W. Bruce Chew
Principal, Monitor Group

Innovating Lean Applications in a Non-Process Environment: A Case Study in Industrial Marketing

Dr. W. Bruce Chew, an authority on production and operations management, joined Monitor Company in 1993 where he works as a founding member and principal of Monitor’s Activities Processes and Systems (APS) business unit. He has implemented Lean techniques in a wide variety of industrial environments, including scientific instruments, auto components, printed circuit boards, pharmaceuticals, food products, and aerospace. Prior to joining Monitor Company, Dr. Chew served as a member of the Harvard Business School faculty for eight years and taught courses on Japanese manufacturing techniques.

Dr. Chew’s work and research focuses on enhancing the performance of firms through improving production and logistics systems, and on the behavior of manufacturing networks over time. A particular emphasis of Dr. Chew’s is the sources of, and implications for differences in performance among similar production facilities, and identifying managerial actions that increase or reduce these variations. Dr. Chew’s experience in this area encompasses both theoretical work and case studies and the implementation of Lean Manufacturing techniques in manufacturing and non-manufacturing environments in a variety of industries. His work addresses the determinants of performance at both the factory and the firm level.

Awarded one of Harvard Business School’s first Dean’s Doctoral Fellowships, Dr. Chew earned an M.B.A. from HBS in 1981 with high distinction of a Baker Scholar, and a B.S. in computer science from the University of Michigan in 1978. Dr. Chew received a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University in 1985. He spent a year after college working as a project manager for the Ducker Research Company evaluating new technologies for a variety of large North American and European firms.

In his presentation, Bruce will use a case history to highlight the innovative practice of applying Lean manufacturing principles to industrial marketing. He will provide you with a set of process tools you can use to adopt this unique, highly visible Lean approach.