Brian Krichbaum

Background

About Brian Krichbaum

Brian D. Krichbaum Brian Krichbaum is the Vice President of Gilbert Chocolates, a 125 year old chocolate manufacturer and retailer based out of Jackson Mi. Before owning and operating Gilbert Chocolates he was the founder and President of Process Coaching Incorporated, a consulting company committed to helping organizations improve their operational, program management and engineering performance, using detailed organizational assessments, lean techniques, targeted short burst projects and systems coaching to build accountability & self sufficiency into client systems. A 1983 graduate of Ohio Northern University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a 1988 graduate from Ashland University with a MBA, Brian spent the early part of his career as a product development engineer, and later a manufacturing engineer in the defense and automotive industries. After holding various positions, Brian became a program manager, developing the product development system and leading the first product development team at Dura Convertible Systems. In 1994, Brian was formally introduced to the Toyota Production System (Lean Manufacturing) when he joined ASC Incorporated as Program Manager for the Toyota Paseo Convertible. During his tenure at ASC, he was promoted several times; holding various positions of increased responsibility, including Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Director of Quality, Director of Product Development, Chief Engineer, Vice President of Operations, and finally Vice President – Open Air Division. In each of these positions, Brian’s commitment to Lean Thinking and operational excellence resulted in superior results while giving him a wide range of experience using the techniques in the automotive industry. Since becoming a consultant, Brian’s commitment to operational excellence has helped clients in transportation, automotive, industrial equipment and metals fabrication industries realize vast improvements in their quality and bottom line results. Specialties: Leadership - Developed team vision, strategy and goals, leading staff to visionary thinking, giving them higher self-confidence, resulting in exceptional execution during launch of 8 new programs and 7 new facilities. Lean Thinking - Championed lean manufacturing systems in 7 production facilities Engineering - Created a Lean Product Development System Coaching - Directed colleagues through leadership skills development