Joe Blaes, DDS
Dr. Blaes: Let me introduce Vicente Reynal, the president of Pelton & Crane and KaVo. After Danaher acquired these companies, Vicente arrived to transform them. Vicente, how did you do it?
Reynal: Thank you, Dr. Blaes, for visiting our team in Charlotte (N.C.). As you saw, we have a strong team, and this is what has helped make the dramatic improvements to our company. The Best Team Wins is one of our main core values, and it really starts here. At the same time, we aggressively focus on another core value, Product Innovation Defines our Future. During the past several years, we have innovated our core product categories. This has resulted in some amazing new products, such as the Pelton Helios Light, Pelton Spirit 3800 delivery unit, and KaVo ComfortDrive to name a few. The third piece of the puzzle is our tenacity in pursuing continuous improvement. The overarching driver is the execution of the Danaher Business System principles that continue to transform our culture.
Dr. Blaes: During my visit, I was amazed at how well you integrated KaVo into your factory and mix of products and built a huge showroom without a building addition. How did you do this?
Reynal: As I mentioned, we have a passion for continuous improvement; it is part of our DNA. In this instance, we incorporated KaVo into a third of the space it had originally when it was located in Illinois despite increasing sales volumes. By using lean manufacturing principles, we greatly enhanced our space utilization efficiency to free up real estate for greater commercial investment. Our productivity and overall process improvements continue to allow us to invest in the company and generate greater levels of customer satisfaction.
Vicente Reynal is the president of Pelton & Crane and KaVo. He has been with the Danaher Corporation since 2004, and led a $1 billion global operations for Danaher Motion before coming to the dental division. Prior to Danaher, Reynal worked at Honeywell Aerospace and Thermo Scientific, where he led a global business portfolio for different divisions. He has worked as lead research scientist at Oak Ridge National Labs and the Office of Naval Research. His education includes a BS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, an MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, and an MS in technology and policy from MIT.
