Plant Manager Employee Relations

Kevin Raper

Dahlonega, GA ***** *******@*****.***

731-***-**** linkedin.com/in/kvnrpr1986

Multi Functional Manufacturing Professional

Results producing leader with career track record of year after year improvements in Safety, Quality, Cost, and Delivery functions. Strong and decisive operational leader with excellent analytical, organizational, team building, and planning skills. Maintains uncompromising focus on high quality standards and bottom-line profit improvements. Champions a manufacturing philosophy based on lean/six sigma philosophies, realizing outstanding profit margins.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Lean Manufacturing / 5S / Kaizen

Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

Just in Time (JIT) Material Flow

Project Management

Statistical Process Control

Kan-Ban / Lean Sigma

Team Building

Critical Path Training

Six Sigma Green Belt

Six Sigma Black Belt

Cause Mapping

ISO and QS-9001 Auditor

8D Root Cause Analysis

Contract Negotiations

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Exide Technologies – Milton, GA 2018 – 2019

A diversified global manufacturer of stored power solutions with 10,000 employees and $2.7B in annual sales

Corporate Director of Maintenance and Reliability North America- Industrial and Automotive Power

Corporate Director of all Maintenance and Reliability in North America for battery production and foundry applications with 250 management and technical employees assigned. Brought in by CEO as part of a company turnaround plan to improve maintenance and equipment reliability of North American plants.

Developed maintenance assessment process which weighs the strength and weaknesses of each facility based on the overall diagnostic of each plant’s maintenance functions. Weight based on good, in place, and excellent practices.

oFrom the maintenance assessment, a 36-month maintenance plan has been instituted for overall improvement for North American facilities.

oOverall cost estimated at $2.5M to institute steps for standardized improvements across all North America.

oOverall cost saving from project estimated at $3.85M in operational efficiencies along with $15.7M of improvements in business impact.

Developed staff structures, job description and skill set for Senior and Junior level Techs. Each plant adjusted based on operational structure, production demand and equipment technicality which allowed for all plants to be on the same standardized technical structure.

Developed standardized maintenance metrics (KPIs) for all facilities. Structure incorporates down time, PM completion, work order completion, maintenance spend and inventory accuracy for parts. In addition, structure of information allows for full in-depth analysis of issues in order to conduct root cause analysis.

Implemented Gemba boards for all facilities’ maintenance and engineering groups containing all items persistent with safety, quality, preventive maintenance schedules and maintenance metrics. Daily walks are conducted with shop management to cover all issues associated with maintenance.

As part of information from Gemba, instituted daily schedule control for all daily maintenance activities that is planned with and agreed upon by operations and maintenance.

Established and implemented a corporate maintenance employee 10-point standardized assessment process for new candidates and current employees to determine skills and qualifications.

oIn conjunction, training has been set up with local technical schools to supply the needed training for each tech based on the results of assessment.

oUpon completion of all required classes, employees will be eligible for PMMI certification testing.

Directed $2.1M rebuild project on one of the major lines. Prior to rebuild line averaged 220 components per shift. After completion and getting line back to standard production increased to 840 per shift.

Launch of a new $100 MM plant with Melt, Roll Mill and Automated Punch press applications. Implemented state of art tool room, Maintenance PM, TPM process on lines and SOP processes implemented with training.

Kevin Raper 731-***-**** Page Two

Eagle Picher Technologies – Joplin, MO 2016 – 2017

A diversified multi-plant leader in integrated power solutions employing 720 associates with $200M in annual sales.

Director of Manufacturing – Military, Aerospace and Medical Energy Products

Brought in by VP of Manufacturing as part of company turnaround directive of all North America operations in preparation of sale. Reporting to the Vice-President of Manufacturing, directed a multi-plant workforce consisting of six plant managers and 540 employees. Just-In-Time, high volume production format producing battery components for Medical, Aerospace, Military and Aeronautic applications. Managed P&L, safety, quality, positive employee relations, budgeting, training, ISO 9001 conformance, and production conformance.

Established DSC (Daily Schedule Control) performance format for Plant Managers. Structure was set to manage plants through lean continuous improvement principles, resulting in turnaround for safety, quality and productivity.

Implemented process of modernizing existing maintenance staff through training in robotics, automation and PC controlled systems.

Established daily Gemba boards and meetings to drive down daily improvement in safety, quality and productions. Manufacturing has currently achieved five-year corporate established goals in eight months.

Directed implementation of Kaizen projects along with 6s including procedures to be followed based on the 5-core principles. Projects produced $8.4M in validated cost savings.

Directed the efforts of instituting lean/six sigma projects broadly across the facility, resulting in the overall head count reduction by 230 employees. Reduction in head count resulted in $11.5M in annual savings.

In conjunction with the reduced head count, improvements from projects improve production by 66%.

Aggressively met and exceeded corporate five-year plan in nine months from lean kaizen projects.

Global Power – Chattanooga, TN 2014 – 2016

A diversified manufacturing company employing 280 associates and has $45M in annual sales.

General Manager – Foreign and Domestic Electrical Solutions

Directed a multi-plant workforce of 24 direct and 256 production employees in a Just-In-Time, medium volume production format producing enclosed structures for Siemens, Google, Eaton, Schneider and Peterson. Oversaw P&L, safety, quality, positive employee relations, budgeting, training, ISO 9001 conformance, and production conformance.

Implemented 6s to shop through lean 6s events. Identified 1,200 items from events that were corrected.

Implemented DSC (Daily Schedule Control) performance format for supervisors to manage shop floor through lean continuous improvement principles, resulting in immediate improvements in safety, quality, on time delivery and productivity. Implemented as part of the daily Gemba board walk.

Implemented 30 continuous improvement projects to save $2.9M in annual cost savings.

Reduced LTA from 5.45% to 0% by introducing daily five-minute safety meetings, General Planned Inspections and daily Gemba walks. Currently at 480 days without LTA and 316 days without Recordable.

Implemented Gemba boards at all production areas and engineering containing all items persistent with safety, quality and production. Managed Quality control in plant. Since driving stronger quality standards, saw $22,000 in warranty costs since May 2015. Previous costs were $583,000 for the first three months of 2015.

Alstom Power – Chattanooga, TN 2005 – 2014

A diversified global manufacturing company employing 620 associates and has $95M in annual sales.

Plant Manager of Manufacturing – Global Boiler Retrofit Division

Led a workforce of 24 direct and 440 production employees and four direct and 24 indirect maintenance employees in a Just-In-Time, high volume production format producing power plant replacement components (Headers, Water wall panels, Burner Panels, Super heater panels) through hot fold and cold fold process along with precision stainless steel turbines for Nuclear Power applications.

Directed manufacturing and quality in CNC applications for tubing and shell structures along with ASME weld process consisting of Mig, Tig, Heli-Arc, Robotic welding. Material welded will high tolerances consisted of various grades of carbon, Stainless, Nickel, Chrome and Inconel. All welds had to pass x-ray on joint, seam and attachment.

Established and directed monthly safety audits in accordance with plant audit zones. Reduced LTA from 7.47% to 0% by introducing daily five minute safety meetings, General Planned Inspections and joint safety committees. Achieved 1865 days without LTA or Recordable.

Kevin Raper 731-***-**** Page Three

Plant Manager of Manufacturing – Global Boiler Retrofit Division (continued)

Direct/Champion implementation of 6s including procedures to be followed based on the five-core principles. One 6s project to eliminate scrap metal in yard. Project netted $420,000 of profit for company due to scrap sales plus opened up needed material storage.

Directed the efforts of instituting lean principles broadly across the facility, resulting in the overall head count reduction by 180 employees in the past five years. Reduction in head count resulted in $19.5M annual savings. In conjunction with the reduced head count in the facility, reduced budgeted overtime in 2005 of $3.25M to 2015 rate of $317,000.

Wabtec Corporation- Lexington Tn. 2002 – 2005

Operations Manager- Foreign and Domestic Rail, Power and Heat Transfer Systems

A division of a manufacturer of heat exchanger, precision cooling equipment for rail, marine, power generation, off road, and industrial applications with yearly sales of $120M, 250 employees, and supplies to John Deere, Caterpillar, Alstom Power, GE and military vehicles.

Directed team of 8 direct and 30 to 60 union-free production employees – JIT format producing heat exchangers and charged air coolers for power generator sets (John Deere and Cat), rail engines (Alstom and GE) and military vehicles (Bradley fighting vehicle, M-1 tank, and other assorted personal vehicles). All material purchased in raw form and then CNC machined on Fadals, Mori Seki, Amada and Mazak, assembled and finished at in-line paint booth.

Implemented lean concepts. Using TPM reduced man-hours from 87K in 2002 to 46K in 2003. Reduced overtime 6900 hours ($207,000) to 3200 hours ($96,000).

Developed and directed one-piece flow raising output from 3.13 units/person to 6.56 units/person. Reduced 16 employees in work area.

Directed department 5s audits to ensure procedures are being followed based on the 5-core principles. Achieved and maintained 5s scores for last 11 months of employment.

Led Kaizen event in cycle time of press turn-around. Reduced cycle time through change over procedures from 1.5 hours to 7 minutes: $36,000 annual saving through reduction of one employee.

Directed Kaizen event for SMED on CNC machinery. Aligned area into one-piece flow. Allowed for operation of two machines at once. Increased uptime operations on machinery from 60% to 88%.

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Eaton Corporation – Newbern, TN Operations Manager

EDUCATION

Southeast Missouri State University – Cape Girardeau, MO Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Industrial Management

CERTIFICATIONS/TRAINING

Excellence Management Training Course

Management and Leadership Training

ISO Transition Committee

QS-9000 Lead Auditor

CIP/CAT Department Chairman

Zenger Miller Leadership 2000

Niagara School of Management

Time Based Management (Kaizen)

Six Sigma Green and Black Belt

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