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STEVE YARBER

Director, Operations Practice

Steve is a seasoned operations leader with over three decades of experience driving lean transformations across complex manufacturing, military, and healthcare environments. His leadership journey includes impactful roles at industry leaders like Danaher, Watlow Electric Company, Trane Technologies, and the United States military.


Steve is known for his hands-on approach to building and sustaining high-performance operations. From electronics assembly and heavy sanitary wares to healthcare systems and military logistics, across both union and non-union environments—he’s led teams through the trenches of daily management, material flow improvements, and frontline Kaizen. His track record speaks for itself: improved on-time delivery, reduced lead times, higher inventory turns, and measurable efficiency gains.

A lifelong learner and practitioner of Lean, Steve has refined his approach through years of mentorship from Danaher leaders and globally recognized lean pioneers, embedding Lean not as a toolkit but as a daily leadership discipline. His philosophy focuses on developing people, eliminating waste, and creating sustainable systems that deliver results.


He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from East Tennessee State University and has completed advanced leadership and Lean training through the U.S. Army and Danaher.

Steve Yarber’s Industry Experience

ELECTRONICS ASSEMBLY

DISCRETE MANUFACTURING

SANITARY PRODUCTS MANUFACTURING

UNION AND NON-UNION OPERATIONS

MULTI-SITE GLOBAL ENTERPRISES

HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS

& MORE