How Running a Commercial Kitchen Prepared Derek Lagasse for Running an Aerospace Production Line

From the Kitchen to the Shop Floor

Aerospace Production Line

Before Derek Lagasse worked in aerospace manufacturing, he worked in kitchens.

He started in a high-end seafood restaurant in New Hampshire, studied at the Culinary Institute of America, worked as a sous chef in New York’s Hudson Valley, and eventually returned home to run a restaurant as Executive Chef.

In 2013, Derek made the transition into aerospace manufacturing at GE Aerospace, starting as a Machine Operator. From there, he moved into a Lean Facilitator role before becoming a Quality Technician and Covalent Site Focal.

That progression gave him a unique view of the shop floor, from running equipment himself to improving processes and supporting quality and workforce systems.

And from the beginning, the environment felt surprisingly familiar.

“Standing at a machining cell, looking at standard work instructions, tool layouts, cycle times, etc., I realized that this is just a prep station.”

The products and stakes were different, and aerospace moved on a much longer timeline. Still, the operating principles felt familiar.

A kitchen is a production system

In a busy kitchen, speed and consistency matter every night. Each station needs to be prepared before service, with the right materials, tools, procedures, and people ready to go.

Manufacturing works in much the same way.

Derek sees clear parallels between the two environments. Raw materials play the role of ingredients. Tooling serves the same purpose as kitchen utensils. Work instructions and SOPs create the repeatability that recipes provide. Mise en place closely resembles 5S and workplace organization. Ticket times have a natural parallel in takt time and cycle time, while the chef’s pass functions much like a quality gate.

In both settings, small process failures can ripple through the entire operation.

“If your setup is chaotic, your service will be a disaster,” Derek said.

That principle carries directly onto the factory floor.

Different timelines, same problems

One of the biggest differences is the speed of the feedback loop.

In a restaurant, a station falling behind or a dish coming out incorrectly becomes an immediate problem. The team may have only 10 or 15 minutes to understand what is going wrong, rebalance responsibilities, and recover the service.

In aerospace, the same kinds of challenges can take much longer to resolve. A process variation may require root-cause analysis, engineering approval, fixture changes, or validation across multiple shifts. What takes minutes in a kitchen can take weeks or months in a regulated manufacturing environment.

Even with that difference in scale, Derek found that the underlying problem-solving logic stayed consistent. First stabilize the situation. Then understand the constraint, communicate clearly, and work toward the root cause.

You cannot learn the job from a recipe

One of the most valuable lessons Derek carried from the kitchen into manufacturing was how people actually learn.

Kitchens are built around hands-on development.

“Watch me do it, do it with me, do it yourself while I watch, then teach it back to me.”

A recipe gives someone direction, but real capability comes from practice under the eye of someone experienced. Derek brought that same approach into manufacturing when training machine operators and introducing new software on the shop floor.

He would meet operators at the machine, demonstrate the standard, let them perform the work themselves, and provide feedback in the moment. Over time, that process helped build both proficiency and ownership.

That philosophy closely mirrors effective on-the-job training in manufacturing. Structured training provides the framework, while demonstrated performance in the real work environment shows whether someone can actually do the job.

Prepare before the rush

The biggest lesson Derek carried from the kitchen into manufacturing is the importance of preparation.

A strong kitchen performs well during a Friday-night rush because the work was organized before service started. Stations are stocked, standards are understood, tools are in place, and everyone knows their role.

The same is true on the factory floor. Strong execution depends on having the system and the people ready before production pressure arrives.

As Derek put it:

“World-class execution isn't about working harder during the rush, it's about the discipline of how well you set up your system, standard work, and people before the rush even starts.”

The environments may look very different, but the core lesson is the same: disciplined preparation creates consistent execution.

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Today, we're proud to have Derek on our team as an Implementation & Support Associate where he leverages all of these lessons learned and supports many industrial sites each and every day