Innocent Chikunya

**** ****** ** ** ******, MO **506 Phone: 813-***-**** acfr3y@r.postjobfree.com

PLANT MANAGER

Accomplished senior manager and agile business partner with 18 years of experience spanning multiple industries and organizational

sizes from post startup to global firms. A tough, creative, people centric leader with a passion for crafting engineering organizations that

are both scalable and sustainable. Reputation of profitable wins though actionable strategic vision creation, flexible technology roadmap

development, hands-on project execution, and full stakeholder engagement. A leader that understands that innovation comes from

inspired, diverse, and disciplined teams.

Key Strengths

Strategic Planning Financial Analysis

Cost Control and Budgeting Implementation of ISO 9000, 14000

Plant start-up and commissioning and OSHAS 18000 systems

Toyota Production Systems Lean Six Sigma and Standardized

Metal Recycling and processing Work

Core Competencies

Results-driven with exceptional practical judgment and memory for details with skills in developing process

improvement, risk management, TPS, and team management directives.

Known strategist who transforms strategic plans into workable solutions and benchmarks for performance

against key operational objectives.

Expertise in Toyota Productive Systems with extensive scope of responsibility and a proven track record of

delivering optimal results in a high growth environment that exceeds operational goals and yields

measurable outcomes.

Distinction of being an executive who possesses the experience, capabilities and judgment for

taking a business to its next level of success or resolve the deficiencies that impede its ability to

grow and prosper

Strong operational process improvement background through effective cost reduction, tactical planning,

productivity gain, and revenue growth strategies.

Professional Experience

EXIDE TECHNOLOGIES

Exide Technologies is a global company with operations in more than 80 countries, involved in battery

manufacturing and secondary lead smelting.

Plant General Manager 6/2012 – 8/2014

Responsible for complete facility control, with oversight on EHS, HR, Engineering, Operations and Finance.

Successfully applied for permit modifications to construct extra fugitive emission controls to comply with

NESHAP and NAAQS regulations

Experience with OSHA, EPA and DOT

Charged with taking the plant through a rapid capacity expansion in the next 5 years.

Won Exide President’s award for the best smelter with the longest period without an OSHA recordable in North

America.

Introduced aspects of the Toyota Productive system resulting in the facility being named the smelter with the

most consistent production above target in North America

Successfully integrated a team with 50% new management in just three months judged by the results produced

during that period.

Managed costs to produce lead at 0.2324 c/lb the lowest in the Exide group.

GOPHER RESOURCE – TAMPA, FLORIDA 9/2008 – 2/2012

Multimillion-dollar company involved in automotive battery recycling and smelting.

Operations Director, 2/01/2010 to 2/17/2012

Assistant Plant Manager, 1/03/2009 to 12/31/2009

Corporate Metallurgist, 2/09/2008 to 02/28/2009

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Innocent Chikunya Resume

Managed the facility through a period when facility increased capacity five times. Built a management team as

well as directly supervised the hiring of 150 employees to support the expanded plant. Took control of the key

business strategic drivers to keep the business on track during the build out and ramp up period.

Selected Accomplishments:

Successfully spearheaded the transition of the company from a 70-employee facility to a 250-employee state of

the art plant

Successfully Commissioned a reverberatory furnace and managed a blast furnace for secondary smelting of

leaded materials from spent lead acid batteries.

Commissioned and fine tuned a 60 ton an hour battery breaking plant to achieve a sulfur in reverberatory feed

of 3.5%.

Successfully built a management team capable of managing the new plant

Introduced new methods for improving metallurgical processes, such as antimony removal (lead softening)

using bag house dust to produce pure lead.

CHLORIDE ZIMBABWE 1/2004 – 8/2006

Chloride Zimbabwe is the largest automotive battery manufacturing and recycling company in Zimbabwe. I left the

company to pursue an MBA full time in the USA.

Plant General Manager, 7/1/2004 to 8/04/2006

Operations Director, 2/1/2004 to 6/31/2004

Selected Accomplishments:

Led management team in identifying and correcting critical problems; reduced and streamlined overhead expenses,

strengthened product gross margins, overhauled and improved operating processes and systems, resolved quality

and warranty issues, and differentiated product lines. Won CEO endorsement for a newly defined vision and

mission, with subsequent integration of strategy within CEO’s presentation to Board of Directors, investors and

analysts.

• Ramped division from lowest ranking profits in company, to number one in 2005 reaching 16% profit, a

gross margin of 45% and a 100% increase in EBIDTA and free-cash-performance; contributing factors

included:

o Re-engineering of factory and expense controls, strategic sourcing and value engineering

o Practical process improvements (PPI)

o Master scheduling for improving linearity, delivery reliability and inventory reduction

o New voice-of-the-customer (VOC) and improved product development and launch process

• Delivered year-over-year revenue growth and increased share of market in major accounts and strategically

important regions like Mozambique, Namibia and Angola.

• Led management team in identifying and correcting critical problems; reduced and streamlined overhead

expenses, strengthened product gross margins, overhauled and improved operating processes and systems,

resolved quality and warranty issues, and differentiated product lines.

ANGLO AMERICAN CORPORATION 4/1996 – 12/2003

Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies focusing on platinum group metals, diamonds,

copper, nickel, iron ore, gold and metallurgical and thermal coal.

General Manager (Clay Products Ltd a division of Anglo American), 1/2/2002 to 12/31/2003

Production Manager, 4/2/2000 to 12/31/2001

• Successfully acted as the van guard for refractory brick formulations to produce desired metallurgical

characteristics

• Introduced a new product line (Super duty refractory bricks) to complement existing product offering

leading to a 0.5% increase in revenue.

• Introduced continuous casting techniques for ceramic bathroom sinks and adapted solutions to specific

requirements resulting in 10% cost reductions and 3.5% reduction in manufacturing cycle time from 36hrs.

• Successfully developed enhancements for improved quality, productivity and cost-effective ceramic mass

production.

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Bindura Nickel Corporation (A division of Anglo American), 4/1996 to 3/2000

Senior Plant Metallurgist, Concentrator 3/15/1999 to 3/31/2000

Plant Metallurgist, 4/15/1996 to 4/12/1999

• Managed a nickel Concentrator successfully

• Successfully characterized nickel ores and developed metallurgical testing programs to optimize reagents

and control production parameters

• Championed comminution test work, process design, equipment selection and sizing, process

specifications, commissioning and plant optimization of crushing and grinding circuits.

• Successfully employed trouble shooting technics in crushing and grinding and provided technical

governance to maximize plant performance

• Analyzed metallurgical data of a greenfield concentrator plant to facilitate the opening of a new platinum

mine

• Successfully commissioned a small heap leach gold processing plant

Education

Master of Science in Managing Sustainable Enterprises (2011)

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, Tampa, USA

Master of Business Administration (Spring 2008)

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, Waco, Texas, USA

Bachelor of Science Honors in Metallurgical Engineering (1996)

UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE, Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa

Portfolio on Request Available for Relocation

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