Kent Lauridsen

*** * **** **, ********, KS ***** 913-***-**** ac5kcx@r.postjobfree.com

Operations Engineering-NPD Program Management

Experienced manager with diverse industry experience leading operations, engineering, NPD, complex projects, financial analysis and management consulting initiatives, including boots-on-the-ground operations and process improvement leadership at Amazon.com.

Respected by colleagues and business partners for innovative thinking and insightful, well-reasoned approaches to problem solving. Champion of fact-based, data-driven, business management and continuous improvement with well-defined objectives and measurable results.

Skilled negotiator and relationship builder who brings to bear advanced analytic skills and a natural leadership style based on a genuine respect for people and a straightforward, apolitical approach to management.

Professional Experience

BlissBot . Lawrence, KS

Founder/Developer 2017-Present

Developed patent-pending system and method for utilizing image recognition technologies to link digital assets to physical objects in a novel way – with use-cases applicable across several diverse industries.

HORIZON PSI, INC. . Lawrence/Lenexa, KS

Vice President – Engineering and Field Services 2015-2017

Brought on-board to move the company toward industry-leading execution and profitability through data-driven process improvement and decision methodologies.

Project management and control – identified and established best practices for delivering and commissioning the right equipment, when promised as promised from kickoff to startup.

Warranty reduction – assembled a small group to perform a deep-dive into historical warranty data to uncover the most prominent common causes and implement solutions that reduced warranty activity and costs by more than 35% over the preceding 3 year average. Each week new warranties are dissected, causes identified, and results/trends disseminated throughout the organization.

Sales and Engineering alignment – improved communication and cooperation between Sales and Engineering by clarifying roles and responsibilities related to translating customer objectives into project/engineering requirements.

MARLEN INTERNATIONAL Riverside, MO

Director – Engineering and New Product Development 2012-2014

Rationalized new product development and production engineering functions, improved/stabilized processes, and improved coordination with sales and manufacturing functions of this top-tier industrial food processing equipment design/manufacturing company.

Engineering quality and effectiveness improvements – moved from individual to a collaborative approach in order to improve overall design quality and reduce design cycle time no NPD projects or products had exited the pipeline in the previous 3 years. Initial success with total redesign of outmoded machine completed in 6 months with first year sales exceeding projections by a factor of 4. A similar effort to complete a stalled new machine design project resulted in the company's top selling machine in 2014.

Team management – developed sensible engineering effort metrics to better understand direct and indirect hours and uncover low-value activities and other sources of inefficiency.

Team building – restructured group by replacing weak members with more capable team players resulting in significantly enhanced morale, productivity, and reputation within the organization.

Operational discipline – developed process for better defining/prioritizing all engineering requests in order to more rationally manage group resources and improve department effectiveness.

Kǔ SOJU Laguna Hills, CA

Chief Operating Officer 2006-2012

Member of senior management team responsible for growing this start-up company focused on introducing new Korean spirits to the U.S. mainstream markets initially in California and NYC.

Negotiations – secured first-ever marketing/distribution agreement between Anheuser-Busch and a liquor brand.

Managing innovation – led all New Product Development activities including, formulation, labeling, pricing, regulatory approval, packaging, and creative material development.

Production planning – managed logistics/planning/forecasting activities as well as new product roll-out/launch planning/support.

Raising capital – involved in all aspects of raising $3MM in seed capital and subsequent rounds of financing activities.

Negotiations – established exclusive supplier agreement with Doosan Corporation, the largest liquor producer in Korea, to develop and market soju spirits (Korean vodka) to mainstream consumers in the U.S.

AMAZON.COM Coffeyville, KS

Sr. Operations Manager/Sr. Change Manager – Kansas Fulfillment Center 2001-2004

Excelled in several key roles as member of Senior Leadership Team leading this FC to new levels of performance in Safety, Customer Experience (on-time, undamaged, accurate), IRA, and Productivity.

Operations management – led various shifts during Q4 holiday peak seasons by leading 250+ mostly inexperienced associates in exceeding safety and operational goals during 7:1 holiday ramp-up.

Operations management – managed holiday outbound transportation including carrier scheduling, load forecasting/planning, and service level monitoring for Kansas FC, resulting in 18% increase in units per trailer.

Process improvement leadership – responsible for overseeing Operational Excellence program including project selection, project toll-gating, and mentoring Black Belts, Green Belts, SMEs, and Industrial Engineers within the facility.

Operations management – led Inbound functional areas (4 unique receive paths, replenishment, product prep/repack) as well as large non-conveyable outbound processing, and vendor returns.

Operational planning – responsible for daily operations management as well as long-term operating budget/business planning, gap analysis with project identification, and mentoring/coaching of operations managers to meet goals.

Process redesign – led corporate initiative to redesign Inbound/Outbound processes in order to Cross-Dock items for immediate shipment to customers estimated first year savings > $2MM.

Process improvement – project manager for high-visibility Six Sigma Black Belt project utilizing DMAIC process which reduced FC-caused Free Replacements by 62% YoY and eliminated holiday spikes of previous years.

SIMMONS COMPANY (leading mattress OEM)

Director – Process Improvement

HATCH ASSOCIATES CONSULTANTS (steel/metals/mining)

Senior Management Consultant – Performance Improvement/Valuations (Russia/Australia/USA)

SPLIT ROCK PSG

Management Consultant – Operations – Process Improvement – Valuations

STEVENS AVIATION (business aircraft maintenance/sales)

Director – Corporate Development

GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION – Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin)

F-16 Falcon Fighter Jet – Senior HW/SW Engineer – Special Avionics Support Equipment

Education

THE WHARTON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS – U. of Pennsylvania – MBA: Operations/Tech Mgmt

KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY – B.S. Engineering Architecture Program (7 semesters)

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