Danny Combs Email & Phone Number

Versailles, Kentucky

Responsible for the P&L and plant operations of a manufacturing facility of power steering, air conditioning, and transmission lines. Responsible for all HR, EHS, Quality, Production, PC, Logistics, and Manufacturing Engineering functions. 3 shifts 450 employee facility supporting customers FCA, Nissan, Ford, and Toyota.

Frankfort, Kentucky

Responsible for the startup of a new facility for a tier one supplier of interior trim components to Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, and Honda. Responsible for hiring staff members and developing a hiring plan to staff a plant to support the launch of new programs while establishing a lean manufacturing environment. Worked with Japanese parent company, contractors, and engineers to prep the facility with utilities and equipment while negotiating contracts with vendors and service providers to support the plant ramp up needs and schedule. Supported and managed multiple physical plant expansions, building site evaluations, building acquisitions, and facility modifications. Developed relationships with local and state agencies while negotiating incentive packages during the initial startup and expansion activities. Facilitated multiple new equipment installations as well as the relocation of current manufacturing equipment.

Louisvillle, Kentucky

Responsible for developing, planning, and implementing corporate transition lean strategies for a multiple plant tier one supplier. Facilitate corporate strategies while supporting each manufacturing site's leadership in developing detailed implementation and training plans. Develop relationships with the Bluegrass Automotive Manufactures Association, the University of Kentucky's Lean Certification group, as well as other lean organizations.

Responsible for the daily management and long term strategic planning of all manufacturing operations including maintenance and process engineering while developing a lean manufacturing culture. Developed a team based environment while driving plant manufacturing, maintenance and engineering objectives to the floor level through a strategy deployment process. Improved plant performance and reduced inventories while reducing overall footprint requirements and was chosen to receive additional product lines transferred from other facilities. Improved Return On Sales by 15-20 percentage points over a 2.5 year period.

Production Manager: Managed all production operations as well as the development and implementation of annual labor and burden programs. Have successfully developed relationships with other operational departments and shown significant improvements in safety, quality, productivity, and cost indicators. Continued to develop a culture change throughout the facility to support a team based, employee valued environment.Site Continuous Improvement Leader: Facilitated the implementation of continuous improvement and employee involvement programs in a manufacturing environment. Created a team based environment and culture change within the employee population in order to drive attainment of long term business strategies and annual operating plan objectives.

Assisted Bombardier Transportation senior management at multiple sites (New York, Washington DC, and Boston) in improving maintenance and train reliability. Utilized lean manufacturing expertise to implement a systematic process with the goal of delivering improved reliability, profitability, and customer service within the rail industry. Improved train reliability from 36,000 miles between failures to more than 100,000 miles between failures. Daimler Chrysler (DCX) Toluca Assembly Plant (Toluca, Mexico). Managed and facilitated the implementation of the Productivity Action Team (PAT) process. Increased efficiency rate by 6-8% in the body, paint and assembly areas.Assisted DCX assembly plants (Jefferson North, Warren Truck, and Windsor Assembly) by offering lean manufacturing support to their Productivity Action Team. Examined both the DCX PAT process and the RWD Productivity Modeling Process and jointly developed a comprehensive program. Developed a systematic way to achieve the highest direct labor efficiency and utilization through waste elimination and workstation optimization. Improved workstation layout and created current, proposed, and future state Yamazumi charts. RWD’s measured contribution throughout DCX is approximately $35M in savings or a 10:1 return on investment.Assigned to the Manufacturing Performance Group working on the Ford Accelerated Lean Project at the Chicago Assembly Plant. Redesigned production operations within the Paint and Assembly departments to ensure safety, quality, productivity, and cost effectiveness. Responsible for improving business practices by facilitating the transformation of a mass environment to a lean environment and developing a work group (team) based organization. Coached all levels of plant management in effective policy deployment procedures, effective quality control systems, and cost reduction programs. Ford Chicago Assembly Plant awarded Shingo Prize April 2002.

Managed a large group of team members and team leaders in a fast paced manufacturing environment. Responsibilities included achieving short and long term production goals, maintaining and improving annual budgets, and managing human resource issues within assigned group. Developed annual operating plans that established safety, quality, productivity, and cost targets to support company goals and objectives. Reduced operating cost by utilizing problem solving processes, Kaizen, and leadership skills within multiple Quality Circles. Key member of the new plant expansion team responsible for process layout, coordinating new equipment installation, and establishing and implementing standard operating procedures for a new facility. Facilitated pre-production trials while ensuring a high initial quality status. Won JD Power Gold Plant Award during first model year.

Bs, Business

Lean Manufacturing, Lean Manufacturing