Plant Manager Engineering

CONSTANCE LEPLEY

Waterloo, IN ***** 260-***-**** ***************@*****.*** linkedin.com/in/connie-lepley-2692677

Operations, Engineering and Leadership Professional

Dynamic high energy operations professional with proven success leading manufacturing sites in operations and technical services while achieving world-class results in Safety, planning, Quality, and cost. Focused on the development of continuous improvement and best-in-class processes and standards that cut costs while increasing efficiency, productivity, and on-time delivery while taking care of the human factors of the business. A broad scope of manufacturing process experience and operational perspective through exposure to multiple cultures, particularly in the US, Canada, Western Europe, India, and Mexico.

CORE PROFICIENCIES

Operations Management Leading & Developing Teams Labor management TS/ISO Standards Safety Quality Change Management Problem Solving Project Management Lean/Kaizen Implementation P&L Management Maintenance and mechanical Regulatory Compliance Technical services Planning &Budgeting

HIGHLIGHTS & STRENGTHS

oContinuous Improvement: Measurable achievements in operating KPI through cultural transformation focusing on communication, leveraging Team engagement, accountability. Leadership in Engineering transforming process improvements.

oTurn Arounds: Major improvements to quality of product and safety of all employees leading to improved profitability by over 10%. Managing customer expectations and relationship improvements.

oIndustry Experience: Extensive experience in the automotive industry, including brake and fuel line preparation, assembly and testing, sealing systems for primary, secondary, ODS, and glass run seals. Injection molding for plastic, EPDM, rubber, and extrusion operations. Anti-Vibrations, exhaust, and Suspension Systems along with Machining and tool development in the machine shop industry.

LEADERSHIP ROLES

NBJX, North America, CANTON, MICHIGAN (2019 – Present)

Private supplier of NVH, Sealing, and Chassis systems and components for the automotive industry.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS & ENGINEERING

Provide leadership and direction for the manufacturing, product quality, application, design, and quoting for a manufacturing startup in North America. Manage warehouse distribution of incoming product from overseas. Collaborate with Business Development, Sales, and Senior Management for the Business Plan. Management of distribution warehousing operation.

oSuccessful development product costing and processes for the Sealing segment business.

oSuccessful Technical reviews with customers VW, Audi, and Ford.

oSuccessful quotation and bid for new business in North America with nomination awards from VW Chattanooga.

Manage warehouse operations in Canton for NVH, Sealing, and Chassis pass-through product.

oNegotiations with Suppliers for equipment and tooling for awarded program saving over $350 k.

oThe procedure, job descriptions, and process applications for a new manufacturing facility.

oCollaboration with the Chinese R&D and design team for the product application and standards in North America.

COOPER STANDARD AUTOMOTIVE (CPS), NOVI, MICHIGAN (2005-2019)

Public global supplier of systems and components for the automotive industry operating in 20 countries.

DIRECTOR, NA INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING. CENTER OF COMPETENCE (2016 - 2019)

Provide leadership and direction of 52 advanced engineering technical professionals across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Strategically plan in the areas of advanced process innovation, technology deployment, and Best Business Practice (BBP)deployment. Monitor and maintain compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations for health and Safety, Quality, and documentation/reporting. Forge productive alliances with customers, internal/external stakeholders, and third-party vendors/suppliers.

oSuccessful restructuring of Technical services (COC) team to improve the overall performance of the technical support team

o11 manufacturing plants and over 80 new program launches.

oSuccessful collaboration with the global technical and manufacturing team to develop over 100 Global Specifications covering equipment, process, and standard operating procedures.

oImplementation of standards for all major processes, equipment, and tooling across the largest product line for global applications.

oEfficiently manage an annual capital budget of $35m in 2017, $21m 2018, 20m 2019

oEffectively Provided basis for customer relationship improvements for major OEM (70% of the portfolio) in Mexico while managing Mexico partner for six months.

oImprovement of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) improved from an average of 80% to over 86% net overall improvement of 62,000 hours of uptime.

oSuccessful leadership in KT problem solving to ensure data-based decision making.

oDevelopment and implementation of plant readiness audit for critical equipment, resulting in significant operational improvements in Quality, cost and delivery.

o6 Sigma Training for Managerial Perspective

DIRECTOR, NA INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, LAUNCH MANAGEMENT (2015 - 2016)

Provide leadership and direction of 13 technical professionals across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Strategically plan in the areas of launch management to ensure customer expectations are exceeded. Ensure compliance with standards for program and plant launch management for 11 facilities across America, Mexico, and Canada.

oSuccessfully achieved or exceeded all launch metrics within the first year; reduced spending by 32%.

oImproved overall green gates by 14% in North America

oImprovement of over 60% in deliverables "on time."

Collaboration with Global and regional launch teams to ensure processes and procedures in place for the improvement of the "CLAUS" system.

PLANT MANAGER, COOPER STANDARD GMBH, EUROPEAN SEALING DIVISION (2013-2015)

Provided leadership to EU facility in Lindau, Germany. A Manufacturing plant turn-around opportunity in all areas. Full Operational and P&L responsibility for 1000+ person facility. Multiple Business Units compounding/mixing and finishing. Responsibility for engineering, launch management, Quality, Safety, operations, finance, and logistics/materials. Facility supporting sales at the $80m annual Level

o Implementation of standard operational tools for root cause and gap analysis

o Equipment and manufacturing performance improvements more than 10%

o Successful Government Work Council negotiations were ensuring continuing operations amid restructuring activities.

o Strategic development of local resources to "take over" leadership position.

o Successful reinstatement of VDA6.3 certification

PLANT MANAGER, COOPER STANDARD NVH DIVISION (2007-2012)

Report to Director of Operations. Manage three Business units in a tier-one supplier plant of up to 350 employees with sales of $150 million annually. Manage all plant activities to meet plan, full PL (3) responsibility. Facilitate the measure and improvement of plant financial performance.

oAwarded Q1 and TS16949, ISO14001 certifications in 2010, re-certifications in 2011

oLead the Assessment of Staff strengths and Weaknesses to build a better team, restructure, and replace.

oFacilitation of the Business model improvement team for NVH division by the direct collaboration of purchasing, finance, and engineering.

oImprovement in Operating profit year over year from 2007 -3.2% to a 2011 of 6.3% (<10 m. improvement) to the organization.

oNegotiated union concessionary contract with a total 3-year savings of 4.4 million, and extensive management flex ability

Additional Experience

INTERIM PLANT MANAGER, NISHIKAWA -COOPER, (NISCO) NEW HAVEN, INDIANA (2006 - 2007)

oManaged plant with 510 associates and $52M in annual sales.

oManaged closure and relocation of facility.

oWARN notices and communications with employees as well as customers.

oMaintained performance in Safety, Quality, and profitability during the transition.

PLANT OPERATIONS MANAGER, NISHIKAWA-COOPER (NISCO) NEW HAVEN, INDIANA (2005 - 2006) Managed manufacturing operations across three shifts, including 400 associates and supervision.

oCollaboration with Internal Engineering and Materials to improve process stability resulting in quality improvements by over 50% as measured by customer ppm reduction

oImplementation of daily measurable and schedule for operations resulting in delivery improvements of 20% to end customers Honda and Nissan.

oImplementation of preventive maintenance program reducing overall thermal incidents by 50%

oAnnual Cost Savings 4.7% of sales, and Safety by 40%.

BUSINESS UNIT LEADER, TI GROUP ASHLEY, INDIANA (1999 - 2005)

Major Brake and Fuel supplier for the automotive industry.

oManaged manufacturing operations across three shifts, including 100 associates and supervisory staff.

oCustomer engagement, presentations, and communications.

Hillsdale Tool and Manufacturing- cnc machining, broaching, hardening, assembly

Tenneco Automotive (Walker)-bending welding, stamping and assembly

Hendrickson Suspension Systems -cutting grinding, manual cnc, assembly

Weber Pattern & Machine- Machine Shop, Mold building/ cnc

EDUCATION

MSOL in progress, 2019, TRINE UNIVERSITY

Bachelor of Management, 2002, TRINE (formally Tri-state) UNIVERSITY, Angola, IN

Technical Certification, 1989, WAYNE UNIVERSITY, Fort Wayne, IN

Specialist in Supervision, 1996, INDIANA-PURDUE UNIVERSITY, Fort Wayne, IN

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

Kepner- Tregoe Problem Solving

Indiana Wesleyan Leadership

Total Preventative Maintenance

Negotiating for Competitive Advantage

The Visual workplace

Tenneco Automotive Leadership Certification

Legalities of Accidents in the Workplace

Ford Supplier training

VW Supplier Training

SPC, Short Run Applications

Lean Manufacturing Concepts

Managing your Workforce within the Law OSHA Compliance, 1910CFR

How to Lead Teams and Facilitate,

Electronics & Troubleshooting

Pneumatics & Troubleshooting

Team Oriented Problem Solving II

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance

Hydraulics & Troubleshooting

TS16949 Supplier Certification

Advanced Statistical Process Control

Electrical Safety

Value-Added Management

Measuring Process Capability Project Management

References Available Upon Request

LEADERSHIP ROLES cont.

LEADERSHIP ROLES CONT.

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