Bob Kem

563-***-**** adxkp5@r.postjobfree.com **** W. 60th St. Davenport, IA 52806

Director of Process Improvement

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Quality Management Leadership Enterprise Process Improvement

An accomplished process improvement executive with 25+ years of proven experience delivering cost savings, quality, efficiency, and productivity gains to large enterprise organizations. Expert in managing the end-to-end lifecycle of large enterprise projects, from program design to strategy, implementation, and management. Add value through an ability to create quality-based cultures focused around Lean Six Sigma methodologies and related best practices.

Selected Career Highlights

Lead a strategic initiative that delivered a $3.3M cost avoidance.

Built a culture of process improvement by creating a standardized LSS training program, which resulted in the training of 104 Green Belts and 13 Black Belts, and led 34 Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects over a 5-year period.

Oversaw continuous improvement and quality efforts for our retail stores with $23 Billion in 2019 revenue.

Received a Letter of Commendation from Bridgestone Diversified Products Metals Division Plant Manager for exemplary service, cost avoidance and process improvements.

CORE PROFESSIONAL STRENGTHS

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Cross-Functional Collaboration

Strategic Planning & Execution Coaching, Training & Mentoring

Enterprise Project Implementation Securing Buy-In and Adoption

Program Design & Development Executive Relationship Management

KPI Scorecards and Benchmarks Policy Development & Rollout

Lean, Kaizen, 5S, and DMAIC Methods

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Bridgestone, Nashville, TN 2007 – Present

Process Excellence Leader

Recruited to provide the strategy and vision behind enterprise process excellence initiatives, with the ultimate goal of supporting the larger goals and objectives of the business.

Change Management and Quality Culture Shifts

Built a culture of process improvement by supporting a standardized, enterprise-wide Lean Six Sigma training program, which trained 476 certified SSBB and 1106 trained Green Belts and Black Belts.

Saved the company $759M by identifying, leading, and executing numerous quality initiatives across the business; ensured tools and methods of quality and process improvement were adopted enterprise-wide.

Established the company’s Process Excellence Steering Committee in key value streams to identify, prioritize, assign, and track progress of key initiatives; utilized KPI Scorecards to align with Strategic direction.

Generated a $13.8M annualized revenue increase by leading process improvement initiative in Shared Services and with Sales and Marketing.

Strategic Project, Process, and Program Wins

Played a key role in retaining a critical relationship with key customers identified as an underserved channel for high profile products.

Delivered a 24% YOY improvement to Successful Calls in our Commercial and Consumer call center, as well as $23M in cycle time improvements, by driving the end-to-end lifecycle of multiple Kaizen events.

Reduced cycle time from 62 to 5 days by leading the Provider Onboarding Kaizen Events. Coached and led the cross-functional team to re-imagine and reengineer the process.

Enhanced visibility into the company’s capacity by supporting the Program Management Office (PMO) and Marketing Intake Process, ensuring necessary time was spent with stakeholders to properly set realistic expectations.

Bridgestone-Retread Division, Muscatine IA 2002 – 2007

Director of Continual Process Improvement

Owned all continuous process improvement efforts across 500 stores nationwide, with a core focus on achieving gains to efficiency, quality, and operations in support of $23B in annual revenue.

Provided hands-on leadership throughout 23 Black Belt and 20 Green Belt projects over a 4-year period; delivered $11.1M in cost savings across multiple lines of business.

Took the lead in designing, developing, and introducing various Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and Kaizen curriculum across all levels of the organization, from Store Managers to Regional Vice Presidents.

Delivered a 24% YOY improvement in Sales per Employee Hour by designing and executing 16 5S Kaizen events; captured an additional $4.8B in cycle time improvements.

Drove waste removal and variation reduction across store operations nationwide through Continuous Improvement through Lean Six Sigma systems.

Placed a strategic focus on the utilization of DMAIC processes, resulting in a $2B savings in addition to a 52% YOY improvement in throughput.

Bandag, Muscatine IA 1991 – 2002

Operational Excellence Program Manager (1991 – 2002)

Promoted to oversee continuous process improvement efforts in support of $19B in annual revenue. Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma methodologies across the three key regions throughout the United States.

Improved the company’s ability to deliver high-quality products and line utilization by coordinating the implementation of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma tools, including PFMEA, DOE, and SPC.

Achieved a 100,000 sq. ft. reduction of floor space and 45% improvement to quality by facilitating multiple Kaizen events across multiple lines of business.

Decreased changeover time, reduced cycle time 65%, and increased on-time delivery 10%, resulting in a more than $5.7M annual recurring cost savings.

Drove the development and introduction of a state-of-the-art process improvement leadership curriculum for business unit management, as well as site engineering, advanced engineering, and operators.

Utilized the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality criteria to improve systems company wide.

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

St. Ambrose University Davenport, IA

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Western Illinois University Macomb, IL

Bachelor of Arts in Business Management (BA)

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Six SigmaUS

Six Sigma Black Belt, Bridgestone Enterprise Quality Education

Certified Software Quality Engineer, American Society for Quality

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