Manager Engineer

James G. Leek

*** ******** ***** *-****: ********@*****.***

Coatesville, PA 19320 Home phone: 610-***-****

Mobile phone: 610-***-****

An experienced Production / Operation Manager with start up and turnaround expertise, who has repeatedly enhanced the

bottom line.

Professional Biography

Jim Leek is a successful Senior Manager with more than twenty years experience in the Flexographic printing and

general prepress industries. During this time Jim supported the successful startup of a 13 unit in line Comco scratch off

lottery/game ticket press. Jim also planned and then managed the 1000-mile relocation of a flexographic prepress

department including the hiring of all new personnel and determining what equipment should be moved and what

equipment should be replaced. The move was completed in less that a week and the company experienced no press

downtime at its three printing locations during the relocation and start up of its new single prepress facility.

As an Operations Manager of multiple prepress locations, Jim has been responsible for preparing operational budgets and

then producing results that met the goals established in the those budgets. Additionally Jim has been equally successful

in managing rapid sales growth obtained over short periods of time while containing costs and still meeting customers’

expectations for quality and service. Jim leads by using his experience as a teaching tool so that the entire team

understands the decision making process and is, in fact, a part of that process as well. This has proven to be a very

successful technique during times of rapid change since the team members feel they are part of the solution and not

simply being told what they have to do. The team’s understanding of problems and their solutions is why Jim has been

successful as a leader in multiple situations and locations. Jim has spent the past ten years as the Packaging Prepress

Operations Manager at Vertis Communications (American Color) outside Philadelphia and prior to that managed at

Banta Digital in Minneapolis along with Dittler Brothers in Atlanta, Deluxe Engraving in Cincinnati and Shea

Communications (Standard Gravure) in Louisville.

Jim has had formal cost reduction training from two perspectives, as a production engineer, and as a lean / six-sigma

green belt. The two techniques complement each other, in the sense that the engineering approach provides technical

problem solving tools and lean / six-sigma approach uses those tools with a team methodology to reduce waste.

Representative accomplishments include:

• Led in the development of new manufacturing facility, which produced $130,000 first year savings, 200%

quality gain and 80% more efficiency.

• Produced a $600,000 annual savings as lead in implementation of automated job tracking system.

• Achieved $500,000 annual shipping savings via statistical analysis and problem-solving skills.

• Provided key leadership in the development and establishment of plant wide ISO9001 certification.

• Managed $1.2 million renovation with no downtime. Installed new-to-industry electronic stripping/stepping

system, which saved $300,000 in capital investment while producing the same quality and productivity as the

more expensive option.

• Improved equipment utilization by 71% through innovative training of workforce, which generated greater

output.

• Achieved a 67% rework reduction and 25% reduction in overtime by teaching department supervisors how to

lead their departments. This in turn built a Management Team that was both effective and respectful of each

other’s needs.

• Produced a documented raw material cost savings of $91,400 from the development and implementation of a

six-sigma green belt project.

Jim has both a BS in Engineering Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an MBA from the

Rochester Institute of Technology where he graduated with a 3.5 GPA majoring in finance.

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