In June 2010, Greg Delaney began a four-week executive development program known as TEP at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. Delaney worked at New Zealand's largest fertilizer manufacturer Ballance Agri-Nutrients (BAN) as general manager of distribution and logistics. In this role he was responsible for overseeing 45 distribution centers. He was highly interested in the culture of continuous process improvement (CPI) and hoped to play an instrumental role in developing this culture at BAN. But the conservative nature BAN's loyal employees, its ingrained culture, and limited recognition by its managers and other employees of the need to look for ways to reduce costs had the potential of making any type of continuous improvement program difficult to implement. Delany planned to return to his company after his TEP experience with enough tools, insight, and ideas from other TEP participants to implement the CPI culture.
