For now the 31-year-old plantmanager is content to lord over a factory floor of Vermeer Manufacturing Co. in Pella, Iowa, pointing to a directional drill assembly line that used to be cluttered with 20 days' worth of parts inventory.
Guiding a reporter through the crowded plant, the former manager of an IBM circuit-board factory points to places where Dell can shave off a few seconds of assembly time or move completed products out the door a couple of minutes faster.