ROBERT W. STRAIN

**** ***** ****** *****

Blackshear, Georgia 31516

864-***-**** / acupli@r.postjobfree.com

Summary – Plant Manager, General Manager, VP, President

** ***** ** ********** ********** with Exxon-Mobil, Fuji Film, and Dow Electronics managing plastics, petroleum, film, paper, textile and packaging facilities in clean room and dark room environments

Transformed a failing company into a profitable company through championing Lean and 6 Sigma methodologies, inventory management, effective product pricing strategies, and prudent P&L management

Record setting improvements in safety (+70%), quality (+6%), productivity (+25%), production (+21%), and turnover (-39%)

Managed a $300M grass roots plant construction project which started up on-time and under budget

EXPERIENCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

VOITH PAPER FABRICS – Waycross, GA 2015 - Present

Site Manager / Plant Manager / President

Direct site operations, for Voith’s largest fabric manufacturing facility servicing the Americas, and much of Europe and Asia.

Working to change the culture from an autocratic mentality to a team based empowered mentality. Working to build trusting relationships at all levels of the organization. Additional focus on change from a reactive to a proactive organization and data based decision making. Established new safety and production records for the year.

GEORGIA BIOMASS – Waycross, GA 2014 - 2015

Site Manager / Plant Manager

Direct the raw materials, manufacturing, and logistics operations for a the world’s largest wood pellet manufacturing facility with annual sales of $120M/yr.

Working to establish a 5 S mentality with focus on root cause problem solving analysis. Additional focus on change from a reactive organization to a proactive organization. Enhanced operator and maintenance training. Established new safety and production records.

ASSOCIATED RACK CORPORATION – Rutherfordton, NC 2012 - 2014

Division President

Direct the manufacturing, and sales efforts of the Southeastern NC Division which has a customer base from the New England states south through the Carolinas and parts of Georgia. Reported to the owners/board. Had complete P&L responsibility.

Stabilized an operation in a negative financial spiral and brought it to profitability in 5 months. Corrected major pricing, people, process and equipment deficiencies.

BENEFIT CONTROLS - Greenville, SC 2009 - 2012

VP of Sales and Marketing

Direct the sales and marketing efforts of the company to secure additional corporate group insurance support accounts.

Developed and implemented sales and marketing strategies that matched the prospects needs and wishes to our company’s capabilities and strengths. Efforts resulted in landing two of the largest accounts in the last 7 years.

DOW ELECTRONIC MATERIALS - Spartanburg, SC 1998 - 2009

Site / Plant Manager

Site manager providing direction and leadership for the US resin and film converting and distribution facility with revenue of $100 M/YR, staff of 150 and budget of $11.0 M/YR. Facility was ISO9001, EHS14000 certified.

Increased production efficiency by 82% and delivered direct unit cost reductions of 21% during a 20% decline in production volume. Established multiple new quality (+97% yields, 99.98% order completion) and inventory control records each year. Achieved new performance records in all performance metrics in the plant and have been recognized through multiple corporate awards and personal performance ratings. Rated 2nd best midsize manufacturing facility in the state of SC by the SC Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The facility was nominated for the State Excellence in Manufacturing Award in 2002. Personally conducted world-wide lectures in Europe and Asia on team building methods.

Installed $2M automated packaging operation in clean room environment which contributed to the production efficiencies and unit cost reductions stated above. Additionally the TRIR was improved from 9.8 to 0.0 in three years and customer complaints were reduced from 2 per week to 6 per year.

Facilitated an effective lean and team based operational philosophy that is the cornerstone of the continuous improvement. This philosophy resulted in a positive work attitude and outstanding morale, individual participation and contribution by facility personnel. Productivity increased 40% to a new production efficiency record of 6642 sf/whr due to effective communication and team work between teammates with-in and across shifts.

FUJI PHOTO FILM, INC. - Greenwood, SC 1994 - 1998

Factory Manager

Factory Manager for the $600M photographic paper/film and one-time use camera facilities. Processes involved batch and continuous emulsion and chemical processing, dark and clean room high speed film and paper coating, automated paper roll slitting and packaging, injection molding and parts assembly, water purification and WWT facilities. Total operational, maintenance and technical staffing of 400 Americans and Japanese and over 500,000 total square feet of manufacturing space.

Selected/hired and managed the training, and organization of American associates to coordinate, build, operate and maintain all operations. Accomplished two major automated emulsion, coating, converting, packaging, process water and WWT facility expansions that started up on schedule and under budget.

Teams developed effective procedures and operations training from collaboration with Japanese and European factory operations. The US facility volumes exceeded projections by 50% with 1/2 of the forecasted operating expenses.

EXXON CHEMICAL COMPANY - Pottsville, PA; Kingman, KS; Summerville, SC l988 - 1994

HMW-HDPE Business Manager 1993 - 1994

Responsible for development and implementation of HDPE project for the Polymers Applications Business. This blown film process initiative was the largest, most critical capital expansion in business segment history.

Selected optimum blown film machine manufacturer based on evaluation of operations quality, production capability and financial strength. Multiple trials conducted in France and Germany.

Managed product development through negotiations and performance testing with customers.

Plant Manager l990 - 1993

Responsible for continuous improvement in safety, quality, efficiency, production, maintenance and cost control for polypropylene and polyethylene twine and knitted netting manufacturing plants. Process and equipment included extrusion, slitting, orienting, winding, twisting, wrapping, conveying palletizing, warehouse and shipping equipment and systems. Most equipment was European supplied. Staff of 141 operations, maintenance, S/R, technical, staff, and support personnel.

Reduced safety incidents by 70% as a result of training in safety observation techniques, equipment modifications, open communication and empowerment of employees to take corrective actions.

Broke profitability records each year as a result of improved quality (+6%), productivity (+25%) and production (+21%). Reduced turnover 39% through open and direct communication and empowerment.

Maintenance Management l988 - l990

Processes included PP and recycled PE extrusion, pelletizing, winding, PCB/shade cloth weaving, coating, tenting, bag forming, packaging, S/R, maintenance management, preventative maintenance development and environmental compliance.

EXXON U.S.A. / ENGELHARD - New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA / Attapulgus, GA l981 - l988

Operations, Machinery and Project Engineering

I&E, and machinery engineer positions in the refinery and offshore oil and gas platform groups. Awarded “Engineer of the Year” for redesign of compressor staging that resulted in $200M of new platform and compressor installation savings. Performed operating and failure analysis of reciprocating and centrifugal engines, pumps, compressors, and generator sets.

EDUCATION

Undergraduate: University of South Carolina, Clemson University; BS Mechanical Engineering, l980 GPA: 3.5/4.0

Graduate: Exxon Business Management Training Programs in business management, safety and environmental systems, quality systems, facility economics, interviewing skills, coaching, facility operations, six sigma and lean manufacturing.

COMMUNITY/PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

SC State Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, Greenville and Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce, Spartanburg Development Association, Chairman of the Board – Court Ridge Real Estate Association, SunDestin Condominium Finance Committee, Vice President - Lions Club International, Tau Beta Pi Honor Fraternity, Pi Tau Sigma Honor Fraternity, American Management Association, American Society of Mechanical Engineers

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