Manager Supply Chain

JOHN J. AZARA

Glenview, IL. • 847-***-**** • 773-***-**** • *.*****@*******.***

MANUFACTURING / SUPPLY CHAIN EXECUTIVE

A strategic, business-minded and results-driven senior leader with an exceptional track record of developing, implementing and managing global strategies and programs that significantly improve operational performance, generate revenue, increase profitability, turn around underperforming organizations, develop talent and build high-performance teams.

•Lean Manufacturing Implementation

•Strategic Planning and Leadership

•Off-Shore Manufacturing Leadership

•Product Development and Commercialization

•International Cross-Functional Team Building and Leadership

•Global Management of Engineering / Development Organizations

•ISO 9001 / 13485

•Global Supplier Management

•Product Life Cycle Management

•Continuous Improvement

•Stage Gate Process Implementation

•Customer Relationship Management

Phonak, LLC, Aurora, IL. 2011 to Present

A division of the Sonova Group, headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland. Phonak, LLC is a premier manufacturer and distributor of hearing systems and wireless devices in the U.S. with an annual revenue of $515M.

Director of Operations

A member of the senior management team leading 435 employees in the manufacturing, service and distribution of custom hearing aids and wireless systems in a lean, build-to-order, mass customization, single piece flow. Manage an annual budget of $29 million.

Participated in developing Phonak’s five-year strategic plan and created and executed on the supporting operational objectives.

Utilized lean principles to identify and eliminate waste resulting in breakthrough improvements in productivity, quality and delivery performance while reducing operating expense.

Redesigned and relocated the North American manufacturing facility to create a lean, state-of-the-art operation.

Implemented SAP WMS, which increased picking rate from 60 lines per hour to 180 lines per hour and reduced consumable expenses by $500K.

Established KPIs and designed dashboards to measure quality, delivery performance, productivity and cost.

Significantly improved employee engagement from 15.6% actively engaged to 29.3% actively engaged by developing and implementing skill-based job levels, an employee certification program, performance-based incentives and a production awards program.

Woodward, Skokie, IL. 2010 to 2011

A $1.4B designer, manufacturer, and provider of energy control and optimization solutions for commercial and military aircrafts, ground vehicles, turbines, reciprocating engines, and electrical power system equipment.

Global Sourcing Project Manager

Initiated, planned, directed and executed global projects to reduce cost, outsource machining components and assemblies and consolidate the supply base across all business units.

Consolidated the Taiwan supply base and transitioned 2 axis and mill-turn parts from domestic suppliers to Taiwan, which resulted in reducing the supply base from 47 to two suppliers, saving $300K in annual spend.

Managed a cross-functional team from the U.S., Germany, China and India to source and transition complex mill-turn assemblies from Germany to China, reducing the landed cost by 41%.

Developed and implemented a global reporting structure and key metrics for core team meetings, stakeholder reviews, business updates and gate reviews.

JOHN J. AZARA – Page Two

Knowles Electronics, Itasca, IL. 2000 to 2009

A $300M developer, manufacturer and supplier of electro-acoustical and electro-mechanical components in the hearing aid industry and in medical devices and military applications.

Director of Sales Engineering and Product Manager: 2007 to 2009

Managed customer-sponsored programs and directed the development, marketing and launch of new products and technologies from concept through high-volume production in off-shore manufacturing facilities. Product line manager for electromechanical controls, responsible for P&L, forecasting and product life cycle management.

Managed critical partnership with premier hearing aid manufacturer to market, industrialize and launch new consumable product line that generated over $3.5 million in annual revenue.

Re-engineered and implemented a global new model release business process utilizing Oracle LogicalApps across multiple business units and off-shore manufacturing facilities.

Led a cross-functional international team that reduced product cost by 25% through outsourcing non-value added processes, negotiating cost downs with Far East suppliers and optimizing manufacturing processes.

Director of Product Development and Sales Engineering: 2005 to 2007

Recruited by the CEO to turnaround the microphone development and international sales engineering teams. Managed a team of design, sustaining and sales engineers, machinists and proto-type operators.

Managed the development and launch of a new microphone product line that generated over $5 million in revenue within the first year.

Implemented a robust, new product introduction stage-gate process that streamlined design and decreased the new product development and technology transfer cycle times.

Created a customer-focused sales engineering team and opened sales engineering offices in Denmark and China.

Director of Operations: 2002 to 2005

Directed multi-site manufacturing operations in China and U.S. Responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, manufacturing engineering, quality, new product development and facility management.

Improved on-time delivery performance from 78% to 96% while annual volumes increased by 220%.

Managed the insourcing of proprietary customer products that increased annual revenue by 25%.

Relocated Suzhou, China manufacturing facility within 48 hours with no impact to delivery performance.

Championed continuous improvement programs that reduced proto-type cycle-time by 60%.

Supply Chain Program Manager: 2000 to 2002

Managed the outsourcing of U.S.-based final assembly, sub-assembly and metal stamping operations to captive facilities in China and Malaysia and contract manufactures in the Philippines.

Wrote, negotiated and executed supply agreements with contact manufacturers.

Managed the performance, quality and delivery of off-shore electronic manufacturing service companies.

Manufacturing Services Limited (Formerly 3COM / US Robotics), Mount Prospect, IL. 1994 to 2000

MSL was a leading provider of advanced electronics design, manufacturing and integrated supply chain solutions for original equipment manufacturers. Originally a division of US Robotics merged with 3Com and later acquired by MSL.

Senior Manufacturing Manager: 1996 to 2000

Directed a staff of 425 employees in the manufacturing and integration of voice and data equipment in a lean, high-mix, build-to-order / configure-to-order environment.

Championed cross-functional team that reduced WIP by 69% and improved cycle time from 72 hours to 2 hours.

Developed and implemented a flexible workforce strategy, which allowed manufacturing capacity to flex from 400 to 1200 production employees within one week.

Business Unit Manager - Cabinet Integration Business Unit: 1995 to 1996

Production Supervisor - Carrier System Business Unit: 1994 to 1995

Education: Bachelor of Science, Electronic Engineering Technology - DeVry University, Chicago

Certification: PMP, Certified Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute -2009 to 2012

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