Gary L. Francis

*** ********** ****, ********, ** 37064

acwirt@r.postjobfree.com / http://www.linkedin.com/in/garylfrancis / 931-***-****

Manufacturing and Operations Professional

Accomplished senior level manufacturing, operations and engineering professional with an established record of creating and leading teams to success. Able to mentor and guide organizations, teams, and individuals to lasting solutions and improvements with an involved, hands-on problem solving approach that appreciates and utilizes the skill and experience of the individual regardless of level. Extremely effective analyst, problem solver, communicator, and team builder with excellent engineering and technical skills.

Core Competencies

Plant, Operations and Process Management

Leadership and Communication

Team Building, Mentoring, Coaching

Problem Solving and Change Management

Lean Principle Implementation

Engineering and Technical Expertise

Professional Experience

M-Tek Inc. Manchester, TN 2015-Present

Japanese owned Manufacturer of automotive interior components; $350MM annual sales: 1400 employees locally

General Manager-Engineering

Direct and mentor a 27 member, multi-disciplined manufacturing and process engineering team whose responsibilities include product development, process design and implementation, tooling and equipment specifications, process improvement, manufacturing support, quality improvement, and customer interface.

Through leadership and by example, corrected the pre-existing departmental attitude of the “engineering bunker” or “silo”, involving plant-wide teams in practically every problem resolution and plan.

Affected a disciplined, data driven approach to problem solving and planning across the department.

Designed and implemented a “total team” approach to Flow Diagram, FMEA, Control Plan, and SOS deployment and management, passing a VW VDA audit for the 1st time in 5 years.

Played a key management and engineering roll on the VW Program Team, reducing KPMs’ (customer complaints) to zero for the first time in program history.

Created and led a multi-plant “best practices” engineering group to address high scrap cost common processes across North American M-Tek operations. (Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi). Reduced scrap on headliner lines by 50%, resulting in an annual savings of $650k.

Designed a simple and effective method of measuring Amine distribution on a foam headliner substrate which was adopted by our plants in Japan and across North America.

Gibson Brands Nashville, TN 2012-2015

Manufacturer of the finest Electric Guitars in the World; $140MM annual sales: 425 employees locally

USA Plant Production Manager

Directed and coordinated the efforts of 10 area managers on 2 shifts covering all facets of the guitar production process (500-700 guitars per day) from the rough lumber mill to the distribution center.

Developed and implemented the lean synchronization of all manufacturing processes for the Mill, Neck, and Body departments, allowing daily schedule adherence to routinely hit 99% for the first time in company history.

Achieved a decrease in HPU (Hours per Unit) from 6.4 to 5.65 over a 12 month period which resulted in a 9.4% productivity increase plant wide. ($1.5MM annual savings)

Planned and successfully executed a ramp in production from 600 to 750 guitars daily in the Dec 2012 timeframe, achieving a production rate never before accomplished in the history of the company.

Designed a standards-based manpower planning tool whereby we could accurately predict departmental manpower needs as a function of production rates.

Co-designed and implemented a system to RF scan guitars for inventory purposes, saving $100,000 per year and increasing accuracy tenfold.

Implemented a plant-wide key metrics dashboard allowing us to track production issues on an hourly basis.

Teledyne EMS Lewisburg, TN 2002-2012

Manufacturer of Military and Medical Electronic Assemblies; $120MM annual sales: 360 Employees locally

Senior Director of Operations

Provided high energy, hands-on leadership to the operations value streams in establishing a culture of accountability, personal involvement, and a “back to basics”, relentless focus on improvement and positive change. Successfully mentored and empowered teams to be fully capable of executing to plan, anticipating issues, and pro-actively seeking solutions before problem occurrence.

Within 90 days, directed the reorganization of the manufacturing, engineering, and production control organizations into distinct work cells using basic lean concepts, maximizing internal resources by selecting, promoting and personally training the cell leaders from within the existing work force.

Facilitated the expansion of manufacturing revenue growth from $50MM to $96MM per year. (2003-2010)

Increased touch labor productivity by 42% from 2006 to 2011 through improved methods, processes, and yields rather than through capital expenditures.

Reduced the Price of Non-Conformance over a 6-year period from 2.5% to 0.8% percent of revenue, resulting in a total savings of over $4.5MM.

Engineered the reorganization and stabilization of 2 additional Teledyne facilities from 2004 until 2006 as Director of Operations; Teledyne PCT, Hudson, NH and Teledyne El Ruby, Tijuana, Mexico

Kantus Corporation (CKNA Inc) Lewisburg, TN 1992-2002

Multi-national, Japanese owned manufacturer of automotive electronics and interior plastics; $350MM in annual sales; 1000 employees locally.

Director of Operations to Vice-President of Operations

Senior American on the executive staff: Responsible for all Operational functions including Purchasing, Human Resources, Customer Program Management, and Quality.

Successfully implemented the company wide, customer driven “Nissan Revival Plan”, cutting manufacturing cost 15% over a 14-month period and meeting Nissan’s price objectives while maintaining profitability.

Directed the successful launch of a “Cockpit Module” production line for Nissan in 2001 which resulted in a $100MM increase in annual revenue.

Implemented sequenced manufacturing operations on key Nissan manufacturing lines, building to “order of one” rather than JIT with 2 day inventory.

Production team received Quality awards from Nissan, Isuzu, and Honda over a three-year period, as well as receiving the “Most Improved Supplier” award from Isuzu N.A. for our Kaizen activities throughout the facility.

Executed a 4-year operational strategy of expanding our customer base, diversifying our products, and increasing revenue through the enhancement of our manufacturing and engineering capabilities and technologies. .

Launched and then expanded electronics manufacturing capability to include air bag, engine, transmission, and other on-board controllers, converting entire factory to high speed SMT and adding digital test to our capabilities.

Successfully launched a new business venture with Autoliv N.A. to mold and electro-statically paint 500,000 air bag covers per year.

Previous Positions

Plant Manager, Avex Electronics 1991-1992

Manager of Electronic Meter Mfg, Kantus Corporation (CKNA,Inc) 1989-1991

Program Manager, Teledyne EMS 1987-1988

Manufacturing/Test Engineering Manager, Teledyne EMS 1985-1986

Test Engineer, Teledyne EMS 1981-1984

Education

B.S., Major: Electrical Engineering Minor: Mathematics Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

Skills and Training

Versatile, adaptable leader with broad experience from positions of increasing responsibility across diverse industries. Extensive leadership, supervisory and team building skills. Excellent oral and written communicator. Proficient with Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Formal Lean, D.O.E, and 6 Sigma training through U.A. Huntsville, C.S.C.C, and Raytheon Corp..

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