David Hedges Email & Phone Number

United States

Responsible for all assembly operations of both Electric and Internal Combustion Personal Industrial Trucks across 2 plants.

United States

North Charleston, South Carolina

Managed day-to-day operations, supervising 18+ direct and indirect reports in areas including manufacturing production, production planning, manufacturing engineering, and quality

North Charleston, SC

• Managed day-to-day operations, supervising 35+ direct and indirect reports in areas including manufacturing production, production planning, continuous improvement, and manufacturing engineering
• Led multiple lean manufacturing initiatives resulting in a 15% increase in daily output as well reducing lead times and in-cell WIP by 50% and 23% respectively
• Reduced the train to competency timeline by 45 days through overhauling the on-boarding and training process of new Craftsmen
• Utilized lean line design methodologies to transform the production process from 1 big team to 7 smaller manufacturing cells
• Researched and purchased various new technologies to aide in the growth of the business
• Integrated a contract manufacturing cell into existing production cells resulting in a reduction of overall headcount by 2 FTE’s

Ladson, SC

• Supervised and developed 10-40 direct reports in various functional areas of the plant including Production, VPC, Off-Line Repair, and Logistics
• Coordinated all production tasks related to start-up of manufacturing facility including hiring, training, development of work instructions, and implementation of quality standards
• Lowered energy costs by approx. $25,000/yr by streamlining the process within the paint area
• Established a cycle counting program resulting in a 30% increase in inventory accuracy
• Led lean initiative centered on 'time in rework' metric resulting in a 65% reduction of that metric
• Implemented positional rotation to support continuous improvement and operator development

Charleston, South Carolina Area

• Supervised and developed 20-45 direct reports with-in both the small components (high speed precision grinding) and body (milling and drilling) areas of the Common Rail Injector production line
• Reduced spending on Indirect Materials by 4% with the implementation of a "checkbook" method of managing costs
• Through the establishment of a Kaizen Teian program, over 80 employee driven suggestions were implemented improving the overall working conditions of the production area
• Facilitated weekly TOP (Team Oriented Plant) meetings to support projects based on plant goals
• Attended expert team meetings at various international sites to compare manufacturing processes

King Of Prussia, PA

• Supervised and developed 25 direct reports working across 5 baby diaper production lines
• Led a lean initiative resulting in improved efficiency of a diaper line by 5%
• Conducted weekly/monthly Safety Training for the associates on my team, resulting in ZERO lost time accidents
• Facilitated morning meetings to aid in the development of the associates on my team