Ron Welch

Ron Welch is an Associate of TranSystems | The ACCESS Group with over twenty-five years experience in process and systems innovation, development, continuous improvement and solving complex, cross-functional, multi-disciplinary problems.  His professional experience spans the full range of business operations from research to marketplace execution.  

He has held professional, management and executive positions in science, engineering, technology, operations and administration with The Coca-Cola Company.  During his career with Coca-Cola Ron held key roles in the design, development, implementation and improvement of many of Coke’s mission critical systems (e.g., The Coca-Cola Quality System, The Formula Management System, The Marketing Research System, Effective Consumer Response System, IT Asset Management System, Global Manufacturing and Logistic Systems, The Coke Machine intranet portal and SAP).

Through his management and engineering consulting work he has helped businesses ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to the Global 500.  He has assisted with work ranging from tactical projects to strategic, enterprise-wide, programs and initiatives.  His work has taken him to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and throughout North America.  He has extensive experience working with diverse, cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams who are focused on systems innovation, development, continuous improvement (including Lean and Six Sigma) and solving complex technical, operational and organizational problems.   

Ron has worked on projects ranging from basic scientific analysis to advanced systems development.  Ron has assisted with research and development focused on product life cycle management, advanced manufacturing systems, quality systems, product integrity, systems integration, automation, robotics, computer-aided design, intelligent systems, systems security, environmental technology, bio-technology and systems modeling and simulation.  Furthermore, he has worked on joint venture technology projects with companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Perkin-Elmer, Waters, Lotus, Microsoft and others.  He has authored and co-authored numerous technical papers for professional journals.  And, he has assisted with new technological breakthroughs that have been either patented or protected under trade secret.

In the 1980s Ron was among the first American scientists and engineers to study the Toyota Production System and learn the principles of JIT, Kanban, cellular manufacturing and concurrent engineering.  This work led to Ron assisting his organization with understanding the TPS (Lean) principles and helping them integrate TPS into their operations.  Moreover, his research into Toyota's concurrent engineering and Ford's global design practices led him to design, develop and implement The Coca-Cola Company's Global Development Center organization for coordinating the concurrent design and development of new products, materials, packages, equipment, processes and systems.  

In 1991 Ron was among the first group of professionals to whom Motorola formally introduced their now familiar Six Sigma quality system.  Ron visited Motorola's Plantation Florida facility and learned first-hand the philosophy, principles and application of Six Sigma from the creators of the system.  This seminal experience has been a great benefit in helping him assist organizations with understanding and applying Six Sigma practices.

Currently Ron assists organizations with supply chain management, engineering systems and continuous improvement (i.e., Lean Six Sigma) projects and initiatives.  Recent clients include The Home Depot, Wal-Mart, 3M, Morgan Stanley, Asahi Glass, Ambrosi and Associates, Schawk, Safeway Stores, Coca-Cola Enterprises and The Coca-Cola Company. Prior to his business and industry career Ron served in the United States Air Force.

Ron has a bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering from Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU).  He has completed graduate work at SPSU, Kennesaw State University and Georgia Tech.  Through Georgia Tech, MIT and SPSU he has completed continuing education in systems engineering and technology.  In addition, he has completed advanced information technology training at IBM, Lotus and Hewlett-Packard. Through The Coca-Cola University he has completed training in executive leadership, marketing leadership, business communications, interpersonal communications, organizational management, performance management, Covey and Six Sigma.  He completed Lean training with the Juran Institute.  Ron is a senior member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and a Learning and Leadership Fellow at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.