I led the company through certification.

In late 2000 we officially kicked off our lean journey. Since then I’ve facilitated the management team, which is responsible for development and deployment of the company’s strategic plan and company-wide key performance indicators. I also facilitate the weekly production team meetings and audit the daily 5-minute huddles.

In 2009 we were awarded the Shingo Silver Medallion for Operational Excellence - one of only 19 companies on the planet.

Since 2005 I’ve been a member of the Precision Machined Products Association’s (PMPA) Technical Programming Committee (2009 as chairman of the committee) responsible for developing content for the annual National Technical Conference. Since 2006 I’ve given about a dozen speeches across our great nation, typically focusing on creating a lean culture, reducing set up time, blah, blah blah…

This is startin’ to sound a bit like a resume…hmmmm.