Barry-Wehmiller, the parent of Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC), which manufactures Webtron presses out of its Green Bay, WI, USA, plant, is taking steps to implement Lean Manufacturing across its organziation.

The company has invited Lean consultant Dick Ryan to begin the process. Ryan has achieved success with Lean in the past, particularly at The Wiremold Company, where the transformation increased sales from $100 million to $460 million over 10 years, according to Barry-Wehmiller CEO Robert H. Chapman.

“Adding Dick to our leadership team to work full time with our divisions shows the level of our commitment to the Lean enterprise journey and its concepts, which were first introduced to us by Jerry Solomon at our corrugating division, MarquipWardUnited,” Chapman says. A resident of St. Charles, IL, near Chicago, Ryan will work with with Solomon and other team members to accelerate the process of bringing Lean to the rest of the organization.

“I have been so impressed by Barry-Wehmiller’s Guiding Principles of Leadership (GPL) and its ‘measure of success’, which promotes the kind of positive and insightful communication that is vital to the success of the Lean journey,” Ryan says. “The ideals of trust, empowerment, education, communication, and respect that are shared by the GPL and Lean are going to make the biggest difference in the success of Barry-Wehmiller’s journey. I really can’t describe how excited I am to be able to work with the team to create a great American company and take Lean to another level.”