William Peterson

Bill Peterson is a Lean best practices teacher and facilitator who draws on over 30 years of hands-on experience using Lean, TOC, Six Sigma, BPR, and other continuous improvement tools to enhance process efficiency, job satisfaction, and organizational performance.

Combining the ideas of the great process improvement thinkers with his own experiences and insights, Bill began developing his approach to Lean methodology during a 26-year career with Delta Air Lines’ Technical Operations Division.

While focused primarily on operational processes, he saw firsthand that the productivity and job satisfaction of frontline workers was often constrained by the impact of processes in other areas such as, sales/marketing, strategy, purchasing, logistics, engineering, HR, management, and invoicing/accounts receivable. At the end of his career with Delta TechOps, he reengineered the proposal and contract processes for its $700M/year insourcing business. This awareness put him at the forefront of one of today’s most important trends: applying Lean to business processes.

Since 2006, Bill has been dedicated to teaching professionals in diverse industries how to apply Lean best practices to improve business processes. He does this as a faculty member in the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business and through his business LeanBP. In addition to creating and teaching Lean Applied to Business Processes, an intensive one-week course; he is also a lecturer in UT’s Aerospace & Defense Executive MBA program. His on-site consulting clients have included Asurion, Team Health, Worthington Industries, Century Link, Southwest Airlines, and Fokker Services. Over the past 10 years, Bill has done extensive work with the Air Force improving AQ (RFP & Contract Award) processes and aircraft MRO processes.

In the classroom or on site, Bill emphasizes practical application over academic theory, personal engagement, and the alignment of processes with the organization’s mission and the creation of customer-defined value.

Bill holds an MBA in Lean Aerospace from the University of Tennessee, a BS in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle, Six Sigma Black Belt certification, and FAA Airframe and Power Plant Licenses. Go to LeanBP.com for Bill Peterson’s TEDx presentation, podcast interview, and published articles.