Ken Branco, Partner

General Expertise

Ken is an accomplished practitioner in the development and implementation of Lean Sigma Enterprises. His experiences span the complete Enterprise, from Sales to Accounts Receivable. In more than 30 years of business experience (15 in consulting and training), Ken has provided management, leadership, consulting and training to dozens of Enterprises, hundreds of teams, and several thousand individuals.

His consulting career has spanned Enterprises from 20 people to the Fortune 50, and Ken has deep and varied Lean Sigma experience in readiness assessment, transformation plan development, plant and office layout, work analysis and balancing, constraint identification and removal, business process redesign, Kaizen, setup reduction, materials, individual and organizational development.

His industry experience includes aerospace and defense, automotive, legal firms, electronics, machining, metal casting and rolling, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, glass, power plants and healthcare. Ken has led projects resulting in lead-time reductions of more than 50 percent, productivity improvements of 40 percent, business process improvements of 50 percent and space reductions of 60 percent.

Ken is highly regarded for his teaching and mentoring skills, and he has consistently been among the top-rated instructors in large engagements. Ken has taught and/or mentored Lean Sigma students in Asia, Australia, and South and North America. Many of these engagements were comprised of students from multiple countries and cultures.

In 2000, Ken was the only non-member to be awarded the Valve Manufacturers Association Special Service Award. This prestigious award is earned by individuals who demonstrate exceptional value to the organization over a period of years. In 2003, Ken co-founded the Lean Sigma Institute with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. The Institute assists Connecticut companies in the implementation of Lean Sigma.

Books Authored by Ken

PowerTools! Volume One: Collaboration and Teamwork (1995)
PowerTools! Volume Two: Turning Problems into Profits (1995)
Bubble Bursting (Article, Executive Excellence, 1996)
Making Traffic Flow I and II: Implementing the Technical and Social sides of Lean (Articles, Valve Magazine 2000)

Individual Areas of Expertise

Research and Development
Manufacturing and Automation Engineering
Information Systems, and Management

Professional Background

Manufacturing Engineering
Production and Inventory Management
Time Based Management
Total Quality, Organizational Systems Design
Lean, Six Sigma
Synchronous Manufacturing

Education and Associations

B.S. Electrical Engineering
Member of APICS and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association