LSS Program Instructor

Mr. Christopher D. Chapman
Senior Program Manager, CELE

Office: 78-1220
Phone: (585) 475-2868
Email: cdcasp@rit.edu

Christopher D. Chapman is a senior program manager at the Center for Excellence in Lean Enterprise (CELE) at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS). Mr. Chapman has conducted Lean training workshops and led Lean focused improvement events (kaizens) at over 40 businesses, locally, nationally, and internationally.

Mr. Chapman has over twelve years of management and manufacturing experience from Eastman Kodak Company, Delphi (formerly Delphi Automotive Systems), and RIT. He has successfully implemented and managed Lean production systems in both union and nonunion manufacturing environments. As an operations supervisor at Kodak, Mr. Chapman translated strategic goals into day-to-day operational systems; prioritized and executed improvement projects (kaizens), and was accountable for ensuring that improvement and financial benefits were sustained. Within less than a year, Mr. Chapman led his team to improve efficiency by more than 13 percent through the implementation of Lean principles. At Delphi, Mr. Chapman was a production supervisor and a quality engineer. In this role, he worked at a hands-on, grass-roots level with operators, union officials, and upper management to implement, improve, and sustain Lean systems. Mr. Chapman led the deployment and implementation of Lean systems to punch press, plating, assembly, and material delivery operations. He also led teams to improve delivery performance, reduce cycle times, create Lean cells, and establish 5S “showcase” departments.

Mr. Chapman holds a BA in Business Administration from Fayetteville State University and is a certified Management Black Belt from Eastman Kodak. He has also presented at numerous conferences and written articles for leading trade journals.