Manager Customer Service

MARK LESTER LEWIS

**** ****** ****, *********, ** 61011

815-***-**** (cell)

***************@*****.***

OBJECTIVE

To work with a professional and customer driven organization. To continue advancement of my career while enhancing the position and stature of my employer via their expectations and measures – and, more importantly, in the eyes of our partners/customers. To obtain an even more challenging position that will showcase my talents as a business manager and relationship builder while I assist in taking business successes to measurably higher levels. My passion is fulfilling customers’ wants and needs and expectations… and teaching/building teams via the power of customer service!

EXPERIENCES

2015-2017 Prop Shaft Supply Walworth, Wi

Manager, Driveline Mfg

Manager of daily scheduling and production - all-inclusive management position encompassing: production planning, shop floor scheduling, maintenance of equipment and facilities, human resource allocations, MRO purchasing, daily communications with sales and customer service and coordination of 20 hour (2 shift) days/5+ day week operation.

Oversee production supervisory and production operator staffing, and support-duty personnel. Duties include optimization/utilization of human resources, including on-going training and cross-training to ensure effective, uninterrupted process flow; daily scheduling to ensure customer demands are met while ownership costs and efficiencies are respected; directing, training and coaching supervisory personnel with pass-down expectations; coaching and training hourly personnel with emphasis on lean manufacturing, cost containment, and increased quality focus. CI Training.

Facilities and equipment planning, MRO purchasing, optimization and utilization, including maintenance of all operations and grounds (including PM program and predictive maintenance matrix studies and implementation from such – daily interface with maintenance team). Planning and implementation of lean “flow” improvement at production floor and assembly areas. CI coordinator.

Production planning and scheduling oversight with MRP, engineering, and production planning and scheduling department interface… duties include reduction of turn-around time from point of order receipt to delivery of goods to customers’ production facilities. Quality always on top of each team meeting, each day’s agendum.

2012-2015 Diamond Heat Treat, Inc. Rockford, IL

Operations Manager

Manager of daily scheduling and production - all-inclusive management position encompassing: production planning, shop floor scheduling, maintenance of equipment and facilities, human resources, MRO purchasing, customer service, warehousing and transportation department... overall coordination of 24 hour/6+ day week commercial operation. Lean manufacturing and CI facilitator.

Oversee production supervisory and production operator staffing, training and support duty personnel. Duties include optimization/utilization of human resources, including on-going training and cross-training to ensure effective uninterrupted process flow; daily/weekly scheduling to ensure customers’ demands are met while ownership financials are respected; Safety Manager: directing, training, coaching and documenting team with regard to expectations, standards, procedures and status (HR/ISO).

Facilities and equipment planning, purchasing, optimization and utilization, including maintenance of all operations and grounds (including PM program and predictive maintenance matrix studies and implementation from such). Maintenance Manager.

Production planning and scheduling; Manager - customer service: daily customer interface with order status, QA data, customer concerns; reduction of turn-around time from point of order receipt to return of goods to customers’ facilities without quality sacrifice.

Customer development and quality interface, including PPAP, APQP, capability studies, research and development, and direct planning meetings on behalf of ownership team. Direct participation with customers during process planning, on-going approved production, MRB dispositions, and quality audits/reviews (recently steered company through ISO9002 and CATERPILLAR audits).

Continuous improvement leader and coach. Duties include: process and capability studies, constraint research, introduction of process control and documentation improvements, ISO authoring/auditing/training and work detail instruction implementation, and interfacing with operators to glean and share ideas. Kaizen event and time-study coordinator, in-house mechanical “engineer” for fixturing, tooling, and racking ideas for customer material handling and furnace loading. Daily interface between production and quality departments, including customers!

Ultimate responsibility to monitor, control, maintain and/or adjust all resource allocations.

2001-2012 MLL Management, Ltd. Rockford, IL

Business Owner/Manager – dba Midas Auto Service

Owner/Manager of franchised business and all that comes with ownership!

Directly accountable, curb-to-curb for on-going business entity, from bank financing to daily sales; from employee hiring and retention to payroll processing and weekly/monthly tax payments; from customer sales to customer follow-up and satisfaction; from local and regional advertising to marketing and social media and other consumer/B-to-B interactions… in short: everything “ownership” means, including survival of competitive/economic issues. Sales Manager/Relationship Builder.

Customer Serv. Manager - trained and supervised customer support team

Purchased business from owner 2005 and transitioned from general manager to business owner… ongoing survival includes negotiations and relationship interactions with national franchisee, local and regional vendors, local and regional media/advertising, and customer base.

Business Manager/General Manager

Managed up to nine Midas Auto Service locations in Madison, Janesville, Beloit, and Wis. Rapids, WI, as well as Rockford and Freeport, IL

Accountable for all daily operations of multiple store locations and assisted in staffing and sales training and programs. Direct report to ownership team - assisted in sale of company assets and closing of non-performing entities… relationship ended through the purchase of the Rockford, Illinois, location. Multiple warehouse location management, inventory control and purchasing management duties. Cost reduction team leader.

Cost reduction management and personnel/inventory control of all retail locations. Accountable for cost-to-resale margins and structures, purchasing decisions, vendor/supplier relations, and most human relationship decisions. Safety director for multiple locations, two states.

Sales Manager… As-needed formal and informal coaching of associates in sales, customer service, and internal employee relations to achieve key performance and sales levels, while increasing customer base and customer retention. Responsible for national franchisee relations and draw-down training for local employees (9 stores at apex). All customer relations and concerns channeled through my office.

1994-2001 Rockford Powertrain (GKN Land Systems) Loves Park, IL

Plant Manager (advanced from Purchasing Manager/Production Control Manager, etc…)

Mentored Associates to develop their own careers and customer base by developing action plans and following through with associates to ensure their success. High pressure/high profile positions reported to my office and ability to react/respond and be VERY Active were critical.

Created interactive and responsive employee-to-customer and/or sales department relations – our jobs depended upon customer satisfaction and my job was to make sure employees understood! (UAW ranks and direct salaried reports).

Focused and trained associates on building “small business” relationships even within walls of the business… whether quality, shipping, service or sales, all needed to co-exist and act as group rather than as independents! Re-established once bitter UAW/management relationship into one of better communication, understanding and customer focus!

Worked with MPS department to improve and then introduce new program for planning, production and inventory control. Transformed shop floor into electronically controlled flow system allowing all production team members access to work-in-process status.

Organized special interactions with sales group as representative of the production arm of the company… developed no-nonsense relationship with clients and sales reps and became active ambassador for company. Became “poster child” of operations in eyes of customers wanting the truth from manufacturing/operations (sales would tell them anything!).

Responsible for full 3 shift manufacturing operations consisting of machining, processing, assembly, manufacturing engineering, heat treating and shipping… direct oversight of all operations staff: 480 union (UAW) employees, 22 supervisors and 3 superintendents.

Responsible for communications at every level – from as-needed shift meetings, union negotiations, training programs, and upwards to board of director meetings with owners and business managers.

Attended daily/weekly staff meeting with peers, as needed, during which we analyzed progress and adjusted to sales forecasts and “real” booked sales. Instrumental in achieving highest on-time delivery schedule and lowest plant-wide production-hour delinquency in recent plant history!

Prepared processes and facilitated training for implementation and upkeep of ISO9000/9001 accreditations (author, trainer, and auditor).

Reset production and assembly floor flow process and production flow mapping as part of continuous process improvement plans… all done in conjunction with “large” customers as mutual interactions for cost reductions, process improvement co-ops, lead-time reductions and/or union labor skill classification re-alignments. Note: project began as an antiquated production facility with 916 equipment/machine stations.

One million dollar cost reduction implementation… studied potential of outsourcing in-house heat treating operations and equipment removal and associated labor and maintenance issues as college thesis paper… upon graduation, submitted study to company board and then proceeded to implement to a successful conclusion following year. Project worked in conjunction with UAW local 803 and ownership team.

1991-1994 Antel International Inc. Rockford, IL

Antel Sweden, AB, Alem, Sweden

Production Manager/Plant Manager

Managed all aspects of high volume industrial/cell-to-cell wireless communications special equipment manufacturing.

With no previous antenna knowledge, assisted in design and manufacturing process engineering of domestic version of established Scandinavian firm.

Interviewed, hired, trained and maintained personnel in conjunction with production needs.

Created purchasing program, vendor selection and maintenance guidelines, and developed mutually beneficial relations with suppliers and vendors.

Increased sales staff from five associates to 30 associates working between two shifts because of business growth and high profile customer demands (Sprint, Motorola, AT&T, etc).

Supervised and motivated staff to achieve year over year growth every year.

Implemented pre-shift meetings and quality training to keep staff up to date on new methods, new designs, and previous/current sales satisfactions. Introduced to Six Sigma and CI programs directly through Motorola.

Created production flow and assembly lay-outs for increased output and for new building design… created quality audits and inspection process such that were never audited by ANY customers during manufacturing processes… tremendous trust factor established. Implemented production process studies and improvement plans and “Six Sigma” process improvements in conjunction with Motorola.

Established and this company’s international shipping and receiving warehousing and logistical management department. Product inbound from Sweden and Germany; outbound throughout North and South Americas.

Developed customer feedback and satisfaction surveys that were used as additional tool for review of employee and overall quality of service… shipped over 5000 antennae before first “defect” ever returned.

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS

Cardinal Stritch University Milwaukee, WI

B.S. in Business Management - 2000

“STARZ” continuous improvement graduate

Case/IH cooperative program (compliance program w/suppliers) 1999

“CHAMPIONS” Certified in Continuous process flow improvement

Champion Road Grader (Canada) 1999

John Deere (Waterloo, IA) Continuous Improvement/Cost Reduction program (Lead-time analysis and process flow improvement) 1998

Caterpillar Process Improvement - Continuous Improvement Program

(mandated process improvement/cost reduction for suppliers) 1997

APICS certification as CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) April 19, 1997 (Certificate currently lapsed)

Rockford University Rockford, IL

Certificate in Management 1990

Bradley University Peoria, IL

Undergraduate studies

COMMUNITY INVOLVMENT

Board of Directors - Rock River Valley Pantry

Fundraising Committee

Board of Directors - Alpine Kiwanis of Rockford

Chairperson of Community Service Committee

Board of Directors (advisory council) – Salvation Army of Winnebago County

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