Joseph “Rhett” Cathcart

828-***-**** (c); 828-***-**** (h); aczr4g@r.postjobfree.com;

*** ******** **** **, **************, NC 28791

SUMMARY

An experienced manufacturing professional possessing solid operational experience in plant management including production, quality, MFG engineering, finance, logistics, procurement, safety, and lean MFG. Reinforced with an MBA has broad experience with leading teams to sustained operational excellence and profitability at multiple MFG locations. A results oriented manager leveraging a metrics approach to improve P&L. Key characteristics include strong communication, leadership, interpersonal, and management skills.

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL

MBA, Montreat College, Montreat, NC

BS Chemical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

Professional Accreditations: CQE Certified as a Quality Engineer (2003)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE

SR Operations MGR Fletcher, NC 2013 – 2016

Plant manager designee responsible for all aspects of plant management including machining, plating, and assembly production for Continental’s flagship North American brake plant. Continental’s Henderson facility employs over 700 associates, operates a 24/7 schedule, and ships over 30K calipers a day. Customer base includes Honda, Subaru, Ford, VW, and many other automotive OEMs.

Responsibilities included leading area managers, coaching supervisors, facilitating cross-functional operational improvement initiatives, managing day-to-day production requirements, ensuring workforce safety, ensuring production quality, and managing MFG cost.

Key accomplishments include successful implementation of PSM (Process Safety Management) at the facility and flawless launch of the Honda Civic EPB caliper.

SLPT GLOBAL PUMP GROUP / BORGWARNER AUTOMOTIVE

Director, Operations Sallisaw, OK 2008 – 2013

Site Leader responsible for all aspects of Plant Management. Customer base included OEMs Ford and BMW, and several other key Tier 1 Automotive suppliers.

Successes included:

Successfully transitioned plant from BorgWarner ownership to SLPT

Leveraged Oklahoma MFG Alliance to drive a plant-turn around

Drove safety results to Zero lost time accidents (multiple years)

Developed flex manufacturing teams to maximize direct workforce during economic downturn

Drove 100% on time PM performance

Drove 100% OTD to Customer performance

Facilitated Zero PPM Plant Quality Initiative

Established GM QSB (quality system basic) tools such as Fast Response, Error Proofing, Layered Audits

Chaired & facilitated a MFG Strategy Council – a benchmarking and lean initiatives across 2 continents.

BORG WARNER AUTOMOTIVE Fletcher, NC 2000 - 2007

Business Unit MGR

Served over the Fletcher Commercial Fan and Fan Clutch Business as the Business Unit Manager with P&L responsibility. Achievements include driving cost down, launching products, and assessing profitability of new and existing products with our sales and product engineering teams. Earlier in tenure, responsible for product line management over Fletcher’s Automotive and Commercial Fan business which consisted of the injection molding of Nylon 6 fans.

Key successes included:

Significantly increased profitability of Business Unit through 3 key drivers -

oLeveraged monthly business unit P&L

oDeveloped a fan profitability database which tracked profitability of individual fan part numbers

oDrove cross-functional cost reduction projects resulting over $1M of savings

Increasing molding machine uptime from 75% to over 95%.

Driving customer on-time delivery from 70 to 100%.

Chaired Global Plastic Council which tied in multiple plants around the world and met objectives of sharing best of best injection molding practices & facilitation of lean events.

Chaired Fletcher plant United Way fundraising activities in 2006. Despite downturn in employment, committee accomplished a record setting fundraising year.

Chosen for implementation team for SAP business and quality system deployment in the facility.

Quality Systems Engineer, Fletcher, NC

Responsible for oversight of plant quality system including internal audit program and corrective action system. Facilitated plant internal cross-functional problem solving teams.

Key successes included:

Implemented TS16949 quality registration at the facility… one of the first US automotive facilities to be registered by UL

Launched BorgWarner safety management system for the facility.

Key resource for successful launch of site ISO14000 environmental registration.

Facilitated Apollo Root Cause identification training program at the facility.

Early MFG Experience 1993-2000

Valenite, Inc., Seneca, SC

Plant Superintendent – served as plant leader responsible for daily operations including direction of workforce, staffing, and facilitation of plant safety initiatives

Quality Systems Engineer –served as ISO9000 quality system coordinator for 6 MFG locations.

Process Engineer – served as coating engineer over MFG line providing daily production, quality, and continuous improvement support.

Facilitated plant internal cross-functional problem solving teams

Led SMED (Setup Time Reduction) program

OTHER NOTABLES

General. Married; active in leadership in local church; excellent health; enjoy hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities.

Big Brother. Actively participated in the Big Brother / Big Sister program in Henderson County, NC.

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