Reid Leland, PE

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Reid Leland, PE

Founder, President

BS Mechanical Engineering Technology, Weber State University 1993

MS Civil Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 1995

Utah Licensed Professional Engineer, No: 362004-2202

Northern Utah Manufacturer’s Alliance, Chairman, 2007–2008

National Tooling and Machining Association, Technology Team Leader, 2012 – 2014

WSU Football Team Captain 1991

E-mail Reid:

Ask him about lemon trees, business acumen, and the ancient art of Kanban.

> Suzanna Leland

> Paul Harbath

> Jason Kunz

The Lesson of the Lime Branch on the Lemon Tree: The subdivision where Reid Leland grew up in Phoenix, Arizona was built on a citrus orchard. All the homes had citrus trees in their backyards, but in Reid’s backyard grew a tree that was unique — an ‘engineered’ lemon tree with a lime branch grafted onto it. At 10 years old, little Reid Leland piled his limes on his little red wagon and sold them door to door. His neighbours loved being able to get something different. That was the summer Reid became an engineer and an entrepreneur. Today at 6’2”, little Reid isn’t so little anymore, but the lesson of the lemon tree is part of the LeanWerks story – ‘make everything better.’

In many ways, Reid has been in business since the tender age of 10.

Reid had the opportunity to put that lesson into practice when he opened the doors for LeanWerks in June 2003. Because he knew that a better culture would lead to better products, the first thing he did was implement Open Book Management. (He had experienced the powerful, positive impact of OBM when he worked at Setpoint, one of the nation’s premiere custom automation designers and builders.)

He went on to implement a Kanban system which dramatically reduced lead and set-up times. Relying on his mechanical engineering background, he then found a way to work directly from 3d model to finished part while still adhering to the incredibly tight tolerances his customers demanded. This was a major cost and time saving for his customers because it eliminated the need for them to create 2d drawings for each component.

Reid continues to drive innovation, expand capabilities and stay on the cutting edge of manufacturing technology by acquiring, on average, one new major machine per year. It all comes back to the lesson of the lime branch on the lemon tree – make everything better.