Karen’s breadth and depth of experience in manufacturing paved the way to make significant strategic improvements utilizing Lean concepts and methodologies including;
• 10% improvement of on time deliveries,
• $4 Million reduction in cost of goods sold,
• 50% reduction in lead times, and
• $15 Million reduction in inventory.
Karen’s experience in internal consulting for BJC Healthcare afforded her the opportunity to implement Lean concepts and methodologies in a service environment. The application of the foundational tools of 5S, Standard Work, Visual Management, Value Stream Mapping, Flow, and Pull to Takt reduced waste, minimized inventory, and improved efficiency.
Karen also taught a variety of classes for BJC Healthcare at their Learning Institute and was a certified Kepner Tregoe Instructor for Situation Appraisal, Decision Analysis, Problem Analysis, Potential Problem Analysis, and Potential Opportunity Analysis.
Karen’s most recent experience was as Senior Manager of Continuous Improvement at bioMerieux, a Medical Device Company. This provided the opportunity to implement Lean Concepts in assembly areas and manufacturing, as well as front-office and back-office processes.
In addition, Karen served as an instructor for the St. Louis Chapter of the Association for Supply Chain Management (formerly APICS) and taught classes for CPIM certification and Lean Principles. She also served on the Board as Directors as Director of Finance for 4 years.
Karen earned her B.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri-Rolla and her MBA from Washington University. She has CPIM and CSCP certifications from ASCM, and is Black Belt certified. She is also certified by the University of Kentucky College of Engineering in Lean Production Systems. This program teaches the Toyota Production System and is the only program in world officially sponsored by Toyota.