Collaboratively led production, safety, maintenance and quality. Developed a positive and stress-free work environment. Led employees towards a systems-thinking approach to problem-solving. IOW, today's solution may cause tomorrow's problems. I worked with world-class leaders that promote the use of data to make good business decisions.

Facilitated two third-shift sanitation teams. Directed 20 employees. Ordered sanitation chemicals and supplies. Provided support for efficiently using labor, time, and supplies. Reduced maintenance costs from $30,000 to $5,000 during first six months of 2015. Trained sanitation people to set up and clean equipment, ensuring equipment and supplies were ready to go when first shift arrived. • Decreased department recordables from five in 2014 to zero for first eight months of 2015. • Utilized near-miss reporting and root-cause-driven corrective actions.

Led team of operations and warehouse supervisors in all aspects of cheese and beverage manufacturing and packaging. Improved operating inefficiencies, increased quality, and improved safety. Initiated and created formal documentation for critical processes, resulting in reducing setup issues from 300 minutes per month to 150 minutes per month. • Tracked downtime with root-cause to focus efforts on top three contributing factors. • Utilized downtime tracking database to measure improvements from baseline.

Oversaw quality systems, calibration technicians, and continuous improvement initiatives. Hired as hourly cheese grader. Improved quality technician position. Assisted with engineering to improve new processes. Served as root-cause investigator for customer complaints. Worked closely with QA and operations department for sustainable corrective actions. Improved quality technician position by giving technicians access to e-mail and quality folders on network, resulting in better communication and understanding of quality programs. Reduced package leaking rate from 8% to 2% on food service line through use of Six Sigma tools. Decreased giveaway from 2% to 1% on deli and retail lines through use of continuous improvement tools. • Increased product made right first time from 97% to 98.8%. • Set up leak detection system for optimum negative pressure and minimum test time, utilizing line equations and package and seal surface area.

Directed team of 100 union employees in three department. Focused on continuously improving quality, manufacturing efficiency, and safety. Increased production efficiency by 10% in axle department. Improved from 75% efficient to 82% by identifying tooling to adapt to process to eliminate safety issues and improve assembly time. Grew production output by 95% in axle department from 20 to 40 trucks by reassigning tasks and rebalancing production line. Increased production output by 75% in tanker subassembly area. Determined and eliminated waste of time waiting for previous station to finish. Met on-time delivery by 100%. • Improved quality first-pass yield by 15%. • Reduced reportable incidents by 30% by involving employees in safety audits.

Led team of 44 non-union employees in two facilities manufacturing and packaging ready-to-eat sausage. Developed employees and improved all aspects of business. Increased production efficiencies by 80% in one department by reducing start-up and changeover time. Reduced recordable accidents in separate facilities from five to two by involving employees and establishing easy-to-understand safety metric. Decreased annual rework and scrap from $100,000 to $1,000 by tracking waste and identifying related quality issues. Utilized learning agility log to track issues to ensure problem was not repeated. • Reduced employee turnover by 50% by using timely and ongoing coaching. • Identified key employee success factors and used factors to hire best-fit employees.

Facilitated team of 24 union employees producing and packaging mozzarella and provolone cheese and condensed whey, as well as safety and sanitation. Scheduled 100 employees throughout production departments. Focused on improving compliance with corporate quality program. Increased quality audit scores by 100% by involving employees in change process and reducing program into manageable tasks. Reduced union grievances by formalized employee scheduling for vacations and day-off.

Managed team of eight union employees producing, packaging, shipping and receiving, as well as safety and sanitation for animal health products. Communicated and conducted laboratory tests for operators. Utilized JD Edwards software for inventory control and scheduling. Reduced non-conformance product by three incidents per year to one incident by formalizing Food and Drug Administration documentation for drug and protein isolation and use. Set up fat agglomeration equipment, reducing production costs and eliminating start-up errors.

Directed team of six union employees producing provolone and mozzarella and condensed whey, safety, and sanitation. Developed predictor for final fat and protein in vat before vat filled. Utilized excel formulas and component samples. Reduced sanitation chemical use by 25% by implementing chemical concentration check log and verified level of sanitation using ATP-bioluminescence system.

Led team of union members in production and packaging of mozzarella and provolone cheese, safety, and sanitation. Improved regulatory and customer audits, reducing frequency inspection schedule and sampling plan. Utilized employee involvement, vendor services, and close supervision. Developed first automated cheese former in conjunction with vendor, using automated pneumatic rams to move cheese forms into chilling water and ejecting loaf into brine.