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Kevin Meyer

Kevin has over 35 years of manufacturing leadership experience in the automotive lighting, telecom electronics, and medical device industries. He has been responsible for lean transformations at Sylvania, Abbott Laboratories, Newport Corporation, and most recently as President of Specialty Silicone Fabricators. He guest lectures on business, manufacturing, and leadership topics at his alma mater Rensselaer as well as CalPoly.

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101 Articles
new perspectives

Uncovering New Perspectives

By Kevin Meyer - April 9th, 2021

We often talk about the importance of getting “out of the box” to supposedly free ourselves of bias and be better at making informed decisions and capitalize on new opportunities.  In reality, we often just barely ease our

aging neuroscience memory

Neuroscience Reframes Aging

By Kevin Meyer - March 12th, 2021

Exactly a year ago my wife and I were in Hawaii and I was trading emails back and forth with a few colleagues speculating on the impact of the virus on our businesses, conferences, and lives.  We returned to California the day before

Humble Questions Before Setting Direction

By Kevin Meyer - February 12th, 2021

I’ve long been a fan of Ed Schein, and his book Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling is one of my favorite leadership books.  I wrote about Schein several years ago and a colleague recently pointed me to

Norman Bodek

Norman Bodek and Respect for People

By Kevin Meyer - December 11th, 2020

Yesterday I learned of the passing of Norman Bodek and I have been reflecting on the impact this great man had on my life and career – and the lean and business world in general. A quarter century ago I was a new operations manag

Stop

Time to Stop

By Kevin Meyer - October 9th, 2020

As we approach the arbitrary end of the year, many organizations are beginning the planning cycle for next year.  Part of that process should be identifying what projects and activities should be stopped, for several reasons – p

Infographic: 5 Best Practices for Online Learning

By Kevin Meyer - September 12th, 2020

Gemba Academy’s latest infographic on “5 Best Practices for Online Learning” is now available!  The image is below, or you can download it on our Resources page.  The other infographics on Best Practices for Remote

foundation

The Stabilizing Foundation of Values

By Kevin Meyer - September 11th, 2020

We’re living through some crazy times and dealing with issues that were not anticipated during planning sessions.  Every day we’re confronted with new information, new analyses of facts and opinions, creating new decisions

online lean six sigma training

Platforms for Online Lean and Six Sigma Training

By Kevin Meyer - August 28th, 2020

Over the last decade, Gemba Academy’s online library has grown to nearly 2,000 lean and six sigma training videos.  These are organized into three general categories: the School of Lean, School of Six Sigma, and our unique Gemba

Morro Bay beach

Leveraging the Solitude of Leadership

By Kevin Meyer - August 14th, 2020

I’ve long relished intentional periods of solitude to reflect and renew.  I’ll often take advantage of the six mile stretch of beach between Morro Bay’s [hopefully] extinct volcano a couple blocks from my house and t

Infographic: Lean Best Practices for the Remote Team

By Kevin Meyer - July 16th, 2020

Feel free to save and share this infographic we created on lean best practices for the remote team!  Some tips for continuing to be effective during and after COVID while working from home.

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