Indianapolis, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/08/2014 --The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange (LPPDE) announced today that Dr. Jeffrey Liker, leading lean scholar and author of seminal works on Toyota including “The Toyota Way” and “The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership” will open the 2014 North American conference as keynote speaker. Liker joins Dr. James Morgan, co-author with Liker on “The Toyota Product Development System,” at this year’s conference as Morgan serves as Conference Chair for the 2014 event.

The LPPDE, North America enters its 7th year as an annual event and will take place on September 23-24, 2014 in Raleigh/Durham, NC at the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club.

The full conference includes a day of optional pre-conference workshops on September 22nd with the main conference on the 23rd and 24th. Joining the team of keynote speakers are Joe Zekoski, Interim Chief Technical Officer and VP of Global Product Development at Goodyear, Kevin Nolan, VP-Technology, GE Appliances, and Dave Pericak, Chief Engineer, Mustang, Ford Motor Company. Zekoski will explain how Goodyear leveraged lean product development to achieve operational excellence. Nolan will describe exciting new initiatives like GE Fast Works, First Build and using lean product development to create new levels of product excellence. Pericak will share insights into the creation of the all-new, sixth-generation iconic Ford Mustang. Full conference details can be found at http://www.lppde.org.

Morgan describes the lineup of keynote presenters as integral to the conference theme of Delivering on Innovation, “A lean product/process development system’s unique strength is its ability to both generate value creating innovation and delivering profitable value streams. This outstanding group of speakers will provide important and unique insights into the power of lean product/process development. We are incredibly fortunate this year to have a group of speakers who are each a world-class leader in their respective field sharing a wealth of experience.”

Following keynote presenters, conference participants will choose from numerous breakout sessions based on real world case studies. Companies presenting case studies include IBM, Goodyear, Pfizer, Steelcase, Menlo Innovations, Herrero Builders, Janssen Research & Development, and Arthex Medical Devices among others.

“The ‘E’ in LPPDE stands for Exchange. And that’s our goal… an exchange of ideas and experiences,” Morgan explained as the conferences overarching goal. “We ask everyone, from presenters to attendees, to engage in this exchange by asking questions, challenging current thinking, and sharing opinions, best practices, successes and failures. That’s a hallmark of an LPPDE event.”

About The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc.
The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created to foster opportunities to grow and share the knowledge, expertise and experiences that help organizations use lean product development to dramatically improve product development performance.

LPPDE board members include…

- Jorrit De Groot, Head of Business Operations, Vaisala and Board Chair
- Bella Englebach, Sr. Director, Strategic Business Improvement, Janssen Research & Development and Board Secretary
- Rich Gildersleeve, Senior Vice President of Research & Development, DJO, Inc.
- Ronald Marsiglio, President, Knowledge/PD
- Jim Morgan, President at Emc Group, Senior Advisor at The Lean Enterprise Institute and former Ford global engineering executive is 2014 North American Conference Chair
- Peter Palmér, Senior Manager Process Support, Scania and 2014 European Conference Chair
- Katherine Radeka, President, Whittier Consulting Group, Inc.
- Tim Schipper, LEAN Management Office, Steelcase Inc. and Board Treasurer
- Durward K. Sobek II, Ph.D., Professor at Montana State University