About Us

 Chris is a career Industrial Engineer with over 40 years of experience, having worked in a wide variety of industries from heavy machining/welding to complex PCB assembly.

A significant portion of his career has been spent performing the Supplier Development function at Honda of America, employing and teaching many Lean Manufacturing Principles to enable supplier companies to achieve competitive pricing. 

Chris is an expert in Kaizens, work-study methods, plant layout, productivity improvements and lean principles.

Chris has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Rhodes State College and also has been a key proponent and familiar face within the Lean Network of Honda Suppliers for many years. He is a speaker on various Lean Topics at the annual conference.

 Dr. Mustafa Shraim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Technology & Management at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He received both of his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Ohio University in 1986 and 1989, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University in 1996.

Dr. Shraim’s research interests are in the area of quality engineering. Specifically, they cover Lean / Six Sigma methods and including incorporating experimental design to optimize operations. Other research interests include the Deming System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK), developing continuous improvement programs as well as sustainable management systems based on ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and other international standards.

He has over 20 years of experience in the quality management field as a quality engineer, corporate quality manager, consultant and trainer. His experience is extensive in quality management systems as wells as Lean and Six Sigma methods. In addition, he coached and mentored Green & Black Belts on process improvement projects in the manufacturing and service industries.

Dr. Shraim is a Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) & a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) by The American Society for Quality (ASQ). He is also a certified Quality Management Systems (QMS) Lead Auditor by the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) in London. He was elected a Fellow by ASQ in 2007.

 Tracy Owens is a business transformation leader who assists client organizations in developing a culture of continuous improvement to achieve near-term objectives and better long-term results. 

His expertise in process improvement assists organizations in not only overcoming today's problems but building a platform for future successes. 

Additionally, his extensive experience in innovation management helps companies create an environment where good ideas are turned into great results. He is a frequent speaker at major international world conferences on quality and improvement, and his consulting activities are concentrated in these areas. He was a presenter at the American Society for Quality's (ASQ) Annual World Conference in '09, '10, and '11, and will be presenting Innovation: Live! at the 2012 event in Anaheim, CA.

Owens holds a Master's Degree in International Business from Seattle University and is an ASQ Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence. He has also written, adapted, and delivered Six Sigma training material at GE Capital and AIG.

  Paul Graves is a data mining and warehousing expert that interfaces organization's Information Technology departments with the operations team to utilize IT data for the analysis and improvement of business processes.

Combining expertise in standard Microsoft Office applications and Visual Basic automation with extensive experience in database server platforms including SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and others allows Paul to pull from existing business data buried in corporate ERP and inventory systems to create useful analysis reports as inputs to improvement projects. Paul has 15 years of experience in Electronics manufacturing covering Process, Test and Quality engineering disciplines that give him an edge in identifying what data is actually useful to the organization, and what format to present the data for better understanding.

Paul began his career in manufacturing for Lucent Technologies moving up from an RF test technician to a surface mount Process Engineer managing 2 high velocity surface mount manufacturing cells. At Lucent, Paul developed Statistical Process Analysis tools to monitor test yields, failure trends, and repair action analysis to determine the root cause of yield problems and implement countermeasures to improve yields and throughput. The tools Paul developed quickly became an asset to other surface mount lines and the Quality Organization for higher level process improvement actions. These skills quickly transferred into Celestica where they were used in Test Engineering to monitor and improve automated test yields as a contract manufacturer. 

After moving to Pinnacle Data Systems in 2004, Paul gained skills in Quality Systems management and auditing to multiple ISO standards including 9001:2008, TL9000 R5, 13485:2003, 14001:2004 and 18001:2007. Paul's focus with Quality Systems continues to be the integration of data sources around the organization into clear measurements for analysis and improvement.

Paul holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics Engineering Technology from DeVry University and is a senior member of ASQ. In addition to working as a Senior Quality Engineer for Avnet Integrated, Paul is an Adjunct Instructor for ITT Technical Institute in the school of Electronics and founded Graves Data Consulting specializing in creating and automating business data management tools for small businesses.  

Dr. John P. Bowler is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer with over 40 years of operational supply chain management and continuous improvement experience.
John is the Managing Partner and Founder of Bowler Hunt, LLC, a consulting practice with core competencies in operations and supply chain management, continuous improvement, and organizational change management.

John is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College), Certified Supply Chain Professional (Lifetime) (The Association for Supply Chain Management ), Lead ISO9001 internal auditor (AMETEK),  Executive Mail Center Manager (United States Postal Service). His past military certifications include USAF Master Transportation Officer, USAF Aircraft Maintenance and Munitions Officer, USAF Contracting Officer's Technical Representative, United States Army (USA) Ordering Officer, and USA Airdrop Specialist. John's industry expertise includes aviation, education, government, transportation, warehousing, construction, utilities, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas extraction, petrochemical, and power generation, both nuclear and solar.

John earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at The University of the South (Sewanee, TN), his Master of Arts degree in Management and Supervision at Central Michigan University, his Master of Science degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Wright State University, and his Doctor of Business Administration at Franklin University.  

Hugo R. Trux is an operations and marketing counsel and executive-for-hire who specializes in government and service industries. Hugo has successfully served more than 200 clients during his 30 years of experience in the areas of applied research, analysis, and planning, and specializes in empirically based strategic and tactical planning, often for start-up programs, projects or companies.

He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees plus two years of doctoral level course work from Ohio State University in Columbus. He has worked for the federal government, a major university, and was part of a start-up team (for the State of Ohio's Auditor David Yost) to conduct performance audits of state agencies, local governments and programs using auditing, operations and management consulting, and 6 Sigma Kaizen and Black Belt methodologies.

Hugo also serves on corporate Advisory Boards, and volunteered for non-profit organizations and government citizen committees.

He has been recognized for his achievements and has published numerous articles in marketing, quality management, and performance auditing. Hugo also believes in contributing to his profession and to the community through volunteer activities, the most current and notable is Columbus Rotary, where he was named 2005 Rotarian of the Year. Previously he was named 1994 Distinguished Board Member by American Marketing Association, and has served as president of Columbus Metropolitan Club.