Charles Purtle MassMEP Employee Highlights

“I’m a Project Manager here at MassMEP and have been on board for about 4 months,” begins Charles Purtle. “I deliver products to train employees to learn how to better serve themselves and hopefully grow their companies. First, we start by going into the company with one of our Business Development Advisors to do an assessment. We discuss what their pain points are, what their goals are, and get a tour of the facility and operations so we can see what is going on there. Then we develop a plan for how we can help them. We had a great one yesterday. The company was so happy to do a Value Stream Map and better understand their process.”

Charles continues, “I love helping people to understand and in a way that is simple for them. It’s not just training that I enjoy, equally important is helping them to implement on the training as well. Part of it is about helping things flow faster and better, but it is really about working with people. I love going to all the companies and meeting all the people.”

Charles’ background lends itself well to the work he does at MassMEP. “I’m a manufacturing engineer by schooling and have over 35 years’ experience in lean. My dad had a machine shop, so when I was 12 years old, I was running lathes and Bridgeports. My first coop job was with Avery Dennison in Fitchburg. That involved a project to help put staples in pants to hold tags on. When I graduated I went to work at Raytheon for a couple of years. At that time, the union environment was not for me. Times have changed and that environment is now much more win/win rather than being pitted against each other. From Raytheon I went to Bose for 21 years. They were a learning organization so were always sending us to training, seminars, and educational events. That’s where I got my Green Belt and Black Belt. At one point we got a new Vice President and he brought us the Toyota Production system. We did a whole implementation globally. Our big plants were in San Luis and Tijuana, Mexico and Columbia, SC with about four thousand each. I was the rep up here in MA which was a smaller plant of three hundred. Our sensei was Auto Leaf Manufacturing out in Salt Lake City, and they were a direct supplier to Toyota, who had been their sensei for the Toyota Production System. In 2009 I went to Optos in Marlborough and in doing so moved into the medical device sector. When another company bought us, my job became redundant. With that turn of events, I decided to move into the health care realm and worked another 5 years at Brockton Hospital. Lean is about people and process flow, so it works everywhere. The hospitals really are getting into lean more but can still be very siloed between departments.”

How did Charles discover MassMEP? As it turns out, a recruiter from California contacted him and told him what a wonderful place it is to work at. Charles emphatically states, “She was right!”

Charles alluded to his professional passion earlier and continued, “What matters most to me is helping people do a better and more efficient job and getting a flow through the company. Keeping jobs here is my mantra. I began to shift my own career towards healthcare because things were going offshore. I have seen it too often that things are shipped out. Now things are starting to shift the other way. MassMEP is a good place for me to help deliver all the experience that I have.”

Charles closes by sharing, “Outside of work I am an outdoors guy. I enjoy all kinds of activities including camping, hiking, and biking. I currently enjoy primarily motor sports because it is just easier. I have been thinking of getting one of those electric bikes, but somehow that seems like its cheating. Can you really say you went for a 20-mile ride when you had an electric battery pushing you along?”

How well do you know Charles? Two of these statements are true and one is not. Can you guess which one?

• I love to ride motorcycles or power equipment, like jet skis.
• I love to ski.
• I really enjoy doing my yard work. I have a big lot of land and am always out doing improvements.