Robinson Consulting Group RCG has a team of highly qualified professionals. Led by US founder Charlie, it opened up lean projects in Asia in 2001 and was one of the earlier lean consulting firms in China and Southeast Asia. It has witnessed the rapid growth of lean in Asia, accumulated rich experience and built a scientific lean management system.
RCG US Founder
CHARLES J. ROBINSON, P.E. PRINCIPAL
Charlie Robinson has nearly 40 years of experience helping companies strategically improve their manufacturing operations.
After earning a degree in chemical engineering from Rice University in 1975, Mr. Robinson began his consulting career at Creole Production Services in Houston, Texas, advising major oil companies on operations and maintenance strategy. He worked on a variety of international and domestic projects, developing operating plans, maintenance plans, start-up plans and logistics support systems.
In 1984, Mr. Robinson began working for Fluor Daniel Corporation in Greenville, South Carolina and Irvine, California. He built a consulting group dedicated to improving equipment reliability and maintainability, and managed projects for many companies including TRW, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nissan, Isuzu and Toyota. He was part of the management team that merged the Fluor and Daniel organizations.
In 1988, Mr. Robinson joined Keith-Stevens as a senior partner, where he developed and launched a consulting business specializing in total productive maintenance. He trained in Japan with Seiichi Nakajima and with Kunio Shirose of the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance. Clients included Ford, Boeing, Ocean Spray and ExxonMobil. After Hartford Steam Boiler acquired Keith-Stevens, Mr. Robinson continued as vice president of the consulting division.
In early 1993, Mr. Robinson founded Robinson Consulting Group to help companies strategically improve their manufacturing operations. Clients included Ford, Dofasco Steel, Rohm & Haas and Pentair Corporation. He worked with many companies as they began learning and implementing their own versions of the Toyota Production System. In 1996, Mr. Robinson joined other independent consulting firms to found Total Systems Development, Inc., an organization dedicated to helping companies strategically improve their manufacturing operations.
For the past 15 years Mr. Robinson has worked in Asia, helping footwear makers, toy factories, printing plants and garment companies adopt lean production principles. An expert in the Toyota Production System and lean enterprise strategy, he is well known nationwide. He co-authored “Total Productive Maintenance: The North American Experience,” published by Productivity Press, and was a principal author of “Lean Manufacturing: A Plant Floor Guide,” published by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2001. He has published articles in Plant Services, Maintenance Technology, Plant Engineering, AIPE Journal, IMI Newsletter and others, and has been a keynote speaker at the national IIE conference, the National Plant Engineering and Maintenance Show, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the national AIPE conference and numerous regional conferences and seminars.
RCG Hong Kong Director
CAPERS LEE MANAGING DIRECTOR HONG KONG
Capers Lee has more than 12 years of experience implementing lean manufacturing solutions in China.
In 2007 he was a management trainee at Guangzhou Yuexiu Group Co., Ltd. Over a six-month placement he became familiar with lean logistics, supermarket systems and FIFO warehouse management, and was named one of Guangzhou’s Top Ten Outstanding Youth by Yuexiu Group.
In early 2008 he joined Asia Management Company in Hong Kong as an intern. He began studying lean under Ms. Rainbow and Mr. Kelvin, senior consultants of NOS (the NIKE Lean Operating System), and learned value stream management from Raymond Chow, Mattel’s lean Six Sigma master. He started coordinating lean projects including Level Style Inc. (a trousers factory), YWC (a luggage factory), SCO (a bag factory) and YKS (a handbag factory), and later focused on supporting Mattel’s lean projects, such as converting conveyor lines and using smaller conveyor lines to reduce non-value-added time and create greater flexibility.
In mid-2008 he graduated from South China Agricultural University with bachelor’s degrees in biotechnology and computer science. Through a lean manufacturing course run by Mattel’s Lean Learning Center in Dongguan, China, he earned “Lean Blue Belt” certification.
In 2009, as a VSM specialist, he led the launch of lean projects with more than 13 Mattel suppliers, including value stream analysis, opportunity identification and laying the foundation for lean implementation. He also took part in lean-level assessments of nine Puma factories in Vietnam and China, and was responsible for process audits at Red Bull’s factories in Malaysia and mainland China.
In 2010 he served as interim plant manager for three months at LIJI Electronics in Ningbo, while also working with the cost-improvement team of France’s Decathlon Group, mainly on 5S and visual management projects at Decathlon factories.
In 2011 he was promoted to project manager, responsible for lean implementation at Case Logic (two bag factories) and Coach (five bag factories), and took part in Coach’s new factory project in the Philippines. He carried out lean-level assessments at nine Crocs factories in Vietnam, León (Mexico) and China.
In 2012 he began working full-time with Mr. Robinson (founder of Robinson Consulting Group) on Hallmark’s lean project in the United States, and took part in assessing eight Hallmark supplier factories in South China. After the assessment, four factories joined Robinson Consulting Group’s services mid-year as a kickoff, and two more joined in 2013. He continues to work at these six factories under Mr. Robinson’s guidance and the RCG lean method.
In 2013 he earned Six Sigma Black Belt certification and began systematically training factories in lean and Six Sigma.
In 2016 Capers Lee began participating in the launch of RCG’s Hong Kong office and took over RCG’s South China business. He is mainly responsible for company operations, managing the senior team, developing value-added lean services, and working with the team to grow the lean business in Asia.
In 2017 he partnered with CAC (a leader of coaching technology in China), with the main goal of integrating lean culture and coaching culture. Pilot sites included Foshan Huajian Pneumatic Nails, Guangzhou Hengxing Wire & Cable and Nanhai Xiahua Printing.
In 2018 he worked with Hong Kong’s APRO Group on an automation project, mainly to help its team apply lean principles in designing and evaluating automation equipment.
In 2019 he partnered with Hong Kong’s DS Group to prepare a new electronic information-board company, serving as business director of the founding team and mainly responsible for new-product market demand analysis, early customer trials and product promotion.
RCG Business Director
GABRIEL ZHAO MARKETING DIRECTOR HONG KONG
Industry experience:
Skilled in lean production efficiency improvement and in planning and running sand-table simulation exercises. Has extensive experience driving lean projects in shop-floor standardization, process optimization, process reengineering, logistics improvement and shortening product delivery cycles. Has led the practical rollout and operation of multiple projects and has rich lean consulting experience.
Former lean project lead at Delta Group, leading multiple lean improvement projects at its Wujiang transformer plant, covering plant layout optimization, efficiency improvement, cost management, company-wide improvement and performance management, and winning the “Lean Team Improvement First Prize.”
Former lean project lead at PKC Group, responsible for lean innovations such as production planning process reengineering, rapid changeover, cell production, man-machine coordination and value stream analysis.
Clients served:
Xingguang Printing Group, Delta Group, PKC Group, Chengyi Fabrics, Tongfu Toys, Bobai Electric, Weijia Wood Industry, Longda Horticulture, Shuner Industry & Trade, Jinxinda Cups, Jienuo Vacuum Cleaners, Dabang Industry & Trade, and others.
Areas of expertise:
Planning and running sand-table simulations and training dojos; 5S and visual management, efficiency improvement, process layout optimization, lean production line design, standard work, level production, team building, TWI, SMED, TPM and more;
RCG Executive Director
ROBIN LUO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HONG KONG
Robin has more than 10 years of experience in in-house lean implementation and consulting. He has provided cross-industry on-site project improvement and lean consulting to manufacturers of leather stitching, die-casting and machining, electronics manufacturing and sheet-metal stamping. While training and developing in-house lean staff, he works closely with internal lean teams to deliver significant results such as lower costs, higher productivity, reduced work-in-process, shorter lead times and better quality.
He previously served as lean manager at Universal Handcraft (an OEM factory licensed for premium brands such as COACH and MICHAEL KORS, with 10,000 employees), responsible for introducing, implementing and continuously driving LEAN. He achieved outstanding results across multiple projects: building a standard-time system from scratch, optimizing internal logistics (logistics costs down 50%), optimizing business processes and adjusting department functions, rebalancing layouts and building model lines, reducing WIP (by more than 20 million), raising line efficiency (by 20%), shortening lead time (from 75 days to 60), and speeding up changeover (from 3 days to 2 hours). It became a leading benchmark of successful LEAN implementation in the industry, and improvement cases such as stitching templates, tooling for operations and machine operation improvements are widely cited by peers. He later joined manufacturers such as Shidai Handbags, Junen Leather Goods and Sandarong Luggage to introduce and roll out LEAN, with excellent project results.
He then worked with Shenzhen Yongying Electronics, providing shop-floor management consulting and improving production efficiency and delivery time in its SMT testing process. Over a six-month improvement period, the targets were met or exceeded: production efficiency up 25% and on-time delivery up from 60% to more than 90%. Layout optimization and material-handling improvements were also carried out.
While working with Zhejiang Nengcheng Group (a manufacturing arm of Wang Li Group, a leading domestic maker of security doors), he provided lean management and VSM diagnostic services, delivering value-stream-based lean consulting and implementation such as lead time reduction (from 7 days to 3), WIP reduction across all processes (30% cut) and first-pass yield (FPY) improvement (up 5%), guiding every project to on-time completion. At the Zhuhai branch of Seagull Sanitary Ware (an OEM factory for premium sanitary brands such as Kohler, Moen and American Standard), the core projects with notable results were die-casting machine OEE improvement (from 70% to 78%), machining per-capita efficiency (UPPH up 15%) and assembly WIP reduction (inventory cut from 2 days to 4 hours). Based on PQPR analysis he also rearranged machining CNC layouts (cell layouts), separated production from material handling in internal logistics, and achieved one-piece-flow production from die-casting to trimming to deburring. The improvement results of each sub-project were recognized and praised by the client.