Mike Brewer is an FTE Senior Advisor and a charter member of the FTE Advisory Board.  Mike has been involved in Lean Manufacturing transformation efforts for over 30 years.  Mike was directly involved in lean deployment at GM and has been credited as one of the originators of the lean framework for GM’s Global Manufacturing System (GMS).  Consulting since 2005, Mike has worked on assignments in the automotive sector, in manufacturing, and in the commercial vehicle industry.

Notable experience and accomplishments:

• Provided transformational coaching to Harley Davidson to develop their production system
• Consulted with Caterpillar for the CAT Production System, responsible for the deployment of the Simulated Work Environment (SWE), which provides relevant hands-on training as part of the Capability Building curriculum
• Following three years at NUMMI, adapted TPS practices to GM Vehicle Assembly Plants across North America
• Guided the rebuilding of the TPS training program, established a comprehensive TPS assessment process and helped coordinate the Jishuken/Kaizen improvement activities.

Prior to consulting, Mike worked at General Motors (GM) for 36 years and was the Director of Lean Manufacturing for General Motors Car Division. Since his retirement from GM, Mike worked as a Senior Advisor at Oliver Wyman and Harbour Consulting, Toyota Production System (TPS) Manager at New United Motor Manufacturing. Inc. (NUMMI), Lean Manufacturing Manager at Lear Corporation Seating Division and the Suzuki Production System Manager at CAMI Automotive.

Mike had the distinction of being one of only two GM employees to have been selected to work at NUMMI twice, and he received the General Motors President’s Council Award for Outstanding leadership and contributions in the field of Lean Manufacturing.  In addition to Mike’s experience implementing lean practices in manufacturing, he has also applied his knowledge and experience in the academic arena where he has taught Lean Manufacturing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickenson University and a Master of Arts in Industrial Management from Central Michigan University.