John Thomas | Senior Consultant

John has developed his ability to work as a lean Senior Consultant by working in numerous senior roles in Europe, China and Australia. This broad experience gained over more than 30 years has resulted in an unphased approach to kaizen.

John draws personal motivation from the challenges related to business transformation through lean training, implementation and coaching. He is able to transfer his motivation to the people with whom he works. Resistance to change is one of the key impediments to lean implementation and John is able to overcome such resistance.

John quickly gains trust from all key stakeholders and understands the importance of building a strong rapport with all team members regardless of their level of responsibility within an organisation. This is an essential skill which greatly influences the outcome of any business transformation journey.

An approach based on previous achievements has proven highly effective in being successful in the application of lean to drive business improvement.

John has abundant lean training, implementation and coaching experience in the automotive, whitegoods, aerospace, engineering, construction materials and mineral resource sectors.

Expertise

Lean improvement methodologies
Project management
OEE improvement
Advanced product quality planning

Experience

Tecalemit – Managing Director, Australia

Completely restructured the business by divesting the automotive product content during a 30 month project without customer disruption. Used 5S as a primary lean approach to reduce footprint, reduce lead time and increase productivity.

Johnson Controls Australia – Manufacturing Manager

Established a greenfield operation from the ground up, and recruited and trained a fantastic team of 100 people to launch the sequenced assembly (batch of one) of a complete range of interior trim systems for GM Holden. Utilized video SOP for training and created a plant-wide live visual management system to promote a whole-team approach to production. Developed a workforce proficient in the creation of pitch time diagrams and in the use of ECRS (eliminate, combine, rearrange and simplify) to continuously improve productivity and work content balance.

Electrolux– Assembly Production Manager

Coached teams comprising of operators, team leaders, supervisors and engineers in understanding current state and developing and executing future state solutions to drive improvement. During a 2 year period realised direct labour reduction of >180 FTE.

PIHA – Manufacturing Operations Manager

Introduced VSM as a key tool to enable a productivity and lead time improvement in the manufacture and fabrication of HDPE spools and fittings.

PWO – Subsidiary Project Director

Led a team of 13 project engineers to learn, implement and utilise a bespoke project management solution developed by the systems team in Germany to manage 120 live projects in China for OEMs including Mercedes, BMW, GM and Volkswagen. The system was used to manage over 3,000 projects globally. Coached the team in the use of lean methodology to reduce cost, reduce lead time and improve OEE.

Other Shinka Management Team Members