Air Force Manager

KEN WARD, CFPIM, CIRM, MBA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenward Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121 801-***-**** ****.***@*******.***

CAREER SUMMARY

Accomplished manufacturing executive with 20+ years’ experience driving global operational excellence from supplier to customer.

Passion for proactively taking ownership of business performance as a change agent through policy deployment, KPIs, optimizing inventory, and gap analysis to drive out cost, improving on-time-delivery and customer satisfaction. Experience with operations & sourcing from Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific. Experience in aerospace, medical device, consumer products, and automotive industries.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

TeraSTRAT (Salt Lake City, UT) Aug 2015 – Present

President / Founder

Providing leadership and experience to manufacturing firms in the areas of strategic planning, manufacturing operations improvement, on-time delivery, business intelligence, customer satisfaction, cost reduction, and increasing sales. Provided leadership as “interim COO” for SLC mfg firm, implementing “best practice” through continuous process improvements in the areas of field service operations, project management, new product introduction, facility management, managed services, forecasting, software, procurement, order entry, quality assurance, warehouse, distribution, logistics, manufacturing, and engineering with a focus on setting KPI culture, Root Cause Analysis, PDCA, Kaizen Events, Standardized Work, 5S / 6S, LEAN / 6-SIGMA, TQM, negotiating total cost fulfillment, CapEx, ROI, P&L and balance sheet management, and team building.

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. ($3.1B Corp. Revenue) Salt Lake City, UT Nov 2010 – Oct 2015

Director – Global Supply Chain Management & Machine Shop Operations

Manufacturer of world-wide state-of-the-art x-ray imaging components. Manufacturing centers in USA, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Philippines, and Switzerland.

Led team of 64 people in Supplier Quality Assurance, Global Purchasing (North America, Asia, Europe, Mexico), Scheduling, SIOP, Machine Shop Operations, Inventory Management, Shipping/Receiving. Utilized DMAIC and Kaizen methodology, APICS, and SCOR materials and knowledge base. ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified, and GMP compliant.

Reduced distribution touch-points to decrease customer delivery times while reducing transportation costs.

Supplier quality of 99.98% and delivery of 98%, through “A-3 Thinking”

Cycle time reduction from 90 to 30 days. Reduced OT by 83%.

Vertically integrated several components into our in-house machine shop and created cellular mfg layout.

Implemented demand planning accuracy metric & weekly master schedules increasing on-time completions by 47%.

Achieved purchased part cost reductions of 4% through improved sourcing, negotiations and re-engineering.

Worked with suppliers on-site to solve critical issues.

Significantly reduced purchased part shortages, re-wrote policies & procedures to include process and value stream maps. Wrote & negotiated major supplier contracts.

Optimized finished goods inventory while improving customer service levels and under-running budget by 25%.

Led the team to #1 position in inventory turns. Created consignment and 3PL agreements resulting in same day delivery.

Improved plant-wide inventory accuracy from 70 – 99+%.

Led the remanufacturing of components netting additional 20% to EBIT.

Established a comprehensive rough-cut capacity plan detailing labor and fixed asset utilization.

Orbital-ATK, Inc. (ATK) ($4.8B Corp. Revenue) Salt Lake City, UT Jan 2005 - Oct 2010

Division Director – Supply Chain Management

Manufacturer of aerospace composite products (missile, aircraft, and satellite) for Boeing, GE Aviation, NASA, DOD.

Division Supply Chain leadership accountabilities for 6 sites (77 SCM people) in the functional areas of Supply Chain encompassing Sales & Operations Planning, Master Scheduling, Global Procurement ($180M spend), Document Control, Configuration Management, Material Planning, Shipping, Receiving, Inventory, Capacity Simulation, and Property Management. Strategic planning for M&A. Created and presented Supply Chain portion of proposed satellite system submitted at $1B.

Responsible for a supplier performance management program including risk mitigation, cost reduction, supplier rationalization, national contract usage, and streamlining the organizational structure, improving leadership and technical talent, OTD and quality improvement utilizing change management techniques. Created & successfully implemented metrics to align with business objectives. Implemented Lean/Six-Sigma business process improvements throughout multiple sites.

Changed organizational structure to align with business needs and provide accountability.

Created “cockpit chart” style metrics (Balanced Scorecard) with individual accountabilities rolled up to site-level.

Supplier on-time deliveries increased from 55% to 95% in one year. Inventory accuracy from 80% to 98% in one year.

Created value stream analysis for “womb to tomb” material flow which identified 25 areas for improvement.

Worked within a centralized procurement model while retaining site-level procurement for production.

Implemented VMI and Kanban system for indirect materials, and a visual factory (material and schedule boards), requiring cross-functional collaboration and team-building from process engineering, touch labor and supervisors, inventory, work center coordinators, and purchasing.

Led 13 cross-functional Kaizen teams while earning Lean / Six-Sigma Green Belt, one resulting in pre-production cycle time reduction from 180 to 80 days.

Implemented a comprehensive Supplier Performance Management Program with “critical” suppliers to identify and mitigate risk, in addition to a Supplier Rationalization Program eliminating over 400 suppliers from the base.

Negotiated long-term agreements and formed “partnerships” with suppliers.

North Star Vision Salt Lake City, UT Jan 2003 - Jan 2005

Independent Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Consultant

Contracts included planning, executing, and optimizing “flow”. Other engagements include customer service “fill rate” improvements through improved S&OP, and cost reduction through re-sourcing domestically and internationally in addition to re-engineering the procurement business process for start-ups and on-going mfg firms.

Liberty Safe & Security, Inc. ($50M Revenue) Payson, UT Feb 2001 - Jan 2003

Director of Materials / Supply Chain

Manufacturer of gun and residential safes. Processes include multi-plant metal fabrication, welding, painting and assembly operations in a streamlined “flow” environment for top retail stores and safe dealers. Responsible for 12 SCM people in S&OP, Global Sourcing Team for product in China, France, and Mexico, supplier certification, capacity, scheduling, inventory optimization, R&D, and new product introduction.

Increased earnings by 8% in year 1 by focusing on favorable Purchase Price Variance and an additional 13% in year 2.

Created S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning system), implemented 5S program, Kanban signals, Visual Controls, performed mixed-model Value-Stream Analysis and cross-training for indirect personnel while consolidating 4 small mfg. plants into 1 large plant to gain 21% efficiency improvement.

Implemented bar code system internally and within the total supply base.

Initiated postponement strategy for procurement and mfg. Wrote procedures for ISO-9000 certification.

Balanced supply and demand through creating and monitoring demand forecast accuracy (27% improvement).

Established a comprehensive rough-cut capacity plan capturing overhead absorption & direct labor requirements.

Rolls-Royce Gear Systems (Site: $50M Revenue) Park City, UT Aug 1998 - Feb 2001

Lean Enterprise/Supply Chain Manager

Mentored and coached stakeholders in manufacturing flow, inventory turns, shop floor schedules, capacity planning, supply chain management, S&OP, Six-sigma processes, and global procurement in an OEM, repair & overhaul, aftermarket metal gear and housing precision-based CNC machining, heat treat, plating, and assembly facility for aerospace clients such as the Navy & Bell Helicopter.

Through Process Mapping and Value-Stream Analysis, re-structured the Materials and Procurement Groups, cutting indirect labor from 32 to 23 people while growing business 45% in sales.

Utilized Pareto Analysis, introduced Cause & Effect Diagrams, and addressed slow moving & obsolete inventory resulting in inventory turns improvement of 50% in less than one year.

Improved on-time delivery of raw material through supplier certifications while strategically improving collaboration.

Streamlined spare parts business process to achieve short lead times by creating appropriate priority system.

Through Kaizen activities, improved material flow, reduced machine changeover times, (mainly through proximity planning for tooling), and reduced lot sizes to single units.

Reduced lead-time of critical component from 8 to 2 weeks using Theory of Constraints, while reducing all component lead-time by an average of 45% by changing various policies, processes, and people.

Tube Manufacturing International, Inc. ($20 Million Revenue) Salt Lake City, UT May 1994 - Aug 1998

General Manager / VP Operations / Owner

Manufacturer of aerospace spare parts and OEM products for automotive and consumer products industries. Ranked 23rd in the “UTAH 100” Mountainwest Venture Group, 1996

Led a team of 113 people in semi-repetitive tube bending, robotic welding, flaring, swaging, beading, metal fabrication, tool and die, machining, stamping, punching, and assembly environment.

Strategic Planning: Developed a strategy of product differentiation based on premium quality and on-time delivery at a fair price. Founded upon excellence in continuous improvement through LEAN-based activities, 5S, DFM, Poke-Yoke, Supply Chain Management, Vertical Integration, and Statistical Quality Improvement practices.

Lean: Implemented Kanban, Cellular Manufacturing, and created a JIT environment. Results were inventory turns of 100 on the automotive line, and 18 for the exercise line, with lot sizes of 1.

Supplier and Customer Collaboration: Negotiated supplier consignment resulting in minimal cash outlay. Implemented VMI, EDI, DFM, and DFR. Negotiated AR from 30 days to net 3. Supplier certification and continuous auditing lowered inventory and increased product flow from 1400 to 3500 units per week.

Our statistical approach yielded inventory accuracy of 99.9% & warranty returns of 0.07% (nearest competitor had 7%).

North Star Vision Salt Lake City, UT Apr 1986 - May 1994

Independent Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Consultant

Assisted various types of firms in software selection, implementation, and operations improvement including S&OP, Lean, SPC, TQM, ERP, JIT, and WCM methodologies. Emphasis on improved planning and execution systems, including Lean-based activities such as set-up reduction, lot size reduction, data collection/analysis, and elimination of waste in all forms through defining the right performance measurement metrics. Clients include Merit Medical Systems, U.S. Air Force, IMC Magnetics, HealthRider, Pacific Propeller, Mrs. Fields Cookies, and Gull Laboratories. Industries: medical diagnostics, medical devices, aerospace, consumer goods, military, DoD, food, and nutritional supplements.

Clients improved on-time shipments 80-95%, on-time completions 30-95% and inventory accuracy 85-99+%.

Detroit Diesel Re-manufacturing Salt Lake City, Utah Jan 1985 - Apr 1986

Plant Manager

Rapidly and successfully planned and executed complete start-up of transmission re-manufacturing automotive division for Tier 1 contract with General Motors. Earned profits greater and earlier than expected. Implemented ERP, JIT, LEAN.

EDUCATION

Executive MBA – University of Utah, Salt Lake City (ranked #4 in Western USA by London Financial Times)

BS – Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of Phoenix

Computer Hardware Technician, Control Data Institute (w/ Honors) 1981

Global Business Management Certificate - 2016

CERTIFICATIONS & PATENTS

Green Belt Lean/Six-Sigma Certified through Lockheed-Martin Aerospace Corp. & with Rolls-Royce

APICS Certifications: CPIM, CPIM-F, CIRM

Hold patent for LifeToner exercise machine

TRAINING/SEMINARS

LEAN Champion

Supply Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR)

Theory of Constraints, Instructor Eli Goldratt

Quality Systems, Instructor Dr. Edwards Deming

Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS)

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Train-the-Trainer, Instructor Mel Nelson

Total Quality Control

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION LEADERSHIP

American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) leadership:

oRegion 10 Director of Education, Detroit Chapter BOD, Salt Lake Chapter Pres, Salt Lake Chapter Advisor

oAdjunct Professor, Weber State University for all APICS CPIM & CIRM certification courses

oGold Circle Award Winner

Member, World Trade Association of Utah

Society of Manufacturing Engineers leadership:

oChairman, Salt Lake Chapter and International Chairman for Nominating Committee

oSME President’s Award recipient

oOutstanding Contributions Award (1992-93), President’s Award 1992

OTHER

Public speaker for 18 various local, regional, and international engagements since 1987 (list available).

Author of 2 published articles in the APICS “Journal of Operations Management”.

Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project, Visio, MiniTab, and various MRP/ERP/Quality systems such as SAP, ETQ, Deltek’s Costpoint, Cincom, Chempax, FieldAware, Impresa, Navigator, TMS, and Minx.

Willing to travel. Hold current passport and China VISA. DOD “secret” security clearance (inactive).

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