Larry R. Smith has been appointed senior vice president of design and innovation of the Juran Institute.Smith worked for Ford Motor Co. for 27 years. Most recently, he was quality coach for Ford’s Heritage Team, which was responsible for revitalizing one of its manufacturing facilities. He was instrumental in initiating a Six Sigma effort at Ford, and was deployment champion for the company’s superduty truck platform, for which Six Sigma saved $49 million in its first year.

A senior member and national director of the American Society for Quality, Smith is also president of the Altshuller Institute for TRIZ studies. In addition, he’s a member of the board of directors for GOAL/QPC and a past president of the Detroit chapter of the American Society for Metals. He holds three Master’s degrees in metallurgical engineering, physics and industrial engineering.

For more information, visit www.juran.com.

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