Thursday, June 5, 2025 Virtual Conference

Peter Palmér, LPPDE and Juha Tammi, Lean Association of Finland - Welcome and Instructions

Peter and Juha represent the two organization who organize these virtual online events and will moderate the Virtual Summit.

Chris Vair, Sr. Program manager - Space systems at Rocket Lab – Managing Projects in a Fast-Paced Industry

Chris will give us an insight in how he manages projects in a fast-paced industry where failures are very costly. He will share experiences about project management and systems engineering

Chris Vair is a self-driven and proactive professional with a track record of high achievement and a demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced and challenging manufacturing environment. Dedicated to continuous improvement, able to lead programs from a program management and systems engineering perspective. Collaborative communicator adept at working within cross-functional teams, as well as conveying complex concepts to customers. Very adept communicator who displays empathy, humor, and empowerment to get the most out of teams.

Areas of expertise:

• Project Management • Mechanical Design • Predictive Maintenance • Process Improvement • Technical Team Leadership • Safety Compliance • Root Cause Analysis • Lean Manufacturing • value stream management • product development • product and process scale-up.

Dimantha Kottawa Gamage, PhD Candidate Researching on Lean Innovation at Montana State University – A Systematic Approach for Organizations to Generate Set-Based Knowledge

Set-based knowledge, or Set Based Concurrent Engineering or Set-Based Thinking, is not so commonly used as a basis for the product development process as one would think when you look at it´s great potential. Dimantha has been researching this interesting area and has summed up some of his findings. The presentation will focus on a systematic approach for the organizations to generate Set-Based Knowledge.

Dimantha Kottawa Gamage holds a B.S. in Management & IT from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Post his Bachelors, he acquired five years of industry expertise as a Lean Practitioner and Change Agent. Dimantha currently navigates the realms of academia, He is pursuing a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at Montana State University. His research focus is Lean Product Development.

Gary Lai, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Interlune Space – Working Backwards

Gary will share knowledge and techniques for leading teams to innovate and develop groundbreaking, complex space systems that can be applied to any product development strategy. It starts with a clear articulation of a vision for a product centered on the customer's experience, rather than a technology, followed by a plan that works backwards from that vision to the steps that need to be taken immediately. Gary will explain the often misunderstood concept of entitlement value to drive improvement in key performance indicators with real world examples. 

Gary Lai brings over 25 years of experience in commercial space innovation, having pioneered reusable space technologies and lunar resource utilization. As co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Interlune, he is developing methods for harvesting lunar resources to address Earth's resource challenges.

Final reflections and remarks

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By Juha Tammi & Peter Palmér

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