Brad R. Karl

**** ***** *****

Mission, TX *****

s6wia7@r.postjobfree.com

(cell) 956-***-****

SUMMARY

Resourceful and diligent Operations Leader with demonstrated quality, materials, and engineering experience in international. Change agent professional that has demonstrated success in continuous improvement including Kanban, global sourcing, and supply chain, while utilizing Kaizen methodology in high mix highly variable manufacturing environments both in startup and turn-around situations. Energetic leader with proven ability to produce results in a rapidly evolving market while managing risk, and generating profitable opportunities while sustaining improvements though a disciplined metric oriented business process. Strengths include:

Gemba Management Lean Kaizen Sigma Practical Process Improvement

Global operations Employee relations Union negotiations

Engineering innovation Sheet metal fabrication Wood furniture manufacturing

Balanced metrics scorecard P&L responsibility Strategic planning experienced

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

THERMOFISHER SCIENTIFIC, Two Rivers, WI and Reynosa, Mexico 2005-2011

Laboratory Workstations, part of Laboratory Equipment Division in the Laboratory Products Group

Thermo Fisher Scientific is the world leader in serving science. Serving customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as in environmental and process control industries.

Plant Manager/Site Leader – Reynosa Operation (2010-2011)

Expanded the plant’s output to $65M from $38M in Revenue. Launched and implemented ThermoFisher’s PPI (Practical Process Improvement) continuous improvement program, while improving various key business metrics. Managed turnaround, expansion and growth of Reynosa’s steel laboratory workstations plant (360,000 square feet, 790 employees).

Decreased employee turnover to 1.8% average in 2011 from 7.2% in 2009, by eliminating work stoppages, stabilizing the workforce, and increasing employee morale (area turnover average is 5.6%)

Reduced the plant’s RAFR (recordable accident frequency rate) to 0.519 compared to an industry average of 3.1, improving safety record three fold

Improved the plant’s quality reputation and cost position by reducing the external COQ (cost of quality) from 1.8% to 0.4% of COGS (cost of goods sold)

Extracted $1.2M in cost reductions year over year

Increased output by demonstrated five to six percent revenue growth month over month every month for the past seven months. Never had negative growth month over month in the past 2 years

Implemented PPI and PPI-lean through grass roots Gemba focused management and daily discipline, than sustained successes through clear objectives and a rigorous daily management process

Engineer Manager (2009 -2010)

Led company’s manufacturing engineering, quality assurance and product development teams through the laboratory workstations division. Serving 6 different Thermo sites and international contract manufactures, supporting many product lines across the globe.

United dissimilar disciplines into one department with common goals and cross functional team work involving; CNC programming, manufacturing engineering, product development, quality assurance, control lab, and maintenance; resulting in an average of 9% increased revenue while reducing the departments headcount by 24% globally

Qualified and was certified as a PPI process manager with extended training in problem solving and Lean manufacturing, leading an average of 11 formal PPI teams a year

Expanding operations, revenue and EBITA through well managed projects, expansions, appropriation of capital, and foot print realignment. Resulting the in business moving from a discontinued operation with $4M in loses to a profitable one with $28M in EBITDA

Coached problem solving techniques throughout all areas of the company with a focus on manufacturing operations

Acting Director of Operations for Laboratory Workstations (2008-2009)

Directed all operations for the entire LWS division; including four plants, and 2 contract manufacturers in China with $195M in revenue while having manufacturing P&L responsibility

Grew EBITDA from 8% to 13% by optimizing manufacturing footprint and strategically injecting needed capital into the manufacturing plants

Successfully negotiated a concessionary union contract and settled another after a short strike

Manufacturing Support Services Manager (2006-2007)

Innovated solutions to the company’s fragmented CNC programming areas and spearheaded the integrations with tooling design, and manufacturing engineering.

Identified and facilitated continuous improvement through all the laboratory workstations plants through project and plant management techniques and strategies

Manufacturing Engineer (2005-2006)

Coordinated and planned projects for the three main manufacturing plants in wood and steel furniture manufacturing.

Organized, taught, and led Kaizen teams to drive the company’s transition to lean manufacturing

Designed, quoted, and built tooling required for the business’ improvements and expansion

THERMASYS, Belleville, MI 1999-2005

Great Lake aftermarket radiator division

Thermasys Corporation is a supplier of highly engineered copper/brass and aluminum heat exchanger components and assemblies.

Operations Manager (2003 -2005)

Developed team leaders to oversee the operations with 80% same day order build and ship in a high mix low volume aftermarket radiator business.

Reduce customer returned goods by 47%, by implemented structured management, supply chain, and production process

Developed and indoctrinated Kanban pull systems trough the operations and supply chain reducing the requirement of physical inventories by 83%

Continuous Improvement Manager (2002 – 2003)

Led divisions kaizen lean sigma effort by planning, organizing, coaching and sustaining kaizen projects and events through the division and other divisions in the corporation.

Led and participated in over 45 Kaizen events in all areas of the company

Plant Engineer (1999-2002)

Managed the engineering, maintenance, and tool room while being responsible for the company’s transition to controlled manufacturing methods.

Created and managed all new and existing product, machine and tooling designs for the division

WEATHER SHIELD MANUFACTURING, Medford, WI 1997-1999

Weather Shield manufactures windows and doors -- offering more styles, shapes, sizes and options in more product lines than anyone else in the industry.

Product Design Engineer

Organized and participated in a product support team to redesign existing products, while also teaming up to create a new wood cored window line for automated equipment

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science, Manufacturing Engineering

University of Wisconsin – Stout, Menomonie, WI

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