In keeping with its economic development mission to advance a vibrant, sustainable industrial economy in the state, the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership at Georgia Tech has awarded Chris Shipman the Manufacturing Leadership Certificate.

Shipman, a production manager at CJB Industries’ Gil Harbin Plant, an herbicide facility in Valdosta, earned the Manufacturing Leadership Certificate after completing the five required courses and two electives.

The certificate program is an educational series that GaMEP designed to strengthen manufacturing leadership by offering in-depth and practical hands-on training and learning to new and emerging leaders (or those needing a refresher) in the industry.

The courses teach participants effective leadership practices and the importance of building and engaging teams; how to create the right metrics and use those to optimize operations; how to hire, train, and coach employees; and more.

Shipman, who joined CJB Industries in 2009, started his career with the company as a lab technician before being promoted to packaging manager, and subsequently to his current role as production manager.

The company offered its employees the opportunity to take the certificate courses for and Shipman jumped at the opportunity.

“I’m always up for learning new ways to improve so that my team and I can better serve the company and our customers,” Shipman said.

Shipman got a lot out of the program, but he said the 5S portion of the Lean Boot Camp class really resonated with him.

The 5S standard — sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain — is designed to better organize the workplace and improve productivity through implementing measures in a plant to maximize overall operations.

“I have two departments, pre-stage and then making the products. Since implementing Lean 5S, it’s a lot less chaotic and it’s easier to find materials we need. It’s not spread out everywhere or a guessing game,” Shipman said. “The flow within the department has improved and the training I received has helped to make our department more efficient. The error rate has gone down, enabling us to make our products faster and get the product to the customer quicker than before.”