John LaRosa is an FTE Senior Advisor with over 35 years progressive experience in all aspects of automotive and truck manufacturing. He has extensive experience as a proven leader, managing process and operations teams in body assembly and welding, paint operations, general assembly and powertrain operations with a leading global automotive company.

Notable experience and accomplishments:

• Extensive experience over the last 15 years specifically focused on the planning, construction and execution of greenfield automotive assembly plants
• Led Manufacturing Engineering work stream (equipment design & integration) at expedited launch of all-new vehicle assembly line for OEM at contract assembler – launch complete on-time (within 8 months – vs. 24 month typical time) and within $65M budget
• Supported top leadership with major production, cost and quality proposals and studies for 17 North American manufacturing assembly plants for global automotive OEM
• Managed all aspects of new automotive product launches including facility planning, construction, assembly planning, tooling automation planning & installation, prototype build, staffing and training
• Directed General Assembly operations, with responsibilities encomapsing1500 production team members and over 60 salaried staff members spanning over a 3-shift production operation
• Coached and taught all aspects of Lean Techniques including Standardized Work, 6 Sigma Techniques, Value Stream Mapping, Just In Time/Part Kitting, Team Build, Elimination of Waste, Problem Solving techniques as well as many other lean manufacturing concepts
• North American Shop Director of Paint Operations for a major global automotive OEM. Responsible for improving production, quality, cost and process control techniques for over 15 automotive/truck paint shops

Prior to consulting, John retired from General Motors after 35 years.  He has created and managed teams in production, tooling development, planning, process improvement and quality improvement techniques. He also held staff positions within Materials Management, Advanced Assembly Methods Engineering and Public Relations.

John holds a Master’s degree in Management from Aquinas College and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He also is certified from the Institute for Productivity through Quality at the University of Tennessee.