In this episode of Quality Time with MoreSteam, Dan Swartwout chats with Kim Koning, Aurorium's Global Director of Operational Excellence and a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Kim shares his journey from wrestling mats in Indiana to leading global process improvement initiatives. He also reflects on how lessons from his early career as a plant manager and his MBA in finance shaped his approach to leadership and continuous improvement.

Kim shares why Gemba walks are his favorite part of the day and how they help build trust on the shop floor. Another standout moment is when Kim recounts his “aha” realization—the day he saw Lean Six Sigma as the key to staying competitive. At home, Kim’s audience of eight might roll their eyes at his continuous improvement experiments. But on Quality Time with MoreSteam, his experiments find a much bigger audience.

 

In this episode, you will hear about:

2:00 - Kim’s background

2:52 - Wrestling with continuous improvement

4:36 - Going to Purdue

5:45 - Plant management

7:24 - Gemba walks

9:27 - Statistics and probability

11:24 - Kim’s thoughts on Lean Six Sigma and operational excellence

20:44 - The Best Practices for Operational Excellence Conference

23:36 - The Master Black Belt challenge

26:23 - Kim’s “aha!” moment

 

Additional Resources:

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Dan Swartwout on LinkedIn

 

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