Carlos (he/him) began his Lean journey in June, 1996, at The Boeing Company. Carlos’s management elected to sponsor him in Boeing’s Lean Certification Program for both kaizen workshops and value stream mapping workshops. His training included classroom work, independent study, written tests, and facilitating both factory and non-factory workshops. He spent a total of 26 weeks working under the guidance of Shingijutsu consultants on various Lean workshop projects. These projects ranged from the shop floor to the office, both union and non-union. He had direct coaching from Yoshiki Iwata, the founder of Shingijutsu. He completed two study missions to Japan to examine the Japanese approach to Production Preparation Process and Kanban.
In 2006, Carlos left Boeing to launch Straus Forest LLC, d/b/a OfficeRocket. OfficeRocket is a Lean consultancy that specializes in implementing Lean in government agencies. His client list includes King County, the EPA, the City of Seattle, the City of Issaquah, Sound Transit, and various agencies within Washington State government. He has also published three books: Flow in the Office: Implementing and Sustaining Lean Improvements; Rapid Office Kaizen; and Rapid Office Kaizen for Law Enforcement.
In his tenure as a Lean practitioner, Carlos has: designed, developed, and launched a Lean program in a 1,400-person business unit; delivered Lean coaching, consulting, and training to leadership up to the executive level in a variety of companies and government agencies; designed, developed, and implemented customized Lean tools tailored to government office environments; led numerous kaizen process improvement workshops and value stream mapping workshops in government office environments. Integrated organizational strategies and Lean.
In his work, Carlos has shown a deft ability to respond to the unexpected with flexibility and inventiveness. Focusing on what is important to the client, he is willing to bend traditional Lean to fit the circumstances without sacrificing what’s most important: his client successfully and happily reaching their goals.
