Staff Profile
Bill Caplan, Team Leader, Lean Consulting Services

For over eight years, Bill Caplan has worked for CONNSTEP as a Lean Consultant, providing consulting services to a variety of manufacturing companies with a concentration in Lean Manufacturing. He has provided both classroom and hands-on training and facilitated the design, development and implementation of Lean methodologies on an enterprise-wide basis.

Bill is a NIST Certified Trainer and is certified to deliver the MEP suite of products. Past projects include providing facilitation and leadership for the successful implementation of point solutions improvement projects as well as the development and implementation of improvements at the value stream level.

Bill has more than 25 years of management experience with a particular focus in field engineering and Lean Manufacturing. He has held a variety of positions in Industrial Engineering, Operations, General Plant Management, Logistics and Materials Management.

Engaging with high level management and assembling top skilled teams, Bill has exceeded the needs of CONNSTEP customers by providing a variety of tailored services in support of their individual needs. Assignments include VSM, Work Cell Design, Work Flow, Kanban, 5S, Set Up Reduction and Problem Solving in both shop and front office environments.

A results-oriented operations management professional, Bill is known for successful plant startup, building high performance teams and developing open communication to focus on achievement of business objectives. He is highly skilled in change management, demand management, continuous improvement techniques, performance management, training/development, sales/operations planning, leadership, supply chain management and Lean business practices.

Prior to CONNSTEP, Bill worked as a Logistics Director for The Ensign-Bickford Company, a $200 million business in Simsbury, CT and past Shingo Prize recipient. His responsibilities included directing the supply chain, focusing on customer service and order processing, forecasting and demand management, transportation and distribution, inventory and warehousing, database administration and central purchasing.

As a Plant Manager/Manufacturing Director for Ensign-Bickford he served as the senior manager on site directing all plant activities including manufacturing, quality, process and plant engineering, regulatory compliance, human resources and financial and cost management functions.
Mr. Caplan earned his Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics and a Masters in Business Administration, Finance at Western New England College, Springfield, Massachusetts. He is a NIST-MEP certified instructor.