Operations Manager

Christopher K. Wright

***** ********** **. ***. *** Charlotte, NC 28277

440-***-**** www.linkedin.com/in/chris-wright-11110216 ******.***@*****.***

PROFILE

Accomplished Plant Manager with extensive manufacturing knowledge combined with innate leadership skills. Motivating businesses towards world-class operations through emphasis on continuous improvement. Communicates effectively on the shop floor or in an executive board room. Independent thinker utilizing interpersonal and analytical competencies to successfully overcome the challenges of managing a multi-million dollar business. Employs Servant Leadership methodology to establish high expectations and enable our most important assets, our people, to be successful. Constantly striving to earn wisdom and honing skills to one day preside over an independent business unit.

Divisional Quality Assurance Manager with years of expertise in quality control functions, cost avoidance, internal and external audits, multi-cultural environments, process validation, and problem solving all within a quality systems. Demonstrated success in a variety of industrial standards including, but not limited to, ISO, AAR, ASME, AISC, and DOT.

Highly experienced Welding Engineer with a record of developing and supporting successful projects and solutions. Incorporates a wide range of technologies in application and performance evaluations. A subject matter expert thriving in environments requiring a high level strategist and a big picture thinker. Dedicated to excellence as an individual producer or leading peers and direct reports.

Consistently tasked and recognized to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency through leadership. Aligning the business processes and infrastructure to accelerate performance and sustain strategic flexibility. Resulting in a competitive advantage for a premier organization.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Servant Leadership • Plant & Operations Management • Safety Excellence • Divisional Quality Management

Total Welding Management • Process Improvement • Project Management • Customer Relationship Management

Certified Welding Inspection & Supervision • Communication Skills • Attention to Detail

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Trinity Industries 2008 – Present

Operations Manager – Trinity Meyer Utility Structures, LLC. – Charlotte, NC – 6 months

Managed team of safety, production, receiving, shipping, maintenance personnel, and office staff improving metrics in all areas. Lead facility through a series of reductions in force (RIF) during a market downturn while maintaining plant performance and increasing capacity, throughput, and KPI’s as the market returned.

• Maintained low turnover rate through series of three (3) RIF’s in a 6 month period

• Instituted new practices and established accountability requirements of operations personnel improve productivity from a JOP in 2015 of 51% to a productivity rate of 64% YTD 2016 with our best month averaging over 72%

• Innovated and implemented First Pass Inspection and Yield metrics to improve internal reject costs

• Appointed as plant point personby VP of Operations after plant manager was released as a part of a reduction in force in which most staff level positions were outsourced from our location and those responsibilities shifted to another plant

• Served as pilot facility for corporate initiatives such as Supervisor Certifications and Layered Process Audits

Christopher K. Wright Page 2

Trinity Industries 2008 – Present

Quality Manager – Trinity Meyer Utility Structures, LLC. – Houston, TX – 8 months

Leader of a team of NDT technicians, visual inspectors, ISO coordinator, and document control administrative assistant adapting and implementing the Trinity quality system in the newly acquired TMUS business unit. Reporting directly through divisional quality group, while effectively influencing and directing plant department managers towards quality best practices to improve quality metrics in minimal timeframe.

• Lead plant-wide initiatives to reduce Cost of Poor Quality at the facility by 19.8%

• Instituted new practices and established accountability requirements of operations personnel to reduce customer complaints by 17.2 %

• Innovated and implemented First Pass Inspection and Yield metrics to improve internal reject rates by 46%

• Developed new quality inspection record to standardize quality hold points and terminology across five facilities

• Managed internal and external ISO quality audits to have lowest finding rates of all TMUS facilities

• Served as interim plant manager during 2015 year-end closing and 2016 strategic deployment sessions to establish and implement cost-saving initiatives and productivity improvement plans

Plant Manager – Trinity Mining and Construction Equipment, Inc. – San Antonio, TX – 4+ years

Managed team of production, safety, maintenance, quality, human resources and administrative managers and supervisors to establish and achieve long-term objectives and control day-to-day activities. Efficiently report to the business unit vice president and general manager on program metrics.

• Led our team of managers and supervisors responsible for over 100 hourly employees

• Directed facility towards continuous improvement efforts

o Reduced annual DART rate from over 12 to rate of 0

o Increased average monthly production efficiency

o Reduced average monthly overtime costs

o Reduced average monthly rework costs

• Forecast monthly goals and direct facility resources to meet and regularly exceed projected objectives

• Possessed authority to develop and execute site business strategies and processes to support resolution of quality issues (internal, supplier, customer audits, investigate maintenance errors, develop corrective / preventative measures, and monitor and track continuous improvements)

• Communicated with both foreign and domestic customers for product improvements, sales, and customer relations

• Ensured compliance and documentation of quality systems per ISO, AISC, and ASME requirements

• Motivated production team to integrate a culture of safety to work towards SET certification. Guided Human Resources department to develop employee focused objectives and activities

• Developed and implemented Lean principles through Visual Controls and Gemba Activities

Divisional Quality Manager – Trinity Specialty Products, Inc. – San Antonio, TX – 1 year

Solely responsible for managing our team of quality product inspectors, non-destructive testing technicians, and welding technicians during the assembly, final inspection, and delivery of off-road mining dump bodies, galvanizing kettles, and DOT steel bridges. Successfully staffed and monitored non-conformance and corrective action teams and coordinated with executive management, on-site management, and domestic & international customers. Achieved and maintained certification in ISO9001:2008 and AISC standards for fabricating complicated bridges and sophisticated paint. Established and audited Total Welding Management procedures and processes to improve product quality, reduce rework time, and reduce total labor costs.

Quality Supervisor – Trinity Standard Forged Products, Inc. – Dallas, TX – 1 year

Managed a team of quality product inspectors during machining and assembly of tank and freight rail car wheel sets to be purchased internally by TrinityRail, LLC. Maintained and achieved applicable AAR standards. Additional responsibilities included safety, MRO purchasing, shipping, and shop foreman duties during market downturn.

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Welding Engineer – Trinity Industries, Inc. – Dallas, TX – 1 year

Efficiently prioritized, analyzed, and facilitated process improvement and cycle time reduction projects through the use of employee involvement teams, participation in business unit improvement meetings, 5S, process value stream mapping, and LEAN manufacturing initiatives (kanban, takt time and kaizen techniques), resulting in moderate to significant cost and time savings. Successfully created employee performance development plans for career growth, training requirements, conduct coaching / performance evaluations, and reward / recognize employee accomplishments.

• Improved production efficiency within several manufacturing facilities across Trinity

o Designed new fixtures for welding processes

o Implemented new welding technologies

o Completed detailed cost analysis for all proposed changes

o Developed new and improved existing work instructions increasing effectiveness on shop floor

• Discovered and remedied oversights during new product pilot run of off-road mining water tanks

• Created weld takeoffs to determine operating factor for various plants

o Resulted in over $100k savings through reductions in over-welding and shielding gas leaks

American Welding Society 2008 – 2014

2nd Vice Chair – AWS San Antonio Chapter

Treasurer / Board Member – AWS North Texas Chapter

Secretary / Board Member – AWS North Texas Chapter

Webmaster / Board Member – AWS North Texas Chapter

John Deere Summer 2007

Welding Engineer Intern – John Deere Des Moines Works

Emerson Summer 2006

Engineer Intern – Copeland Corporation, LLC

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science, Welding Engineering The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

American Welding Society Certification of Welding Inspection

American Welding Society Certification of Welding Supervision

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

American Welding Society CWI of the Year Section Award, San Antonio Section 2011-2012

American Welding Society Section Meritorious Award, North Texas Section 2008-2009

REFERENCES

Available on Request

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