Electrical Engineer Manager

Kevin Kohls

President

******@*****************.***

Summary

** ***** ** ******* ******, consulting, industry and health care striving to improve profitability through the use

of tools continuous improvement tools, including Lean, TOC, DOE, etc.

I developed the Throughput Improvement Process at GM in 1989, which is still in use today. This process and

my work with GM research helped GM win the Franz Edelman INFORMS reward in 2005.

My Goal is to help a help a company who has just realized "good enough" is no longer good enough to create a

sizable, sustainable competitive advantage. This advantage will be large enough that it will leave industry

observers and their competition wondering, "How the hell did they do that? And how is anyone going to catch

them?"

Specialties: Lean, Theory of Constraints, Six Sigma, DOE, Simulation, Demand Driven Planning, automated

data collection

Experience

President at Kohls Consulting

October 2011 - Present (2 years 6 months)

Applying Theory of Constraints, Throughput Accounting, Lean, and Simulation to help our clients increase

their cash flow and improve their profitability.

Director of Consulting at Pinnacle Strategies

March 2010 - September 2011 (1 year 7 months)

Theory of Constraints (TOC) implementation, including improving throughput and reducing inventory on the

737 Strut/Nacelle line. Developed and led TOC training, developed metrics, project leader for

implementation team.

Lean Director, Compressor Division at Gardner Denver

September 2008 - January 2010 (1 year 5 months)

Lean Director responsible for Compressors. Used Lean, TOC and Six Sigma concepts to reduced lead time,

increase on time performance, and wipe out back log. Set up global process for lean for Industrial Process

Group.

Director at Production Modeling Corporation

2006 - September 2008 (2 years)

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Director at PMC

May 2006 - August 2008 (2 years 4 months)

2 recommendations available upon request

Consultant at Goldratt Consulting

2006 - 2007 (1 year)

Director - Throughput Analysis & Simulation at General Motors

June 1990 - May 2005 (15 years)

Directed department responsible for improving profitability and throughput on the plant floor and in new

designs. Used Theory of Constraints (based on Eli Goldratt's The Goal) along with GMS (GM's version of

TPS/Lean) and Red X (Variation Reduction methodology). Used simulation and operations research tools for

manufacturing design) Won Franz Edelman Award for Operations Research, with $2B in documented

profitability improvements.

4 recommendations available upon request

Electrical Engineer at General Motors

1977 - 1990 (13 years)

Co-op Student at GMI (now Kettering Unversity). Worked at Livonia Engine plant and then at GM

Detroit/Hamtramck as a controls and robotic engineer.

Certifications

Certified Demand Driven Planner

Demand Driven Institute April 2012

Skills & Expertise

Lean Manufacturing

Six Sigma

Theory of Constraints

Simulation

Continuous Improvement

Value Stream Mapping

5S

Kaizen

Manufacturing

Process Improvement

Change Management

Strategic Planning

Kanban

Business Process Improvement

Operational Excellence

Management Consulting

TPM

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Inventory Management

SMED

Simulations

Toyota Production System

Product Development

Engineering

Leadership

Supply Chain Management

Industrial Engineering

Manufacturing Operations Management

Management

Automotive

Logistics

Root Cause Analysis

Process Engineering

Supply Chain

Performance Improvement

Operations Management

Process Simulation

ERP

Cross-functional Team Leadership

Design of Experiments

Supply Chain Optimization

Quality Management

DMAIC

Training

TQM

Manufacturing Operations

Business Process Mapping

Production Planning

Business Process

Program Management

Materials Management

Education

Purdue University

MS, Electrical Engineer, 1984 - 1986

Kettering University

Bachelor, Electrical Engineering, 1977 - 1982

Honors and Awards

2005 Franz Edelman Award

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Interests

Lean Accounting and Measures, Simulation, Scheduling, Demand Driven MRP

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Kevin Kohls

President

******@*****************.***

6 people have recommended Kevin

"Kevin is a true visionary. His understanding of the "big picture" of business, is unparalleled to anyone else I

have known. I would stay late after work just to hear him explain models and theories to me. We worked

together on severeal optimization projects, and I can attest that he provides great value in his work, which

will strongly impact the bottom line. He is of genuine character, very personable, and commands the interest

and respect of his audience. I hope to have the opportunity to work with Kevin again someday."

Gregory Robinson, Technical Sales Engineer, PMC, worked with Kevin at PMC

"Kevin is a premier expert in Throughput Analysis and Bottleneck Exploitation. His extrodinary knowledge

of TOC makes him leading resource and practitioner of this body of work. His success in this field can be

seen in the level of achievement he has attained at General Motors. He is passionate about his work and is

committed to making companies profitable and competitive."

John Shore, Senior Industrial Engineer, General Motors, reported to Kevin at General Motors

"To put it simply; Kevin is brilliant. He is a natural problem solver and roadblock buster. I have learned so

much from Kevin in managing bottom results while having fun. I hope to work with Kevin again someday."

Mickey Valentine, Process Engineer - Lean Manufacturing and Product Development, General

Motors, worked directly with Kevin at General Motors

"I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Kevin since 1996. As a teacher and coach he pushes

for logical system’s thinking and is highly knowledgeable in Lean and Theory of Constraints. As a leader, he

drives bottom line system results with his relentless, laser-like focus on the bottleneck and his use of data in

making decisions. It has been a pleasure working with and for Kevin."

Ed Kincer, Manager, Throughput Improvement, General Motors, worked indirectly for Kevin at General

Motors

"Kevin keeps everyone focussed on actions toward profitability while fostering a learning environment with

integrity. His teaching abilities are second only to his ability to achieve results. Kevin is an expert in the

application of the Theory of Constraints in Manufacturing, and excels at revealing conflicts in metrics that

drive system sub-optimization. His technical horsepower is accompanied with a grand sense of humour."

Matt Brown, Engineering Manager, Throughput and Lean Manufacturing, General Motors, reported to

Kevin at General Motors

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"Kevin is a very knowledgeable individual who is highly motivated to achieve any goal he has set for himself

or challenge given to him by others. Kevin listens and learns to clearly understand any issues he has been

requested to solve. He takes positive and precise action to communicate his plan of action and effectively

mentors those involved in implementation of a solution for long lasting positive results. Kevin is always eager

to learn from others to continually improve his own effective teaching skills. Always a pleasurable part of,

and effective contributor to, any team. Kevin is an very effective manager of people."

Randy Combs, Group Manager, Throughput Simulation, General Motors Corporation, reported to Kevin

at General Motors

Contact Kevin on LinkedIn

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