Quality Manufacturing

ROBERT KYLE CHOWN

**** ********** ****** ( Sartell, MN 56377

320-***-**** ( ********@***.***

Summary

Operations Management Professional with more than 20 years of progressive

leadership and performance in domestic and international facilities.

Proven problem solver with the skills to take concepts and strategies and

move them to successful implementation to create cost savings and profit

growth. Experienced in all aspects of operational management and team

building concepts, (including Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Demand Flow

and Quality Systems). I have managed Finance, Quality, Engineering,

Purchasing, Materials, Human Resources, Sales and Marketing. I have

demonstrated success in union and non-union facilities, including labor

contract negotiation.

Core Competencies

Leadership General Management & Process Improvement

Operations

Strategic and Tactical P&L / Budget Lean Manufacturing

Planning Responsibilities

Team Concepts / Building New Product Development Process Performance

& Motivating Teams & Launch Management Improvements

Multi-Site Management Business Acquisition and Quality Systems

Integration Management (ISO,QATS,QS,TQM)

Turn-Around Leadership Metrics Development Change Agent

International Experience Supply Chain / Materials Six-Sigma Leadership

Management / Demand Flow

Professional History

MTU Onsite Energy

2008 - 2009

$250M Power Generation Manufacturing Company (Large Generator

Sets)

COO - Mankato, MN

Scope: Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Purchasing, Materials, Order

Management, Lean Manufacturing, Quality and Safety with over 250 million

dollars in sales. Directed a workforce of approximately 430 employees

working in multi- facilities with multiple shifts. Reported to the

President MTU Onsite Energy.

. Quality at the Source works every time it's tried. Audit failures and

rework costs were high. Implemented "quality at the source" program, a

process based system with work instructions, standards and corrective

action system. Reduced end of line inspection. Reduced audit failures

by 50% and improved rework costs. Enabled facilities to achieve ISO

certification.

. Lean with Teams. Initiated a training system for event driven Kaizen.

Trained trainers. Trained teams of employees in lean concepts that help

generate over 50% improvement in line flow. Created a lean manufacturing

system for continuous process improvement.

. Deployed the Plan. Developed business drivers and related metrics and

linked them to accountable owners. The result was an implemented plan,

a performance tracking system, and over $3M in cost reduction projects.

. Think Safe! The Company had little to no safety training and a resulting

poor safety record. Developed safety training and a safety observation

program with incentives. Over the course of a 4 months reduced OSHA

recordables by 75%, employees worked over 300K hours without a lost time

accident.

LARSON GLASTRON BOATS

2002 - 2007

$200M Boat Manufacturing Company

Vice President of Operations - Little Falls, MN

Scope: Operations, Quality, Engineering, Purchasing, Materials, Safety,

Lean manufacturing and Plant Engineering with over 200 million dollars in

sales. Directed a workforce of approximately 650 employees working multiple

shifts. Reported to the President Larson Glastron Boats.

. Implemented the Plan. The company did not know how to deploy/implement

their strategic plan. Spearheaded business drivers and related metrics

and linked them to accountable owners. The result was an implemented

plan, a performance tracking system, and over $4M in cost reduction

projects in 1 year.

. Leaner is Better. Line productivity presented opportunities for

improvement. Introduced and implemented six sigma and lean

manufacturing techniques to all production lines. Improved productivity

by 18% and saved over $2 million in 1 year. Continued application of

lean techniques created continuous improvement year over year.

. Quality at the Source. Audit failures and warranty costs were high.

Implemented "quality at the source" program, a process based system with

work instructions, standards and corrective actions. Reduced end of

line inspection. Reduced audit failures by 50% and improved warranty

costs. Enhanced ISO certification and praise from ISO auditors.

. Kanban to the rescue. WIP inventory was excessive, creating quality and

safety issues and taking up valuable floor space. Implemented Kanban

techniques. Reduced 5-day supply on hand to 4 hours on hand supply and

increased inventory turns to over 50 in 3 months. Freed up production

space to add capacity without brick and mortar.

. It's safe now! Company had a poor safety record and could not go a month

without a lost time accident. Developed a modified safety stop program

with incentives. Over the course of a year, employees worked over 1.5

million hours without a lost time accident.

. Shaping up suppliers. Supplier quality and timeliness were both sub-

par. Created and led a team that developed and implemented JIT and

Demand flow system with supplier involvement, giving them the ability to

see our demand as it was created. Quality improved. On-time delivery

improved to greater than 98% for all suppliers and we were able to focus

our attention on the bottom 1.5% to improve or replace.

. Outsourcing worked. Component costs were marked up over 40% and

presented an opportunity for cost reduction. Led team to manufacturing

facilities in China to determine if they had the manufacturing

capabilities, processes, and quality to become our direct supplier.

They did. We saved over $1 million in the first year.

. Lean across the board. Challenged to develop an in house, cost

effective training system for lean. Trained trainers. Developed a

training system for event driven Kaizens. Trained 650 employees in lean

concepts that help generate over $4 million in cost reductions in 2

years. Created a lean manufacturing system for continuous improvement.

RYERSON TULL 1999 - 2002

$500M Steel Coil Processing

Vice President Ryerson Coil Processing - Minneapolis, MN

Scope: Operating P&L responsibility for six processing facilities in

Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee, with over 500 million dollars in

sales. Reported to the Executive Vice President, CFO.

. The language of teams. Hired to introduce and implement total team

concepts and Lean Manufacturing Techniques in all facilities. Employed

a variety of approaches (5S, Kaizen, Kanban, key performance indicators,

etc.) over the 3 years of tenure. Gained a 16% productivity

improvement.

. Surviving a down market. Market was down and the company had too much

overhead cost and production capacity. Consolidated its operations into

three other facilities, saving $1.5 million in 1 year. When demand

increased, added capacity by adding staffing with no capital investment

because of the consolidation of equipment.

. Quality Upgrade. Had to upgrade quality system to meet automotive

QS9000 quality system. Created a cross functional team including

customers. Developed, trained and implemented the new quality system for

6 facilities over 6 months. Result was improved quality and increased

market share.

. Improved inventory control system. Total manufacturing lead time was 4

days including transportation. We had over 10 days on the shop floor.

Developed and implemented inventory fixed location and kanban system.

Reduced finished goods by 43%, to under 6 days supply in 1 month.

FRIGIDAIRE COMPANY 1991 - 1998

$400M Appliance Manufacturing

1996 - 1998 Vice President Freezer Products - St. Cloud, MN

Scope: P&L responsibility for Freezer Products and Operations, reporting to

the Executive Vice President, Frigidaire Home Products (FHP). Responsible

for a one million square foot facility with over 400 million dollars in

sales. Directed a workforce of approximately 1800 employees working a

three-shift operation.

. Success in a mature market. Challenged to improve market share in a

mature business with 90% market share. Developed niche markets that

surround the household refrigeration market with a cost effective line

of NSF restaurant refrigeration using our high volume processes.

Improved sales revenues by $ 1 million and opened new markets in 6

months.

. Bottleneck resolved. A single piece of automated equipment created a

bottleneck, limiting production capacity. Led and developed a team that

created manual cells to improve uptime and implemented a low cost

transfer device to feed the manual cells without affecting the output of

the automation. Capacity of the line was improve by 28% and the line

efficiency was improved by 12% in 1 month.

1993 - 1996 Plant Manager - St. Cloud, MN

Scope: Operating responsibility for Operations and Facility, reporting

directly to the Vice President, Cold Products Group.

. Team gets it done. Needed to qualify for ISO with a facility that had

no manufacturing or quality processes in place. Developed and led a

cross functional team that transformed the facility and earned ISO

certification in less than 1 year.

1991 - 1993 Plant Manager - Webster City/Jefferson, IA

Scope: Operating responsibility for all manufacturing operations at both

plants, reporting directly to the Vice President, Laundry Division.

Developed the Jefferson plant into a showcase plant for Total Team Concept

and World-Class Manufacturing techniques.

. From broken down to showcase in a year. A forgotten run down facility

presented an opportunity to become a cash machine. Used team concepts,

lean manufacturing techniques, 5S, kanbans, SPC, and QATS. In 1 year,

cost per unit improved by 10.2%. Work in process was reduced by 47%.

Finished goods were reduced by 78%. The facility's first time quality

was 99.7% and achieved 100% schedule and order attainment.

SQUARE D COMPANY - Cedar Rapids, IA 1977-1991

Industrial / Commercial Electrical Equipment Manufacturing (Circuit

Breakers)

1989-1991 Manager of Manufacturing Engineering and Services

Scope: Managed and controlled the following areas: procurement, production

control, production, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering,

cost engineering, existing products engineering, loss control, tool

engineering, materials engineering, process engineering and contract

administration.

Leader and member of the negotiation team. Negotiated three-year contact

with both the IAM and IBT unions. Coordinator for molded case circuit

breakers Mexico operations in the area of inventory control (JITP).

Education

B.A. Business Management - University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA,

Emphasis on Finance and Production

Post Graduate Education

Center for Creative Leadership Crosby Quality College

Demand Flow Manufacturing Juran on Quality Improvement

Total Performance Management Kaizen Training

Marketing for non-marketing managers ISO 9000 Training

Six-Sigma Training

Lean Manufacturing

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