Forty Under 40: David Mann

After introducing lean manufacturing to Gates Rubber Company, David Mann is doing what he has dreamed of for 12 years.

Mann, 34, grew up in a small town in south Arkansas and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas. After Mann graduated, he moved to New Orleans to work for Andersen Consulting as a management information systems consultant.

“I just couldn’t do what I wanted to there. I wanted to do manufacturing and so I started working for Gates,” Mann said.

At Gates, Mann has helped implement a new cellular controller and a snow-mobile cellular belt. Mann introduced lean manufacturing to Gates and was named the team leader in May.

“I like to do things that people say can’t be done, and I get to work with all kinds of people in the plant,” Mann said.

When not working, Mann goes to basketball games where his wife is the coach. Together they take the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a high school organization, to camp. Mann is also an FCA huddle leader and teaches his church’s youth group and children’s program.