Instructors

Dr. Jack Cook is a professor, speaker, author, and consultant. He is an Associate Professor of Operations and Information Systems at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). His areas of expertise include Supply Chain Management, Lean Thinking, Information Systems, Operations Management and Electronic Commerce. Jack's extensive experience teaching and training over the last two decades includes over one hundred conference presentations and numerous journal articles. He has an entertaining and engaging approach and is known for bringing theories to life, resulting in him being honored five teaching awards.

Dr. Cook is a Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management (CFPIM), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) as well as a Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE). He is a CPIM and CSCP certification instructor, and has developed and delivered many seminars and on-site training programs. In addition to extensively consulting and training Lean Six Sigma Green and Black Belts, Dr. Cook developed a Lean Six Sigma x-Belt Certification program specifically designed for non-manufacturers. His education includes a Ph.D. in Business Administration, an MS in Computer Science, an MBA, an MA in Mathematics, and a BS in Computer Science.

Mr. Joost Vles, CSCP , CPIM

Joost Vles holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Buffalo and is a Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) from APICS, the Association for Operations Management. He is currently a Parts Build Manager, with the Aircraft Group Operations, at Moog Inc. From 1988 to 2007, he was an associate at Luvata (formerly American Brass) in Buffalo, New York where he was Director of Operations and Plant Manager from 2004 until he was hired by Moog. Previous positions held at Luvata were Director, Customer Service & Inventory Teams, Manager Inside Sales, Manager Manufacturing Systems and various leadership positions in IT.


Mr. Vles has extensive experience in directing and working with manufacturing staff and union employees in a large plant, utilizing the guidelines of the ISO TS-16949 management system. He establishes a high performance team environment, and leads initiatives designed to improve sales, customer service, productivity, safety, inventory levels, and quality.

Mr. Vles is an experienced teacher; his classrooms are usually intra-company lecture sessions relating to production planning, inventory management and control, safety, budget and reporting, and he also teaches lessons in teamwork for the Executive Masters of Business Administration program at UB, as well as CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) courses for APICS.