BSs in Chemical and Material Engineering, Graduate work in Solid State Physics from University of Maryland. For the past 27 years, Charlie Gifford, Lean Operations Management Consu...ver maisBSs in Chemical and Material Engineering, Graduate work in Solid State Physics from University of Maryland. For the past 27 years, Charlie Gifford, Lean Operations Management Consultant, has developed advanced manufacturing systems in direct support of continuous improvement initiatives in a wide variety of industries: aerospace, electronics, automotive, food & beverage, telecom, energy, and life sciences. As a nationally recognized expert in combining Lean Manufacturing practices with Operations Management Systems, his background includes hands-on design, design super-vision, and team leadership in Production Transformation. As an industry leader in professional organizations such as ISA, Supply Chain Council and MESA International, he has contributed to and taught many manu-facturing operations standards, such as ISA-88, ISA-95, Next Gen MESA and SCOR models. He has published over 40 papers and four books on the subject of operations management best practices. Most recently as Chairman of the ISA-95 Best Prac-tices Working Group, he was the Chief Editor and Contributing Author for the book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Manufacturing Operations Management: ISA-95 Best Practices Book 1.0. He was awarded the 2007 MESA International Outstanding Contributor Award and 1995 Captain’s Citation Award for Innovation.charlie.gifford@cox.netver menos