Peter King
I have known John for more than five years, and consider him a good friend and trusted mentor. I have personally observed his technical skills in Chemical Engineering and in Lean Production and also his coaching and interpersonal skill in leading groups to consensus on controversial topics.
I began to work with John in Germany and in Russia in 2010 when we were consultants on Lean Manufacturing programs. Although language could have been a significant barrier, John was able to work very effectively through the translators to understand the client’s perspectives and to make his viewpoints understood. His easy-going style and sense of humor enabled him to challenge strongly-held beliefs and opinions in a very non-confrontational manner. The clients quickly came to respect his knowledge and his guidance.
I had the pleasure of reconnecting with John on an assignment in the Ukraine in 2012, witnessing these same capabilities in action again. Both of these experiences were on extensive Lean initiatives and in each case John demonstrated what a skillful Lean practitioner he is. His approach is hands-on, action-oriented Lean, not some textbook or theoretical version.
His understanding of chemical engineering is impressive. I have seen him defuse technical arguments by explaining chemical principles in such a clear, logical fashion that the client was able to see the errors in his prior positions.
Having great technical knowledge and skill is useful only if you can present it in a way that it will be readily accepted rather than resisted, John always seems to find a way to do that.
Whether a challenge involves chemical engineering technology, project management, Lean concepts, or coaching and facilitating, I’d never hesitate to recommend John.
Peter l King
President and Principal Consultant
Lean Dynamics, LLC
Alexander Mazhorin
I first met John back in 2010 in my capacity as Maintenance & Reliability Champion for the Production System at Sibur Moscow. I found John’s approach professional and engaging with a strong knowledge of all aspects of “Lean” and Process Engineering. He was particularly good at working closely with the team and asking both challenging and provocative questions as a means of building understanding and knowledge transfer with the team.
John led both the Operations Evaluation Team and then the Pilot Implementation Team at the Sibur Voronezneh site, where I was the client champion. John executed his duties swiftly and effectively hitting all the key milestones. John & his team were able to identify Uptime savings leading to significant financial benefit. John was personable and his passion/energy enabled the team to deliver Improvements.
Alexander Mazhorin
Director. OMS implementation
Gazprom Neft
