Supply Chain Continuous Improvement

STEVEN E. WILSON

***********.***@*****.***

931-***-**** (M) 615-***-**** (Alternate)

Transformational Leader/Sr. Manager/Mentor ~ Operational Excellence

Operations Leader with expertise in implementing Lean Manufacturing initiatives and processes that transform cultures to create customer-focused accountability and optimal service. Degreed engineer with the ability to analyze and champion safety and quality control programs that maximize operational efficiencies and exceptional customer experience. Skilled in strategic planning, business plan execution, and financial management. Dynamic builder and leader of high-performing teams that consistently achieve favorable KPI results. A kaizen / continuous improvement change agent with a natural and impactful floor presence. Experienced in union and non-union; high to low mix volume environments that included P&L accountability. Additional capabilities include:

© EHS

© Business Process Improvement

© Quality Assurance

© Succession Planning

© Engineering Management

© Cross Functional Team Development

© Project Management

© Supply Chain / Logistics Management

© Profit & Loss Accountability

© Employee / Customer / Community Relations

© Operations Change Management

© Cultural Transformation

Professional Experience

Professional Career Break December 2024 – Jun 2025

Business Development – Government Contracting / Compliance Training / System Automation

Established home-based business focused on government contracting specializing in helping small businesses navigate federal, state, and local procurement.

Drafted and submitted competitive bids in response to RFPs and RFQs, ensured compliance with agency-specific acquisition requirements. Emphasized Davis Bacon prevailing wage compliance in relation to federal subcontracting.

Partnered and developed automated systems specific to business niche in Federal contracting.

BRAZEWAY, LLC Hopkinsville, KY (180 employees / 70M in sales) February 2016 – Nov 2024

Plant Manager – Developed and implemented Operational Excellence plans to achieve predictable and sustainable business performance. Included strategic & technical manufacturing planning, technology enhancements, SQDCM metrics performance planning, and exceptional customer-facing service.

Launched first 3 major automation projects at the Hopkinsville, KY plant.

Champion for Brazeway’s Cultural Inclusion Strategy

Successfully championed development of Brazeway’s Business Continuity Management Strategy.

Effectively lead site to ensure products are manufacture to Takt Time (safest most efficient methods to produce quality products that comply with lead-time expectation of our customers).

Transformed safety culture, achieving nearly 5 years OSHA recordable-free status, positioning the company as a leader in workplace safety (zero OSHA recordables)

Delivered industry-leading operational cost savings, driving continuous improvement initiatives for four consecutive years (delivered 6M+ savings).

Effectively influenced the implementation of closed campuses and new security measures across the US sites.

Inspired cultural change through empowerment, trust, and respect, achieving sustainable improvements across safety, quality, delivery, cost, and morale (catalyst for companywide security enhancements / led companywide MDI and Gemba best practices / Championed delivery of Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Plans across all sites including HQ)

Successfully managing human capital (our greatest resources) to deliver results above yearly performance targets.

Successfully turned around and stabilized Kentucky Plant in critical to performance areas of Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and Morale.

CONSULTING January 2015 – September 2015

Provided virtual and personal consulting; strategic planning; metric development & enhancement; lean infrastructure development; mentoring / coaching for dynamic pursuit of aggressive profitable growth and improvements of overall business efficiency.

THE GATES CORPORATION, Siloam Springs, AR February 2014 – October 2014

Plant Operations Manager – Developed and championed plans, policies, and programs within the framework of corporate policy for a ~$100M Power Transmission Belt Manufacturer.

Oversaw multi-shift, multi-product families with ~600 hourly direct/indirect and salary members.

Operated as a Lean (Kaizen) leader and facilitator of rapid continuous improvement.

BUSINESS GROWTH AND CONSULTING 2011 – 2014

Owner

Provided virtual and personal consulting; strategic planning; metric development & enhancement; lean infrastructure development; mentoring & coaching for dynamic pursuit of aggressive profitable growth and improvements of overall business efficiency.

THE HON COMPANY, Muscatine, IA October 2010 – July 2011

Network Manager of the Supply Chain – Championed the development of a dynamic team which improved the overall HON Company Supply Chain Network.

Enhanced The Customer Delivery Experience resulting in transfer COT (Complete & On-time) of 98.9%, LT (Lead Time Delivery Efficiency) of 90.2% – achieved with new / post launches above forecasted volumes and a LT measurement baseline reduced from 18 days to 15 days during the year.

Launched all new products on time and under budget.

Sustained > 97% LT Efficiency of less than 3 weeks versus 80% LT Efficiency of less than 4 weeks goal.

Achieved Production COT gain of 3% (99.7% vs. 98% YE goal).

Led multiple facilities Lean workflow and logistics optimization projects such as best cost solutions and on-time delivers; capacity planning / scheduling; and distribution warehousing / transporting enhancements

Drove structural cost reduction.

HON COMPANY/ WOOD CASE GOODS, Florence, AL October 2007 – October 2010

Plant General Manager – Championed key productivity initiatives for a $50M office furniture manufacturing entity achieving the following results:

Established a safety awareness culture resulting in a recordable safety rate of 1.30 (64.5% improvement), Worker’s Comp performance was #1 at $0.21 per member hour worked (lost work days were zero).

Awarded Presidents’ Eagle for Quality – improved PPM (parts per million) by 15% versus 10% goal; CPM (complaints per million) improved more than 35%; warranty $/unit was improved ~16%; partnered with distribution centers to improve in-transit damage by 74.1% ($17K savings); focused lean Improvement efforts on enhancing warranty reporting structure.

Enhanced the customer delivery experience with complete and on-time delivery metrics above 95%.

Benchmarked for Green Initiatives in waste reductions activities; $51,525 recycling profit by YE with $53,078 in disposal fees versus previous year fees of $186K with $0 recouped for recycling.

Improved revenue/member hour 13.3% for the year.

Results from Corporate Lean Assessments tied for top 1 or 2 in 5 out of the 8 scoring categories. Plant received 2nd highest score among all HON facilities.

Recognized and plant awarded for employee engagement and morale scores in consecutive years.

Trained in Japan on strategic lean benchmarking.

HON COMPANY / METAL CASE GOODS, Cedartown, GA January 2006 – October 2007

Plant Operations Manager – Developed and executed plans, policies, and programs for a $200M Office Furniture Manufacturing Company.

Oversaw a multi-shift, multi-product families encompassing ~800 hourly direct / indirect and salaried members, including manufacturing and engineering.

Awarded and launched new product families offerings on-time and under budget.

Enhanced the customer delivery experience with complete and on-time delivery metrics above 95%.

Drove Lean physical and cultural transformation by standardizing to corporate 6S practices across facility and 6S step goals achieved throughout the year.

DANAHER CORPORATION, (LMS Division) Saginaw, MI January 2002 – December 2005

Business Unit Leader (Aerospace & Defense) (July 2004 – December 2005)

Oversaw $23M business unit factory which supplied both the U.S. and Mexico.

Managed certified FAA Repair Area.

Championed implementation of “Voice of Customer” programs.

Reduced backlog from $900K to $23K within the year utilizing various Kaizen tools which included kanban and cellular manufacturing.

Improved on-time delivery from 60% to >80%.

Reduced overtime by 12% through improved lead-times to customers and manufacturing level loading.

Improved labor efficiency of main production areas by 33% through cross training and cellular manufacturing.

Other Positions Held: Manufacturing Technical Leader – LMS Division of Danaher Operations Manager – The Hach Company – Division of Danaher Area Manger Manager – The Hach Company – Division of Danaher General Motors – Advanced Project Engineer, Maintenance Manager, Skilled Trades Supervisor, Operation / Maintenance Supervisor, Quality / Manufacturing / Production Engineering Teaching Assistant at Michigan State University

Education

MBA Program in Global Business Management (pending restart)

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX, Online

Master of Science Degree in Engineering Science

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Troy, NY

Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, East Lansing, MI

Contact this candidate