About Us
Since 2004, TBR Strategies has been using its expertise to solve asset management challenges for hundreds of organizations. In that time, we have guided countless companies to improved efficiency and reliability. This is based on a mindset of always being uncompromisingly competitive and quality oriented. Consequently, our approach enables us to facilitate transformations of the culture, people and equipment of companies. The result is an organization that can achieve maximum profitability while minimizing costs.
The TBR Strategies consulting team has a combined experience of more than a century. Consequently, we can leverage unmatched expertise gained from some of the most demanding companies, institutions and environments in the world. As recognized experts in their field, they have helped change the course of reliability and maintenance process efficiency for many companies across varied industries.
MEET THE TEAM
Justin Smith
President/CEO
Justin has been part of the TBR team for more than a decade, possessing ¬multiple years of training in Total Process Reliability (TPR) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). Justin has served the company in a variety of roles at TBR over the years, with his most recent being Operations Manager, a position he has held for a year now. He also acts as a consultant for the firm.
As part of the TBR Strategies Team, Justin has guided several construction clients in the development and execution of improvements to their maintenance practices. Always willing to go the extra mile for his clients, Justin has helped design and install maintenance systems within their facilities.
Before joining the TBR team, Justin worked for more than four years in industrial construction consulting, including operations and maintenance of a wide range of equipment and vehicles from trucks to heavy industrial equipment. In addition, Justin spent several years operating stationary and mobile equipment in support of paper mill operations.
Justin’s background doesn’t only include maintenance and safety of equipment; he also is well-versed in ensuring human resources are utilized safely and responsibly. As such, he spent several years supporting operations at one of the largest phosphate mining and chemical plants in the country; this included responsibility for basic operator care, preventive maintenance and routine service activities for equipment, resulting in minimal downtime and maximum efficiency.
TPR and 
TPM Experience
Like our other team members, and as a TPR practitioner, Justin has a vast knowledge in a number of TPR Best Practices, including:
- Company Strategic Planning
- Departmental Strategic Planning
- Total Productive Maintenance
- (TPM)
- Total Process Reliability (TPR)
- Planning & Scheduling
- Utilizing 5S
- CLAIRE/EIT
- Communications
- Operator Care
- Proxy Tech
- Contractor & Vendor
- Management
- Auditing
- Management of Change (MOC)
- Job Task Analysis
- (JTA)Equipment/Fleet
- Management
- Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
- KPI Management
- Importance of fasteners
- Plant Maintenance
- Fleet Maintenance
- Lubrication Principles
- Centralizing Shops
- Predictive/Preventive
- Maintenance
- Performance Based Maintenance
- Inventory Control (MRO)
- CMMS Selection
- Job Aid development
- PM development PM Optimization (PMO)
- Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) Tracking
- Condition Based Monitoring (CBM) technologies
- Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA)
Trainings
- TPR Coordination
- Planning & Scheduling
- TPM/TPR Event Facilitation
- Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
- Leadership
- Conflict Management
- MRO Practices
- 6-Step Problem Solving
Justin has coordinated numerous CLAIRE/Equipment Improvement Team (EIT) and 5S events. He is a trainer for Operator Care and all TPR Initiatives. As a leader in the industry, Justin’s expansive knowledge of industry Best Practices have produced clear results for companies searching for improving maintenance practices, equipment reliability, business operations, safety, organization, efficiency, and employee relations. To inquire about or schedule a training opportunity, you can contact him.
Preston Ingalls
President Emeritus
Preston Ingalls brings over forty-four years of experience as a maintenance and reliability consultant. In that time he has analyzed, designed and implemented organizational improvement projects and change efforts for numerous companies. These include global enterprises such as Shell, Unilever, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Mobil Chemical, Skanska, Bayer, Monsanto, Roche, Pillsbury, Corning, Hess, Occidental Petroleum and Texas Instruments.
In the last seventeen years, he has worked exclusively with construction companies, pharmaceutical/biotech and oil and gas producers. Some standout projects include Total Process Reliability (TPR) efforts across seven countries for Royal Dutch Shell.
Career positions include that of millwright, maintenance engineer, production superintendent, manufacturing engineer, engineering manager, quality control manager, director of training, internal change agent and human resources manager. In addition, his early career included leading several maintenance departments by serving as maintenance engineer, supervisor, and manager.
Seminars, Training Courses and Other Accomplishments
Preston’s experience goes far beyond the implementation of TPR and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) in over 330 operations across 30 countries. His scope includes conducting more than 680 public and in-house seminars. This has been augmented by numerous training courses for senior executives, managers, supervisors, and hourly personnel in locations ranging from Europe to Asia and the Middle East. He has published more than seventy articles and is a contributing editor to six trade publications in construction, pharma and the oil and gas industries.
Other notable accomplishments include:
- Certified facilitator/instructor for Balanced Scorecard Strategic Planning
- Adjunct faculty at the University of Virginia and North Carolina State University
- Presenter at more than 20 conferences
- Author of numerous maintenance and reliability training manuals
- Led improvement efforts at organizations winning the North American Maintenance Excellence (NAME) Award and the construction industry’s Fleet Masters Award
- Undergraduate degrees in Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Operations
- Master’s degree in Organizational Development
- Member of the Association for Equipment Management Professionals.
John Ross, PhD
Senior Consultant
Dr. Ross has a long history with maintenance and reliability education as well as related consultation work. Prior to joining TBR Strategies, he served as a partner for the State Line Group in Owasso, Okla., consultant with Marshall Institute, as well as president of Maintenance Innovators Inc., an international equipment reliability consulting firm.
Dr. Ross’ early career experience started with serving as the U.S. Air Force as an Officer in Charge of Aircraft Maintenance Units. He later served as a commander of a field training detachment for the U.S. Air Force.
After joining private industry, John worked as a general maintenance foreman for Sheffield Steel Corp and as maintenance department manager for the Revere Ware Corp (division of Corning). While at both appointments, he developed and implemented sound maintenance practices and directed multi-million-dollar repairs to and upgrades to plant equipment, among other projects.
For eight years, as the equipment and facilities manager for Kansas City-based Griffin Wheel Co., Dr. Ross stood at the helm of a sprawling $22 million plant expansion project, nearly doubling the plant’s production throughout his tenure. Plants across the country benefitted from his Total Productive Maintenance (TPM/TPR) strategies, all while eliminating staff turnover and training existing employees, reducing costs, and increasing product flow by 150 percent.
During his time in Kansas City, Dr. Ross also worked with Maintenance Innovators to engineer the Operator Care program for Basic American Foods and even developed an equipment restoration for Chevron in the United Kingdom.
Throughout the Midwest region, his work in developing and leading maintenance organizational structures has been nothing short of dynamic. As a plant engineer for Farmland Foods in Kansas City, Kan., Dr. Ross oversaw the execution of improvement efforts in plant maintenance, storeroom operations, engine room activities, and skilled trades training. He also led efforts to maximize safety management and minimize inventory waste.
Dr. Ross holds a doctoral degree from Warren National University; a Master of Science in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; a Bachelor Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Oklahoma State University; and an Associate of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Ross has spoken at numerous conferences across the country, has received more than a dozen professional awards for his industry work, and his related studies have been published in nearly two dozen industry journals and books. He has authored two books on maintenance and reliability.
Enrique Mora
Senior Consultant
Enrique brings more than 30 years of experience analyzing, designing, and implementing numerous improvement projects and transitions into World Class Manufacturing Systems. As a certified Lean Manufacturing, Maintenance, and Reliability Consultant, his clients span the fortune 500. These have included Ford Motor Company Mexico, Unilever, NASSCO, Herbalife, Sundance Jacuzzi, Baxter, FANALCA-Colombia, Monsanto, Wrigley, Du-Pont- DAK Americas, Barrick Gold Peru, Dynasol Petrochemicals-Altamira Mexico, Hoffman-Steelcase, Metaldyne, and Petrocel Temex.
Enrique’s experience goes far beyond implementing Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Total Process Reliability (TPR) in over 100 operations. His experience also includes serving as a technical advisor for Lean Manufacturing implementation and sustainability, workflow improvement, set-up time reduction, and other world-class improvement efforts. As a result, he has implemented process improvement (Lean Manufacturing), including TPM efforts, across nine countries for multiple manufacturers in a wide variety of industries.
Seminars, Authorship and Education/Consulting
During his career, Enrique has held the positions of maintenance engineer, plant engineering manager, and senior consultant. As a professional trainer, he has conducted over 100 bilingual (English-Spanish) public seminars and several hundred in-house seminars. Additionally, he has conducted numerous training courses for senior executives, managers, supervisors, and hourly personnel in America, Mexico, Central and South America, and Africa.
Enrique’s experience beyond being a certified facilitator/instructor for Lean Manufacturing strategies and Impact-Training include being an accomplished author and contributor. This spans more than forty published articles in maintenance and manufacturing magazines and authoring numerous training manuals in the field of maintenance and reliability. He also founded and maintains six industry websites:
- TPMonline.com
- PapaKaizen.com
- LeanExpertise.com
- EventoKaizen.com
- ManagementThroughLeadership.com
- CMMSWorld.com
Enrique studied Mechanical Engineering at Instituto Politécnico Nacional of Mexico and held various engineering positions for ten years. He continued his education with several professional development courses at various universities and institutes.
Michael D. Holloway
Senior Consultant
Michael D. Holloway has over 35 years of experience in the industry. Michael started 5th Order Industry as the independent content development vehicle for competency development and certification preparation classes as well as projects ranging from ghostwriting, technical marketing, DIY articles, and building learning management systems. 5th Order Industry is now recognized as a world leader in competency development for certification preparation. Michael created the world-leading 5th Order Industry Competency Development Model©, a learning system like no other in the industry. Based on the neuroscience cognitive pathway development research that is underway as well as an implementation of a heuristic practice with a guided cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals and instructors of continuous asking and answering questions that stimulate critical thinking to draw out underlying presumptions. He has trained over 5000 professionals.
Holloway worked for ALS Tribology lubrication condition monitoring as a global strategy manager, he provided strategic account leadership for top accounts (branded and direct). From 1999 to 2013 served as Director of Technical Development and Reliability, for NCH Corporation – Lubricants used in Heavy Industrial Equipment, Government GSA, Mining and Construction applications, trained and conducted Plant Surveys, Reliability Proposals, On-site Seminars, Case Studies, and Cost Savings Studies, Spend Analysis and Value Recognition Reports, Reliability Audits. Holloway worked as an Applications Engineer OEM specialist for General Electric Plastics – Silicone, as a Product Engineer specializing in silicone materials for electronic and aerospace applications, for Rohm & Haas Electronic Chemicals as a Product Engineer for I-line and X-ray lithographic photoresists for microelectronic fabrication, as an Aerospace Materials Product Development Engineering Chemist for low observable and EMI/RFI shielding materials for WR Grace Chomerics, and as a Polymer Research Chemist for Olin Chemical.
Michael’s education includes
- Salve Regina University, Neuroscience Humanities, Doctoral Candidate
- Baylor University, Educational Leadership, Doctoral Candidate
- University of Connecticut, Material Science, Doctoral Candidate
- University of Massachusetts, Polymer Engineering, Master of Science
- Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island, Chemistry, Bachelor of Science
- Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island, Philosophy, Bachelor of Arts
- Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island, Associate of Art
He holds the US US Patent: #7,241,723, Bearing Cleaning Composition and Method of Use, 2007
His certifications include the following:
- Elected Academician – Full Member, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences – US Section, inducted April 2016
- Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt trained through General Electric Plastics
- CLGS – Certified Lubricating Grease Specialist, National Lubricating Grease Institute
- MLE – Machinery Lubrication Engineer, International Council for Machinery Lubrication
- CLS – Certified Lubrication Specialist, Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
- OMA – Oil Monitoring Analyst, Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
- MLT I, II – Machinery Lubrication Technician Level I & II, International Council for Machinery Lubrication
- MLA I, II, III – Machine Lubricant Analyst Level I, II & III (ISO 18436-4, I, II, III), International Council for Machinery Lubrication
- LLA I, II – Laboratory Lubricant Analyst Level I & II (ISO 18436-5), International Council for Machinery Lubrication
- CRL – Certified Reliability Leader, Association of Asset Management Professionals
Michael D. Holloway has authored the following books:
- Spend Analysis and Specification Development Using Failure Interpretation, CRC Press, 2011
- Dictionary of Industrial Terms, Wiley-Scrivener, 1st Ed. 2012, 2nd Ed. 2021
- Process Plant Equipment: Operation, Reliability and Control, J Wiley, 2013
- Journal of Sustainable Energy Engineering, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Wiley-Scrivener, 2014
- Fracking: The Operations and Environmental Consequences of Hydraulic Fracturing, Wiley-Scrivener, 2015
- Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Chapter on Fracking Operations, Energy Section, J Wiley, 2016
- Environmental Aspects of Oil & Gas Production, Chapters 5, p. 62-84, Wiley-Scrivener, 2017
- Fracking 2nd Edition: Investigations into the Environmental Consequences of Hydraulic Fracturing, Wiley-Scrivener, 2018
- Published 152 Commissioned Articles on DIY repair projects for a Mercedes Benz 450SL and vintage Porsche 911 including engine, transmission, and electrical repair, 2015-2017
- Hydraulic Fracturing and Well Stimulation, a Primer on Hydraulic Fracturing Concerning Initiatives on Energy Sustainability, J Wiley – Scrivener, 2019
- Machinery Lubrication Technician (MLT I & MLT II) Exam Preparation Guide, Industrial Press, 2022
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Location
8480 Honeycutt Rd | Suite 200
Raleigh, North Carolina 27615
Phone
919.341.1387
