Andy Werner Email & Phone Number

Conway, AR, US

• Combined the two companies distinct R&D Teams into one unit; maintaining R&D capacity while reducing payroll expense by 18%
• Responsible for $3M Departmental Operating Budget
• Provided full development services to external customers to ensure quality, manufacturability, and nutritional/regulatory compliance of new and revised formulas.

• Represented QA and R&D as member of the Executive Management Team (OMP) creating/implementing a 5 year strategic plan.
• Implemented (w/Sales) ‘Fewer Bigger, Fewer Better’ strategy that doubled the volume of the most profitable product family to 17M cases annually
• Championed creation of QA Plant Auditing group, resulting in a 13% reduction in manufacturing deviations
• Created Food Defense Program compliant with audit and regulatory requirements

Batavia, NY

• Lead the Product Development and Technical Services departments to commercialize new incremental volume, and optimize COGS of existing products
• Manage a New Product Development Pipeline worth $10 million
• Troubleshoot to root cause operations deviations resulting in savings of $200 thousand annually
• Investigate new ingredients, processes, and packaging to ensure O-AT-KA’s capabilities meet current market demands

Winooski, VT

• Led the Formulation and Packaging Development Teams in creating and commercializing $4M in new products annually representing 16% of annual sales
• Increased Innovation Pipeline Value from $0 to $6.5M in 12 months by implementing an ‘Innovation Engineering’ method to efficiently drive internal innovation projects
• Scouted innovation projects worth $700k by identifying and solving project death threats
• Designed and implemented New Product Development Process designed to improve efficiency and increase development capacity

Burlington, VT

• Led both the Research & Development and Quality Assurance Teams in creating and protecting brand value
• Championed NPD Steering Team and NPD Project Team – managing a $9M development pipeline representing 30% of annual sales
• Maintained a Food Quality System that consistently earned scores of 94% or better during annual independent 3rd party audits
• Re-Launched baked add-in product family; improving profitability by increasing throughput 2.3x historic run rates. Future value to Rhino - $13 - $15M in annual gross sales
• Represented QA and R&D as a member of the Management Team creating a rolling 5 year strategic plan

Lemars, IA

• Responsible for $1.1M PD&C budget
• Exceeded company targets for ‘sales from new products’ and pipeline value: 2003 - 2006
• Maintained a Q12 ‘Best Practices’ Work Team of highly engaged members. Engagement score in the Top Quartile of all work groups surveyed by Gallup
• Developed & implemented, as Early Management pillar member, test run procedure targeted to reduce start up costs by 30%
• Provided coaching, mentoring, and development to a growing staff of 11 Product Development Technicians involved in 5 Strategic Business Units as company grew to over $1B in annual sales

White Plains, NY

• Developed and executed fermentation studies to increase yield and efficiency
• Produced pilot scale beers and distillates that possessed desired sensory attributes
• Designed and lead fermentation plant trials
• Performed routine microbial analysis and challenge studies in an ISO laboratory to support existing and developing product lines

Yuma, AZ

• Provided counseling, instruction in leadership, and technical training to marines in both peace time and in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
• Trouble-shot and repaired airborne electronics systems

Master Of Science (Ms), Food Science

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Food Science