Six Sigma Plant

Brent Bowler

*** ******** ****** **. ******, Utah 84770

H 509-***-**** C 770-***-**** ***********.*************@*****.***

SUMMARY

A top-performing and results-driven Manufacturing Operations Executive with a demonstrated track record of achievements in continuous improvement, Toyota Production System, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Maintenance Excellence, strategic planning, process optimization and business transformation.. Established capabilities in cross-functional team leadership, value stream mapping, root-cause analysis, supply chain, and process and manufacturing engineering. A dedicated, results-oriented operations professional with extensive experience in all aspects of:

Maintenance/Reliability Excellence Continuous improvement Lean Six Sigma plant management lean manufacturing manufacturing engineering/operations supply chain management product design/development Kaizen change management quality systems supplier/vendor relations process engineering/improvement

materials management budgeting operational excellence operational excellence

strategic planning value stream mapping design of experiments industrial engineering root cause analysis

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Toyota Production System (includes Lean/Six Sigma and Kaizen methods): Deployed initial Honeywell Operating System (HOS) in electronic materials plant in Spokane and Thailand plant. Rewrote HOS to meet critical needs of Hayes-Lemmerz (HLI), focusing on items with immediate ROI. Initiated system across HLI aluminum plants and troubled steel plants. Regrouped with legacy Maxion associates and developed Maxion Management System (M2S). Established M2S across Maxion Wheels with implementation/audit teams. Developed and deployed maintenance excellence system to accompany M2S system

Maintenance/Reliability Excellence: Developed and Deployed Maintenance/Reliability Excellence systems across 22 plants with training modules, score cards, back-up materials, hiring criteria, testing of skill levels, etc., to support Toyota Production Systems. Set up maintenance systems to include scheduling system and visual boards to decrease backlog from 800 work orders to 125, with one third of previous workforce. Established customized program with local technical educational center to enable plant personnel to expand maintenance skills. . Held Global yearly conferences for maintenance managers to present best practices and demonstrate maintenance tools. Led global monthly conference calls for updates on progress, challenges, and solutions. Used maintenance to achieve turnarounds at continuous processing plants and discrete manufacturing plants.

Six Sigma Master Black Belt: Trained multiple waves of black belts in consumer products group (CPG) and electronic materials group at HLI. Led deployment of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in CPG, Specialty Materials - Electronics Materials division and an Aerospace IT group. Rewrote modules and examples, deploying new, modified DFSS to expanded groups, including finance, HR, operations, and sales. Enabled managers to use Six Sigma tools to improve results. Used Six Sigma tools to develop hiring matrix for HR group. Employed Six Sigma tools to reduce inventories and better forecast sales volumes/employee turnover. Served as adjunct professor at University of Utah, teaching and certifying black belts.

Hoshin Planning: Delivered training and follow-up at electronic materials division. Executed training and incorporated Hoshin Planning into goals/objectives in Maxion Wheels.

Cross-cultural Leadership: Plant Manager in several U.S. regions, in U.S./Thailand, and as a multi-plant manager in the Czech Republic. Led teams as well as direct and indirect reports in over 38 plants in 12 countries on five continents.

Negotiations: Used Karrass negotiating techniques for capital equipment/MRO supplies. Developed and taught Karrass techniques to engineers and buyers in six locations to contain costs. Contributed to large capital projects to renegotiate contracts to bring budget back to acceptable levels.

High-performance Work Teams: Turned new management structure in Clearfield from self-directed work teams to high-performance work teams. Implemented high-performance work team concept in Nevada and Thailand plant.

Engineering: Led design and process engineers. Implemented performance requirements for engineers to work on projects returning 10x salary to bottom line annually and logged and charged hours against those projects. Persuaded central engineering group in Germany to partner with centers in Turkey, India, and U.S. Introduced stage-gate reviews for new product launch and appropriate capital projects. Ensured engineers obtained black belt certifications and took basic business finance class. Led global capital plan and technology innovation for new processes. Managed global new product introductions. Created scorecard/phase gate approach for monthly review of new product introductions.

Union/Non-union Negotiations: Worked closely with United Auto Workers as well as United Mine Workers on negotiation, grievance settlements, and plant closure. Collaborated with multiple local unions/work councils in Czech Republic, Thailand, and Mexico. Contributed to non-union plants in multiple locations.

Operations: Acted in senior leadership positions at seven plants. Interacted with plant managers and leadership teams in over 30 plants. Developed and implemented production/maintenance systems in over 26 plants. Contributed to AOP and STRAP discussions with over 30 plants. Worked closely with VPs/directors of operations in seven companies/divisions of over $1,000,000,000 each. Earned recognition as outstanding plant several times and was chosen to be featured on the cover of U.S. Steels annual report. Measured plant KPIs monthly. Adapted to multiple manufacturing technologies, including metal extraction, automotive, and electronics, demonstrating significant improvements within three months of onboarding.

Quality: Introduced statistics, quality control at receiving of product/parts, supplier development in existing and new products, activist quality departments (participants vs scorekeepers), and a standardized global quality system.

EXPERIENCE

MAXION WHEELS, Novi, Michigan

Director of Manufacturing Excellence, 2012-2015

Held responsibility for traveling to plant locations to work closely with regional/local personnel to understand and execute corporate initiatives, including Toyota Production System, maintenance excellence, new product launches, and quality. Worked closely with Toyota production core team to develop materials, train regional/local OPEX experts, and deploy Toyota Production System. Audited Toyota Production System implementation and execution at 22 plants. Developed and deployed maintenance excellence system through 22 plants. Conducted regional seminars with plant, engineering, and maintenance managers to deploy as well as execute on maintenance excellence system.

Oversaw aluminum growth, investigating possible acquisitions and working closely with acquisitions team to make go/no-go recommendation to board. Investigated possible sites for new aluminum plant construction.

Constructed project with timelines, costs, suppliers, governmental regulations, sales market, and labor market.

Managed aluminum technology, investigating new technologies and making go/no-go recommendations to CEO as well as leadership team. Provided input to plant as well as corporate AOP and STRAP formulation.

Realigned roles and responsibilities after acquisition of Hayes-Lemmerz.

Led process engineering, maintenance, and production systems for 22 plants in North/South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Asia.

Developed, launched, and sustained Toyota production-type system for 22 plants, resulting in EBITDA improvement of 5% across aluminum plants. Achieved 9% productivity improvement.

Set up specialist teams to address aluminum plant issues associated with new product launches and personnel movements. Established maintenance excellence system in 22 plants, with formal scoring systems/improvement plans.

Improved OEE by six points, mean time to repair by eight points, and mean time to failure by seven points. Reduced MRO Inventories by 8%, energy consumption by 12%, and maintenance safety incidents by 50%.

Achieved positive cash flow for first time in over ten years.

Transferred responsibilities to regional headquarters in Germany and Brazil.

HAYES-LEMMERZ, INC., Northville, Michigan

Director Engineering, Quality, OPEX, 2010-2012

Transformed operational support functions, including engineering, quality, and operational excellence in 11 countries throughout Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, from disjointed, regional groups into globally integrated teams. Held responsibility for new technology and capital investments. Oversaw One Global Quality System and One Global Face to OEM Customers. Leveraged position as largest supplier of wheels to OEM automotive industry to gain market share through standardized engineering and quality. Organized and focused engineering and quality as well as operations excellence personnel at corporate and plant levels.

Retained largest truck wheel customer, Volvo, after quality failures in field by re-engineering truck plant processes.

Maintained largest truck wheel customer in Brazil, Mercedes, by finding and correcting root cause of issue as well as implementing fail-safe detection system to prevent escape to field in future.

Launched over 300 wheels per year with zero failures by implementing global standardization of new product phase-gate launch process, KPI reporting, enabling flawless launches and meeting customer expectations.

Enabled new wheels to replace 30% of existing production and earn value of over $700,000,000.

Integrated six regional engineering centers into global engineering group for steel and aluminum. Established satellite engineering centers in Turkey, India, and Thailand.

Initiated steel usage reduction project to save $2,300,000 per year and $4,000,000 per year at full implementation.

Acted as general manager of Czech operations for six months in crisis situation. Stabilized plants and brought Aluminum plant from -5% to 8% EBITDA. Trained/Supported new Steel Plant manager.

Improved production in Aluminum plant, from 100,000 to 160,000 wheels per month.

Reduced HLI Global customer ppm, from over 50 ppm to less than 10 ppm, by correcting quality issues at source.

Director of Manufacturing Engineering, 2008-2010

Led global manufacturing engineering as well as Lean and Six Sigma initiatives across 17 plants/engineering centers. Oversaw multi-discipline teams to standardize processes, streamline supply chain, and homologate equipment/supplies globally. Implemented and sustained sales inventory/operation plan to maximize cash. Drove improvement in underperforming plants. Improved EBITDA from -14.1% to 7.3% and reduced aluminum plants fallout, including scrap and rework, from 31% to 15% by implementing Toyota-type production system in aluminum plants. Reduced inventories by $62,000,000/30 DOH by leading and implementing monthly sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP) process.

Implemented SIOP process and eliminated bleeding at aluminum plants, enabling company to preserve cash long enough to arrange structured bankruptcy for company versus total insolvency.

Transformed operational support functions, including engineering, quality, and operational excellence in 11 countries throughout Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, into globally integrated teams.

Managed new technology, capital investments, One Global Quality System, and One Global Face to OEM customers.

Leveraged position as largest supplier of wheels to OEM automotive industry to gain market share through standardized engineering and quality. Organized engineering, quality, and operations excellence personnel.

Plant Manager, Gainesville, Georgia, 2007-2008

Directed 400-person factory, including operations, finance, materials, engineering, human resources, quality, supply chain, and safety. Held responsibility for reducing large monthly losses, improving delivery/quality to satisfy global customers, and preparing plant to transfer product to Mexico operations as well as close site. Reduced losses by $3,000,000 per month. Improved customer relations from immediate resourcing to satisfactory performance, transferring product to Mexico.

Decreased fallout from 60% to 20%.

Improved plant from last place to fifth out of 19 plants in global plant ranking system.

HONEYWELL, INC., Phoenix, Arizona

Transition Project Leader, Plant Manager, Thailand, 2006-2007

Organized transition team in resourcing existing North American production to low-cost regions based on tax rates, government incentives, infrastructure, and labor conditions to maximize global position with customer/stockholders. Saved $2,000,000 by moving operation from Singapore to Thailand and $1,700,000 by moving operation from Spokane, Washington to Thailand. Held responsibility for turning around low-performing factory with few customers. Directed 350 persons in operations, finance, materials, engineering, human resources, quality, safety, and supply chain. Worked closely with customers to demonstrate sustainable on-time product delivery and exceeding quality requirements going forward.

Developed local leadership and transitioned responsibilities to new plant manager.

Transitioned plant from worst to best supplier in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Turned around plant and saved $10,000,000 in closing costs, generating $19,400,000 EBITDA per year.

Implemented Toyota-type production system and Lean/Six Sigma team work methodologies to enable improvement of EBITDA from $26,000 to $1,620,000 per month.

Improved quality and operations processes, enabling on-time delivery performance improvement from 57% to 96.2%.

Reduced customer ppm from over 12,000 ppm to 29 ppm. Redesigned production processes to drive yield from 71% to 95.7% and uptime from 40% to 80%.

Retained Intel as customer, earning 30% increase in volume.

Held responsibility for business repositioning and transfers to low-cost regions. Oversaw STRAP/AOP formulation and implementation as well as manufacturing breakthroughs.

Led top-graded and reorganized leadership team.

Six Sigma Leader, Master Black Belt, Spokane, Washington, 2004-2005

Reorganized Lean/Six Sigma resources to achieve cost savings. Developed and implemented stage-gate process for launch of new product as well as appropriate capital projects. Deployed new operating system, training engineers, quality, finance, and operational personnel in design for Six Sigma. Transitioned Spokane plant from losing $500,000 per month to earning $1,200,000 per month by refocusing Lean and Six Sigma resources to projects impacting bottom line. Created and launched stage-gate process for new products as well as appropriate capital projects to increase success rates of areas to over 96%. Retained largest European customer of Targets product by finding and correcting root cause of field failures.

Trained and certified four waves of design for Six Sigma, including three in Spokane and one in China.

Led Six Sigma master black belts, black belts, and Lean experts at corporate/plant level to improve performance in integrated supply chain in consumer products and electronic materials businesses.

Responsible for Lean/Six Sigma at sites in U.S., Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, and Thailand.

Served on team rolling out Honeywell version of Toyota Production System to electronic materials division.

Held responsibility for rollout of training/implementation of design for Six Sigma (DFSS) for certification of 175 technical and 35 IT personnel.

Acted on steering team for rollout of associated new product stage-gate process in automotive, aerospace, and electronic materials divisions.

Used Six Sigma tools to retain over $10,000,000 in business at multiple plants.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

HONEYWELL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, Perrysburg, Ohio, Six Sigma Leader, Master Black Belt, 2000-2004. Led Six Sigma master black belts, black belts, and Lean experts at corporate/plant level to improve performance in integrated supply chain in consumer products businesses. Responsible for Lean/Six Sigma at sites in U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Acted as champion of design for Six Sigma rollout. Retained Ford Spark Plug business by using design of experiments to find root cause of field failure in two weeks, solving problem and verifying solution. Managed Six Sigma/Lean team responsible for generating 6% year-over-year savings at multiple plants in automotive products and electronic materials division.

Moved Mexico City plant from last place in customer on-time delivery to top ten in company, using Six Sigma tools. Averted lawsuit by Consumer Protection Bureau by ensuring bottles of antifreeze contained at least one gallon by using Six Sigma tools. Led rollout for training and implementation of DFSS for certification of 175 technical as well as 35 IT personnel. Served on steering team for rollout of associated new product stage-gate process in automotive, aerospace, and electronic materials divisions. Taught multiple black belt classes and certifications. Used Six Sigma tools to find root cause and implement corrective action in multiple plant processes.

Plant Manager, Nevada, Missouri, 1998-2000. Directed finance, materials, engineering, HR, quality, supply chain, and safety. Performed continuous improvements, bringing structured management to plant. Launched products in fuel filter category. Implemented Lean manufacturing to overcome $500,000 loss in volume and exceed business plan by $400,000. Drove productivity from 3.52% to 5.39%. Improved major OE ratings from “marginal” to “excellent” by increasing line fill from 70% to 100%. Halved defect rate. Decreased inventories by 25%. Initiated new OE products/lines while reducing hourly headcount by 10%. Negotiated plant closure with UAW local/national leaders, congressional representatives, and local civic leaders.

ALLIEDSIGNAL, Clearfield, Utah, Engineering Manager, Process Owner, 1988-1998. Oversaw plant engineering, maintenance, facilities, capital budgets, new product lines, building expansions, MRO purchasing/warehousing, and work in progress in plant. Implemented Lean manufacturing in plant. Used Lean manufacturing tools to double pieces per hour per person. Laid out plan to achieve single-piece flow, implemented standard work/visuals at cells, and reduced changeover times on equipment. Grew facility from two to five production lines and from one to three shifts per day. Pursued material cost reductions in packaging, stampings, and product redesign.

Saved $127,000 per year on packaging, $754,000 per year on stamping, and $560,000 per year on product redesign. Implemented total productive maintenance to drive overall equipment effectiveness number from 56% to 77%, resulting in $2,100,000 per year in productivity savings. Led plant conversion from 80% manual operations to highly automated factory. Reduced plant costs. Transferred two non-profitable lines, panel filter line, and blister pack line from sister plants and, within three months, met/exceeded production requirements. Designed and built first deep draw press able to manufacture two different size filter bodies simultaneously on just-in-time basis.

ISLAND CREEK COAL and CASTLE GATE COAL, Virginia/Utah, Plant Manager, 1986-1988. Revamped Maintenance, increased plant from 55% uptime to 89%, quality/delivery from worst in division to best in division. Engineer Supervisor, Coordinated construction projects, improvement projects, and supervisory duties. Contributed to construction of new load-out facility. Improved coal fines recovery by 37%.

UNITED STATES STEEL, Wellington, Utah, General Foreman, Operations and Maintenance, 1980-1986. Managed operations, maintenance, and engineering at plant. Improved uptime from 95% to 99% by eliminating chronic breakdown issues and implementing predictive maintenance technology. Achieved plant production records. Introduced ceramic technology to extend life of centrifuges by 20 times and reduce safety risk to hardface welders. Implemented dragline system to recover coal fines and sell to power plants. Oversaw asbestos removal from plant.

EDUCATION

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY, Logan, Utah, B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1980

CERTIFICATIONS

Six Sigma Master Black Belt, 2001

Emergency Medical Technician, 1992

Electrician to 1000 Volts, 1990

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Lean Expert, 2007

COMPUTER SKILLS

MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Project, Minitab, Visio, Weibull

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