FT. WORTH, Texas -- Intermet Corp. has named Bob Flaherty as its chief lean officer. In the newly created position, Flaherty will serve as Intermet's lean leader and mentor. He will report to Jeff Mihalic, Intermet president and CEO.

"Bob has extensive experience in implementing lean manufacturing at both General Motors and Toyota over the past 24 years. He brings tremendous expertise to our team and we're delighted to have him on board," said Mihalic.

In his new role, Flaherty will work collaboratively with Intermet group presidents and the company's 10 plants to achieve efficiencies while building upon the lean foundation already in place throughout the company.

"Over the past 24 months, we have made great strides and have had a lot of success with our company-wide lean initiatives," said Mihalic. "Bob will take us to the next level and even greater success."

Most recently, Flaherty was the area manager at General Motors' Indianapolis (Ind.) Metal Center, where he was responsible for production and various lean initiatives in a large stamping and body welding facility.

Prior to a short assignment at the General Motors Lordstown (Ohio) Metal Center, Flaherty spent seven years at the General Motors Europe, Antwerp, Belgium, plant where he served as director of engineering. In that role, his responsibilities included launch preparation for the Opel Astra and lean manufacturing implementation across the facility. He also started up a greenfield stamping plant in Antwerp, where he served as the press shop manager.

Previously, Flaherty spent nearly eight years at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Ky., where he held various positions and responsibilities including start-up preparation, training of associates on the Toyota Production System, various Production Engineering kaizen initiatives and management of the stamping plant expansion.

Flaherty began his career as a production engineer and production supervisor with General Motors in Flint, Mich. He earned two bachelor of science degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.; one in applied mathematics, operations research/industrial management, and another in administration and management science.

For more information about Intermet, go to: www.intermet.com.