John first learned and applied probability & statistical methods early in his career by supporting US DoD weapons reliability assurance programs, as a naval officer/instructor at the US Naval Nuclear Power School, and by contributing to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) IREP program. He then supported Florida Power Light’s nuclear power plants by employing statistical analyses such as hypothesis testing, sampling, and quantitative Fault Tree Analysis to help resolve safety issues.  He led the team which successfully performed the Turkey Point PRA in two years, meeting a critical regulatory commitment for FPL. 

In 1986, John joined FPL’s Quality Improvement program as one of thirteen Statistical Specialists (note: equivalent to today’s Master Black Belt).  In this role, John was assigned to work with FPL’s Japanese quality counselors (e.g., Dr. Noriaki Kano, Dr. Hajime Makabe, and Dr. Kazuyuki Suzuki) in a technology transfer capacity.  He focused on the development of reliability improvement methods and helped apply these to the design, operation and maintenance of electric power generation, transmission & distribution systems.  In 1989, FPL was the first company outside of Japan to win the coveted Deming Prize for quality management.

Since 1991, John has helped a wide variety of industries achieve quality and cost improvement goals.  Among these include healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, electric and telecommunication utilities, railroads, software development, defense, and financial services.  He has trained hundreds of staff in Six Sigma methods and supported business teams’ application to process improvements.  He is the author of quality improvement manuals and many training courses.  For example, a global air conditioning manufacturer and an agricultural chemicals producer have used John’s Black Belt Manual and supporting course materials to train their staff in process improvement.

From 1997 to 2000, John supported General Electric, one of the most successful companies engaged in the pursuit of Six Sigma quality levels.  Here, he co-developed and supported implementation of their Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology, focused on delivering high-quality products and services for GE Capital Services.

Since 2000, his passion has been helping companies achieve Design Excellence (DEx).  DEx is a new product development method based in DFSS but enhanced with front-end Voice of Customer methods and back-end process controls to ensure, as Taguchi said, “On target, with minimal variation” product performance.  He’s worked closely with many Johnson & Johnson franchises to implement Design Excellence, including all J&J sectors – consumer, medical and pharmaceutical products.

Over the last 16 years, he has supported J&J’s Consumer Products division in developing and implementing research & development support systems – for product development portfolio management, improved formulation, raw material management, artwork/label development and product release management.  The J&J team he supports has developed an innovative approach to business software development, combining Design Excellence, traditional waterfall, and Agile techniques.  He recently completed 3 years as the user acceptance testing lead for J&J’s IT Asset Management program.

John holds a B.S. in Physics from Drexel University and is currently “semi-retired.”

Author

•Implementing Design for Six Sigma, A Leader’s Guide (with Georgette Belair)

•The Green Belt Manual (unpublished, but widely distributed)

•The Black Belt Manual (unpublished, but widely distributed) The Affinitized Gospel (available on Amazon Kindle)