Eric Olsen
San Luis Obispo, CA | North America
Associate Professor Industrial Technology at Cal Poly State University - San Luis Obispo

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About me ...

Dr. Eric O. Olsen is Associate Professor of Industrial Technology at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA where he teaches classes in lean manufacturing; quality assurance, production planning and control, and six-sigma at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His research focus is in lean thinking, strategy implementation, and performance measurement. He enjoys acting as an advisor to students doing senior and graduate thesis work in a range of industries from electronic manufacturing to higher education.

Dr. Olsen's teaching, research, and consulting is informed by over 20 years of industry engineering and management experience at Caterpillar, Litton, and Hewlett Packard.

While at HP, he developed his love of learning and teaching as the worldwide education manager of HP's component and semiconductor group. His career has allowed him to work on improvement projects with a wide range of global manufacturing operations, including those in North America, Southeast Asia, and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Olsen's academic credentials include a BS in Engineering from the University of Maine, an MBA from Virginia Tech, and a PhD in Operations Management from Ohio State.

He fills his non-professional time with family home remodeling projects; hiking the central coast of California, and building community networks with friends over a glass of wine on Friday nights.


My thoughts on ...
What I think about low-cost manufacturing
Companies often do not consider the full cost of ownership in evaluating their value chains.

My thoughts on what makes a good program manager
A good program manager understands and delivers the value proposition.

A book I recommend to others or am currently reading
The Toyota Kata by Mike Rother.

One of my favorite quotes
"If you can't grow corn, I don't want to hear your philosophy" - Grandfather of Winona LaDuke, native american activist.

A helpful travel tip I often use
Get in and out of the system as early as you can.