Dennis P. Hobbs

Dennis P. Hobbs, born 1947. Dennis began his career in 1969 after serving in the US Army as a medical laboratory technician in a general hospital unit. His first job in manufacturing was as a "master scheduler" in 1972. The company produced vending machines and as he found out later, was one of the first companies to implement an MRP system. In 1974 he began working at a pharmaceutical company in Kansas City Mo. Over the next 18 years, this company implemented and operated two different MRP systems. Because he served in a Material Management capacity, Dennis was actively involved in the implementation projects and later their day-to-day operation. Dennis became very proficient in the operation of these MRP systems, but as time went on, became even more discouraged with the rigidity and lack of real time visibility these systems provided. Beginning in the 1980's more and more information became available about JIT, Re-Engineering and Flow manufacturing methods. Fascinated with these technologies, Dennis began a consulting career in 1994 with a firm implementing "Flow" manufacturing systems. This experience was an epiphany for Dennis transcending all he had learned about manufacturing up to this point. Often,consulting companies treated these methodologies as proprietary secrets while Dennis has always felt these techniques were "public domain" and should be used for the betterment of all society. To fulfill that calling, Dennis has written two books sharing his personal experiences along with the methods he has used for transforming companies into Lean operating systems.