In this episode of The Maintainers, hosts David Lee and Jake Hall sit down with Jim Kozel, COO at World Emblem, the largest patch producer in the world, to delve into the intricacies of lean manufacturing and operational excellence. Jim is a seasoned pro when it comes to running high-efficiency manufacturing plants, and he has some stories to share!

Throughout the conversation, Jim highlights how his team embraced lean principles with guidance from the True Lean Toyota-University of Kentucky partnership. By implementing these strategies, his team has achieved substantial productivity gains and on-time performance while sustaining quality in their custom patch manufacturing. They have made major improvements in each of their facilities across North America and Mexico. 

Jim is not stuck in the past, and he shares his thoughts on how competitive manufacturing can be brought back to US soil by leveraging AI, automation, and modern tools. Jim's passion for manufacturing extends to personal anecdotes, including his love for coffee and lifelong learning, making this episode a blend of professional wisdom and personalized storytelling.

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Guest Bio

Jim’s extensive experience in both plant management and the industry World Emblem caters to has propelled Jim from Plant Manager of the Atlanta location to his current title as Vice President of Plant Operations for the United States and Canada. Despite his Six Sigma Black Belt in Lean Manufacturing and his technical training at the Plant Managers Institute, Jim attests to his 20 years of experience in team leadership as the biggest contributing factor to the successes he has attained throughout his career. It is this factor that helps him motivate his current team to achieve success. As World Emblem’s Vice President of Operations, Jim provides for the consistency and predictability of all products to World Emblem customers from 

every production facility throughout the United States and Canada.

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Guest Quote

“AI is going to redfine managers’ roles. But you will always need to have the leadership role if you have people in there. The evolution of the personnel and getting people to be able to stay up with technology is key. That’s your biggest hurdle.” – Jim Kozel

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Time Stamps 

00:00 Episode Start 

01:50 Opening Icebreaker

04:00 Jim's Background

07:15 When Jim joined the team at World Emblem

09:05 The definition of lean manufacturing

10:35 Segment 01: The Maintainer Mashup

11:00 Origins of World Emblem

12:45 How Jim succesfully implemented the lean framework

14:35 The University of Kentucky <> Toyota Partnership

17:30 True Lean for Executive Leadership

19:40 Segment 02: What's in Your Toolkit?

20:25 Jim's advice from his own career

21:40 How to hit 100% OEE

24:15 Setting realistic expectations for your team

26:35 The daily impact on workers' lives

30:10 Segment 03: The Future of Factories

30:35 Leveraging automation to nearshore and reshore

33:30 The constant need for labor

34:40 Segment 04: Fix It Funnies

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Links

• Connect with Jim Kozel on LinkedIn
• Check out World Emblem
• Connect with David Lee on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jake Hall on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Tractian