William J Sprague

**** * ******* ******, **. ****6

Home 810-***-**** Cell 810-***-****

ac28rk@r.postjobfree.com

A seasoned lean problem solving executive, who is equally at home in a leadership position in all types of Manufacturing and Human Resources settings. A proven track record of results in difficult circumstances. Strong leadership and problem solving skills with demonstrated continuous improvement results in both Human Resources and Operations. In addition, great public sector experience through my service as a City Commissioner and as Mayor.

Private Sector Experience

Production Manager Knapheide Truck, Flint Mi. (12/15-10/17)

The team increased productivity and delivery performance by approximately 10%.

Introduced Gemba boards, safety audits and 6’s audits to the facility.

Increased profitability by 20%.

Plant Manager H & H Tool Inc., Lapeer Mi. (4/15 -11/15)

Introduced lean management principles.

Assistant General Manager Champion Bus, Inc. Imlay City, Mi. (4/10-3/15)

After hiring in as HR Manager within 5 months also became Engineering Manager. Soon thereafter became Assistant General Manager responsible for operations, quality, engineering and human resources.

Beat budget and profit targets every year.

In 2014 established records for sales and units shipped.

Reduce employee turnover from 35 % to 15%. Reduced UC tax rate by over 20%.

Improved safety metrics by roughly 50%.

Implemented numerous product and process improvements, including the first two patents at Champion Bus.

Recruited, molded and mentored a great team and established a winning culture.

Rewrote the employee handbook and implemented a new time keeping system in the first year.

Restructuring Manager Delphi (1/05-6/08)

Based upon high level results in Human Resources and Operations was selected to pilot the planning and implementing of strategies to restructure Delphi’s troubled manufacturing operations. This included day to day operations and all HR issues for ten sites across the US.

Redeployed over 3000 employees. All sites restructured without labor unrest, safety issues or customer concerns.

Worked with local governments to find alternative uses for each site.

Developed a standardized cross functional site closure process that incorporated lessons learned and best practices.

The sites were responsible for over $100M a year in losses and generated over $40M in asset disposal. Transferred or discontinued thousands of parts without customer interruption.

Plant Manager Delphi Flint West (10/01-12/04)

Responsible for leading all functions and operations of a site with that averaged $100 million a year in sales. The site had roughly 1000 employees and was the “Birthplace of the UAW”.

Utilizing lean concepts sick leaves went from an average over 50 employees to less than 5. This was then applied on a corporate basis.

National Safety Council award winning site 2002-2004. Over 2.5 million hours worked without a loss day injury case.

Beat budget every month with savings of about $25 million over 3 years.

Manager Delphi Win the Business Process (4/2000-9/2001)

Developed and implemented a joint union/management competitive benchmarking process. This included a roll out to about 15,000 employees. The process was credited for saving $19 million per year at one location alone.

Divisional Labor Manager Delphi (11/97 – 3/2000)

Administrated labor relations activities for the Energy and Chassis division. The division had more than 20 sites and over 15,000 employees.

Helped develop and implement a new profit based negotiation process. The process was credited with saving over $30 million in the 1999 local contract negotiations.

Worked proactively with the International Unions to resolve issue that could not be resolved at the plant level.

Chief negotiator in settling 12 local agreements.

Personnel Director Peregrine Inc. Flint (1/97-11/97)

Directed all Human Resource activities for the site of over 1000 employees.

Assisted the Vice President of HR with establishing the new company. This included the establishing of all new HR processes.

Negotiated the first local agreement.

Guided the employment process through an 85% turnover rate in 6 months, as the employees had the ability to return to GM. The process was completed without customer interruption or safety concerns.

Returned to GM prior to transfer bridge expiring.

Personnel Director GM Flint Coldwater Road (7/94-12/97)

Lead all HR functions for a site of over 1000 employees.

Introduced structured problem solving to improve safety activities. This resulted in world class safety metrics results.

Labor Relations Manager GM Anderson, In. (7/93-6/94)

Labor Relations manager for a multi-plant site of over 3500 hourly employees.

Negotiated first concession agreement at the site saving over $7 million per year.

Human Resource Manager O’Fallon, Mo. (6/91-6/93)

HR leader for a site of over 400 employees. Went from unprofitable to profitable.

Reduced salary employment by 50% (38-19) by structured problem solving and value stream mapping.

Reduced grievance count from 700 to 0.

Various HR/ Manufacturing positions GM Adrian, Mi. (10/82-5/91)

Lead negotiator in two local negotiations.

Over 2 years experience as a Health and Safety Representative.

Manufacturing/Quality Supervisor GM Flint Metal Fab and Flint Truck (6/77-9/82)

Selected for one of the first lean pilot projects in GM in 1981.

Public Sector Experience

Mayor City of Lapeer, Mi. (9/2006-present)

City has beat budget every year. Lapeer is one of a hand full of cities with a near perfect financial stress rating.

Mentored City Manager through contract negotiations.

City Commissioner (4/2001-9/2006)

Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Tax Incremental Finance Authority and Economic Development Council (1996-2016)

Lapeer Planning Commission and Cable Advisory Board (2001-present)

Downtown Development Authority (2006-present)

Education

Bachelor of Science Western Michigan University

Master of Administration Central Michigan University

Certified Employee Assistance Representative 1992-1996

Delphi Lean Leadership Graduate June 9, 2003

ASV Bronze Lean Certified August 2014

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