Ed Sosnowski, Chair
Ed Sosnowski is the corporate Lean manager for United Solar Ovonic, an Auburn Hills-based world leader in the manufacture of thin-film solar paneling. He is responsible for driving Lean thinking and implementation of best practices throughout the Uni-Solar enterprise. He is utilizing the corporate platform to spread Lean concepts to all areas of the business, from operations to application of Lean in their hiring process and other transactional processes. His primary push is to ensure that the company utilizes the right thinking and tools during their rapid growth period to cement a sustainable Lean culture.
Sosnowski has successfully utilized Lean philosophy for the last seven years including coaching large Tier 1 automotive companies on application of pull systems with their supply chains. He has held leadership roles within the automotive industry in materials, operations, purchasing, Six Sigma and continuous improvement.
Within the Production Technology Division at Uni-Solar, Sosnowski utilized Lean concepts to develop and implement a cross-functional team-based organization and a stage-gate project management process. The application of Lean in this transactional environment resulted in drastic reductions in the cycle time to construct and ramp up new manufacturing facilities.
Sosnowski earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Michigan State University and a Master of Science in industrial operations from Lawrence Technological University. He is an active member of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence Champion Club.
Jamie Flinchbaugh
Jamie Flinchbaugh is a founder and partner of the Lean Learning Center in Novi, Mich., and the co-author of "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road." He shares his successful and varied experiences of Lean transformation as a practitioner and leader through companies such as Chrysler and DTE Energy. He also has a wide range of practical experience in industrial operations, including production, maintenance, material control, product development and manufacturing engineering.
Flinchbaugh is a graduate fellow of the highly regarded Leaders for Manufacturing Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his research thesis was on implementing Lean manufacturing through factory design. He also holds a B.S. in engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and an M.S. in engineering from the University of Michigan. In 2006, Crain’s Detroit Business recognized Flinchbaugh for his accomplishments in its "40 Under 40" issue.
Debra S. Levantrosser Setman
Founder of consulting firm Arbed Solutions, Setman has experienced 18 years of professional Lean philosophy successes, helping to identify over $6 billion in savings and leading more than 300 kaizen events and ~75 Lean assessments. Setman has used the Lean philosophy in health care, manufacturing, law enforcement, insurance, interior design, construction and consulting in over 50 countries.
In her previous role as change leader at Johnson & Johnson, Setman lead the culture development of the new supply chain organization and created a change management system for the company, instructing techniques of leadership development, stakeholder management, culture change and alignment, and communications strategy.
Setman earned bachelor degrees in German and political science from Michigan State University with minors in health studies and humanities. She received a master’s degree in public administration from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and is currently studying at Capella University in Minneapolis, Minn., to obtain a Ph.D. in organizational management.
Setman was on Governor Granholm’s Government Process improvement initiative (GPii) committee to incorporate Lean principles to streamline state government and is on the Board of the School of Management at Marist College. She is also founder and chair of the Michigan Lean Consortium, an organization that utilizes Lean principles statewide in order to positively impact the state economy.
She has presented numerous times on the topic of innovation and its importance to organizational success. Her current specialty is coaching senior leadership on the behaviors necessary to succeed in a Lean culture. Setman has taught courses on health care management, globalization, leadership, political science and the government-business relationship at various universities and law enforcement agencies.
In 2010, she was the moderator and presenter at the Michigan Human Resources Day. Her article Lean Thinking from Benjamin Franklin, published in Lean Progress, demonstrates that Lean principles existed long before Henry Ford and Toyota. She has been on the Pawley Institute board since 2008.
John Miller
John Miller is a seasoned executive with more than 35 years experience in leadership positions over diverse, large and complex organizations in the automobile industry, management consulting, higher education and not-for-profit. His leadership experience and acumen include a strong track record of transformational initiatives and building high performance teams leading to higher achievement, innovations in products and processes, and the mentoring of future leaders.
John founded the St Clair Consortium in 2003, a management consulting company dedicated to product development leadership.
A product development leader at Chrysler for 25 years, Miller was vice president of the Large Car Platform Team during the 1990s, leading the team in the development of numerous automobiles that received many industry awards including the J.D. Power and Associates IQS best-in-class awards for initial quality, the first ever for Chrysler Corporation.
Currently, Miller is the director of Michigan State University’s Executive MBA program and has been teaching graduate-level courses in product development and innovation there and at the University of Detroit Mercy since 2001. He serves as an advisory board member of the Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute, the Broad Executive Forum at Michigan State University and the Strategy Research Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the research and implementation of best practices in product creation systems. Miller is also a trustee and vice chairman at the Detroit Science Center.
Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University and an MBA from the Advanced Management Program at Michigan State University.
Jim Toeniskoetter
Appointed as director, president and COO in 2000, Jim Toeniskoetter is responsible for overseeing all transactions within HIROTEC AMERICA, Inc., including Astrum Contract Services (Staffing Company) and KGHIROTEC Engineering Service Pvt. Ltd. (India). He is also in charge of research and development of new technologies and products for HIROTEC in North America and holds over ten patents.
Jim joined HIROTEC AMERICA, then known as TESCO ENGINEERING, in 1989 as operations manager. He came from ABB Robotics, Inc., where he worked for four years in different functions in the Project Management department and included program and group management. In 1996, he was elected as a director and in 1998, accepted the title of vice president and COO.
As the third American hired at HIROTEC AMERICA, Toeniskoetter's leadership has been directly responsible for the company’s growth. Toeniskoetter holds a BSWE degree from Ohio State University. In 1997, he was recognized as one of Crain's “Top 40 Executives under 40."