2018 Engineering Leader Under 40: Justin Sturek, 37

Manager of Continuous Improvement, The Raymond Corporation, Greene, NY, United States

By McKenzie Burns, Production Coordinator September 13, 2018

Justin Sturek, 37
Manager of Continuous Improvement
The Raymond Corporation, Greene, NY, United States
BS Business Management, HRM, Binghamton University
MS Systems Science, Binghamton University
Executive MBA, Binghamton University

Justin chose his career path to help others learn how to become successful leaders. He believes in sharing his passion for the profession with local youth and has participated in numerous Manufacturing Day events at Raymond — at those events, the company creates an interactive continuous improvement activity for nearly 200 students and faculty. As manager of continuous improvement at The Raymond Corporation and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Justin manages the strategic plan of the Toyota Production System (TPS) initiative, which works to eliminate waste in the transactional process and train internal and external resources to improve quality, reduce cost and create enhanced efficiencies and productivity. During his time at Raymond, Justin has facilitated and advised 10 continuous improvement initiatives focused on creating standardized work for installation and scheduled maintenance processes for more than 2,500 technicians in Raymond’s Authorized Sales and Service Centers. The average results reduced cycle time by 30 percent and resulted in $2.7 million in savings. Justin has also helped facilitate cross-department collaboration with more than 12 departments and 90 employees on their continuous improvement journey. Additionally, there has been a 50 percent reduction in defects, 30 percent reduction of backlog work and more than 1,500 kaizens submitted — resulting in $1.4 million in savings. For his work, Justin was named an MHI Young Outstanding Professional finalist in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He will be presenting at the 2018 Northeast Lean Conference on how to engage the workforce and measure success of a continuous improvement program.

Fun Fact: Justin enjoys running marathons.