Larry R. Smith

Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and Past National Director of ASQ

Larry R. Smith retired from Ford in 2005 where he was quality coach of the Ford Motor Company's Heritage team, a team charged with revitalizing the Ford Rouge manufacturing complex.  When Ford recruited Edward Deming to start its quality movement, Larry was one of the students in the Deming’s class.  Larry's career emphasis has been in quality engineering and product development.  He was instrumental in initiating a six sigma effort at Ford Motor Company and acted as deployment champion for the Superduty Truck Platform, whose six sigma projects saved $49 million in the first year of operation.  He was also champion of a volunteer Ford Environmental Idea Process Team, focused on developing ideas related to design and manufacture of vehicles whose use improves conditions for human beings and the environment.  Larry has held a variety of quality management positions in his 27 years at Ford, primarily in Vehicle Operations, North American Truck, Powertrain Operations, and Casting Operations.

Since Ford, Larry has consulted and conducted training on quality and innovation methods with his own company, The Quality Smith, and for Ideation, GOAL/QPC and the Juran Institute.  He has worked with corporations such as Abbott, Delphi, Unilever, Raytheon, Apple, Bosch, organizations such as the American Society for Quality and the European Organization for Quality, and consulting firms in China, India, and Malaysia.

A fellow of the American Society for Quality and elected national director from 2004-2006, Smith was president of the Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies from 1999 to 2008, and has been involved in numerous applications of TRIZ since 1993.  A member of the Board of Directors of GOAL/QPC from 1994 to 2007, Larry is a past president of the Detroit Chapter of ASM International.
 

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