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 Hi.
Welcome to my personal home page. The objective of this web
site is to provide a simple forum for myself, family and friends where
we can discover and share the many wonders of our world. My wife Lynn
and I have family and friends spread around the world and the internet
provides us a means to keep in touch and connected no matter how busy
we get. You will find a diverse collection of things on this site.
Some things quite familiar, some serious things to think about and
some things a little wacky. But isn't that the way life is.
So... Who is Don A. Blake anyway? Well... I live and
work in the Wichita, Kansas, USA, metropolitan area. For nearly 25
years I worked for what was once known as the Boeing Company's Wichita
Division. On June 16, 2005 the commercial production side of the division
was sold in a divestiture action to the ONEX
corporation. If you  my
name it more than likely will turn up several articles and case studies
on Lean Manufacturing. For ten years I served as the Program Manager/Director
for implementing JIT/Lean Production at the Wichita Division. Some
researchers have written about some of those acheivements (i.e.
MIT LAI).
With the sale of the Wichita Division I was named Director of Industrial
Cooperation with the new company. In mid May of 2006 I was appointed
Director of Strategic Initiatives reporting to the Sr. VP of Strategy
and IT. In the Spring of 2008, my boss was named Sr. Vp
of the AeroStructures business segment. I moved over to the
Aero Structures segment with him to continue to focus on Long Range
Planning and Operational Porductivity. I had been with Boeing
since 1980. I held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Internal
Audit, Computing, Operations, and Quality. I supported and participated
in several research projects. The Lean
Aerospace Initiative (LAI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and the Lean Enterprise
Forum at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
In the Spring of 2008, my team and I completed an 18th month study
and search to find and obtain  new
manufacturing sites for Spirit. On
May 14th, 2008, Spirit announced it would build another production
facility at the North Carolina Global
TransPark in Lenoir County near the city of Kinston. We also announced
another greenfield startup in the Fall
of 2007 for Malaysia near Kuala Lumpur at the the old International
Airport. The search took me all over the world. Lynn and
I also visited Australia and New Zealand. They were amazing.
I have a B.A. from Iowa
State University and an MBA from the Wichita
State University. I am Certified in Production Inventory
Management (CPIM) through the
Association for Operations Management (APICS). I also am
a certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) through the American
Society for Quality (ASQ). I also have participated in advanced
studies in Operation Management at the University of Washington,
University of Tennessee, and California Institute of Technology.
I like running, science fiction, sports, poetry, modern art, jazz,
and working with kids.
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