Overview
Early in my career at Boeing, I led a $17M facility transformation initiative to support a major production ramp-up: increasing throughput by 20 additional 737 aircraft per month. The effort reconfigured 55 manufacturing departments across 900,000 square feet—without pausing live operations. Like a strategic game of Tetris, every move required careful coordination, fitting disparate production elements together seamlessly to unlock space, efficiency, and flow.
Role & Responsibilities
Directed facility strategy and implementation across 55 production shops
Partnered with 30+ product lines to collect rate, space, and resource requirements
Designed a scalable layout strategy that expanded the 737-program footprint
Maintained continuous operations through phased planning and risk mitigation
Discovery & Initiation
Our industrial engineering analysis confirmed that the current facility layout couldn’t sustain the projected production rate. Shops were boxed in—physically and operationally. I partnered with cross-functional leaders to define needs and constraints, then built a macro-level plan to optimize shop locations, open up flow, and reclaim capacity for expansion.
Planning & Design Development
Once approved, I led layout planning sessions with dozens of stakeholders to document:
Workflow dependencies
Shared resource utilization
Equipment and utility needs
Safety, clearance, and egress requirements
I created phased move plans that aligned with engineering changes and production demands, ensuring each new “piece” of the layout would fit into place without creating operational gaps.
Execution & Iteration
Challenge 1: Shifting rate forecasts and overlapping engineering changes
Resolution: Embedded risk reviews into planning forums and proactively adapted layouts to reflect change orders and evolving requirements
Challenge 2: Limited capacity from shop leaders for ongoing planning
Resolution: Developed focused, time-boxed working sessions and used visual design reviews to accelerate feedback and approvals
Challenge 3: Live production couldn’t pause for reconfiguration
Resolution: Built a phased move strategy with targeted production stoppages, allowing critical work to continue while spaces were reconfigured in sequence
Closeout & Impact
The project was delivered:
On time and within the $17M budget
With minimal post-move adjustments
And with a layout capable of sustaining future production targets
Beyond the tangible results, this experience shaped my operational leadership style: adaptive, systems-driven, and grounded in collaboration. What started as a layout challenge became a career milestone—solidifying my passion for orchestrating large-scale change across people, process, and space.