Quality Assurance Manager

AARON J. CALKINS

*** *** ******* ****, **** Wayne, IN 46845

260-***-**** *********@*****.***

MANUFACTURING / PLANT MANAGER

P&L / Capital Budgets / Turnarounds / Profit Growth / Plant Reorganization / Change Agent / Continuous Improvement / Cellular Manufacturing / Lean Master / Six Sigma Greenbelt / Capacity Planning / JIT / Inventory Control / Facility Start-ups / Global Projects / New Product Launch / Negotiations / ISO / QS / TS / Customer Interface

Maximized production, reduced costs, built strategic business processes and boosted manufacturing effectiveness in plastic, rubber and metal products used by commercial and automotive companies. Demonstrated record of boosting customer satisfaction to increase profitability. Eliminates waste and improves quality. Exceptional in production problem solving, integrating new products into existing facilities and improving productivity.

• Deployed Lean/TPM at 6 locations resulting in 4-8% per year SGM improvement.

• Deployed MRP/Accountability systems resulting in a 20-30% inventory reduction.

• Lead over 40 Lean/TPM/Kaizen Teams resulting in over $10MM in savings.

• Trained over 140 employees in Lean/Kaizen and developed 12 Lean Facilitators/Trainers

• Opened international Dana plant with +10% positive margin.

• Deployed capital investment projects in excess of $40MM

• Lead union & non-union operations

Key Skills: Grasping technical matters quickly. Driving out-of-box thinking. Winning cooperation at all levels. Analyzing situations rapidly. Getting things done quickly. Simplifying complex projects. Introducing change smoothly. Bringing creativity out of others. Succeeding where others fail. Coaching winning teams. Meeting demanding objectives. Relating to people at any level. Trying new approaches. Remaining calm under pressure. Articulate. Entrepreneurial strengths. Making timely quality decisions.

Education & Training

BS Industrial Engineering, GMI Engineering & Management Institute. 1988

Lean Master, Dana University, 1999

Six Sigma Greenbelt, Dana University, 2001

Baldrige Examiner, Dana University, 2002

Certified Manager, Dana University, 1998-2000

Nursing, Lady of Our Lakes, 2011

Key Accomplishments

Deployed Contech Lean/TPM production strategy that reduced labor, materials and overhead by $1.5M annually. Plant had an unorganized scheduling and productivity structure. Evaluated material flow, production capacity and order fill requirements. Restructured all plant systems, support operations and standards. Established new daily build vs. plan accountability system. Eliminated 3rd shift and weekend overtime requirements.

Saved $1.5M in capital purchases, materials, scrap and excessive labor for Contech. Production equipment had excessive downtime, and scrap and labor overruns. Led cross-functional teams to fix the problems. Overhauled maintenance, tooling and engineering functions. Standardized material vendors. Reduced scrap by 50%. Lowered labor needs by 33% and eliminated the need for additional equipment.

AARON J. CALKINS PAGE 2

Opened international Dana plant with +10% positive margin at startup. Product mix was being moved from US to Mexico to overcome 10% margin loss. Moved low volume, high quality products to new plant. Established new shipment and part costs. Set standard charge backs for set up of returned products. Changes resulted in bringing the Delphi business to a positive gross margin with a savings of $1.624M. Earned a world class quality record by shipping 0 ppm for an 18 month period.

Introduced Kanban, reducing Dana inventory $1.5M and operations $1.1M. Productivity was low due to labor intensive operations that were prone to errors. Benchmarked best practices and implemented new production structure and standards. Implemented one day Kanban system that reduced manufacturing steps lowered inventory from four weeks to one week.

Improved Kanban process for Dana, reduced annual maintenance expenses by $205K. Kanban card system required three clerks to keep system up to date. Push method for inventory control also caused stores problems. Evaluated solutions, obtained approval and implemented located storage system. Reduced the salary costs by $100K per year and reduced inventory by $100K.

Boosted Dana cell manufacturing efficiencies by restructuring production and quality methods. Production areas were not able to meet production goals. Conducted work flow analysis. Inefficient production caused huge amount of overtime and use of support employees. Developed a new production system that reduced labor by 40-60%, space by 50-70% and work in process by 60-80%. Saved $2M/year in costs.

Integrated robotics & continuous flow manufacturing at The Becker Group, tripling production output improving SGM by $1.5MM.. Replaced two oscillating paint sprayers with two robots increasing line speed by nearly 200%. Eliminated 50% of the WIP molded material, reduced paint WIP by 90% and eliminated 25% of the labor.

Career History

Lady of Our Lakes College, Accelerated Nursing Program 2011

Student at OLOL in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Completed 50% of accelerated program for and ASN RN program. Classes completed were pharmacology

Fundamentals of Nursing I & II, and Behavioral Health Nursing

National Tube Form, LLC, a $62M steel tubing products manufacturer

Plant Manager, 2009-2010 (Completed Projects for year end change over)

Oversaw $23M budget. P&L, improved bottom line from 17% to 21.5 SGM, reduced OT from $22k/month to less then $5000, and improved inventory turns from 6.5 to 12. Managed P&L for production, strategic planning, inventory control, JIT, Lean manufacturing, shipping, scheduling, HR, quality assurance, and operations. Improved customer satisfaction. Maximized productivity, reduced costs and launched product lines. Implemented a production accountability & scheduling process, a new program launch process and an annual goals/objectives and appraisal process.

Contech - SPG, a $60M steel products manufacturer. (Company Bankruptcy & Plant Closure)

Director of Operations and Plant Manager, 2008.

Oversaw $32MM budget. P&L ROS improved from a loss of $75K/month to a profit of $258K/month. Net shift of 12%. Managed P&L for production, strategic planning, inventory control, facility, capital equipment, JIT, Lean manufacturing, shipping, scheduling, HR, quality assurance, accounting and financial functions, and operations. Improved customer satisfaction. Maximized productivity, reduced costs and trained employees.

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Dana Corporation, a $7B Automotive & Aftermarket component manufacturing company

Director of Program Management & Continuous Improvement, 2002 to 2008.

Lead Continuous Improvement/Cost Reduction process that implemented 5-7% SGM improvements each year. Lead transfer and closure of two plants. Launched over 40 new OEM platforms consisting of over 300 part numbers on-time and under budget.

Plant Manager, Wharton, Ohio, 2001 to 2002.

Led $45MM aftermarket automotive component production facility with over 6,000 part numbers. Full P&L responsibility. Developed new products, controlled inventory processes, managed order fill rate and oversaw quality assurance function. Managed staff of 18 salary and indirect employees overseeing 115 direct operators. Increased on-time order fill rate from 82% to 99.2%.

Plant Manager, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 1999 to 2001.

Designed, implemented and managed start up manufacturing facility with full P&L responsibility. Transferred and launched new products. Grew staff from six to 125 and production value from zero to $28MM. Managed facility planning, customer satisfaction, staff development and long-term adaptability. Received QS9000 certification within 12 months.

Manufacturing and Engineering Manager, Mitchell IN & Andrews, IN 1994 to 2001.

Directed manufacturing of power steering parts and machined brass fittings for commercial market. Led scheduling, quality assurance, new program launches, financial planning, budgeting, capital projects, and staff training. Improved productivity and reduced overhead. Instituted continuous improvement process. Improved plant efficiency from 68% to 92% by utilizing, Lean, JIT and Kanban.

The Becker Group, a $500MM plastic injection molding manufacturing company.

Director of Safety and Environmental Affairs, 1992 to 1994.

Lead safety and environmental functions. Responsible for reporting, training, adherence and auditing of 15 locations. Provided legal mediation, government agency interface, risk management and violation abatement, applied for permits and responded to emergencies.

Industrial Engineer and Engineering Manager, 1987 to 1992.

Responsible for cost analyst, industrial engineering functions, project engineering and engineering management. Improved operations, reduced costs, implemented flexible manufacturing system and installed line side and dedicated storage systems. Led 20 employees and managed $2MM department budget.

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