James “Otis” Williams

James Otis Williams is a Quality Improvement Specialist with North Carolina State University Industry Extension Services (IES) and a seasoned manufacturing and quality leader with extensive experience in automotive and industrial operations. Throughout his career, he has led operational excellence, Lean Manufacturing, and quality improvement initiatives that delivered measurable gains in productivity, throughput, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction.

Otis has held quality and manufacturing leadership roles with major manufacturing companies specializing in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Supply Chain Optimization, Kaizen, and Quality Systems Implementation. Otis is recognized as a collaborative leader, coach, and mentor dedicated to workforce development and continuous improvement. His accomplishments include implementing plant-wide quality systems that increased throughput yield by 20%, reduced scrap loss by 30%, and led corrective action initiatives that decreased customer complaints by 40%. His expertise includes PPAP implementation, IATF 16949 standards, ISO compliance, statistical process control, root cause analysis, ERP systems, and project management.

Otis earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications and Kinesiology from University of Michigan, where he was also a full scholarship football student-athlete. He holds certifications in Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, IATF and VDA 6.3, SAP ERP Systems, and Microsoft Excel. Otis is based in the Raleigh, NC area and remains active volunteering his time with mentoring and coaching high school athletics throughout Wake County.