John Blessing

John Blessing Email and Phone Number

General Manager at Amsted Rail @ Amsted Rail
John Blessing's Location
Greenville, South Carolina, United States, United States
John Blessing's Contact Details

John Blessing personal email

n/a
About John Blessing

My career has been in the rail industry, with North American freight and transit railroad component businesses as well as with international rail-related growth ventures. My career started in passenger rail rolling stock project management, and progressed through a diverse set of director level and general management positions that guide the strategy of larger, local teams.Among these roles, my sales and marketing experience focused on understanding and developing opportunities in the global rail vehicle component aftermarket. My operations experiences moved among whole-vehicle and prime mover maintenance in the locomotive aftermarket as well as both high-volume and low-volume/high-mix rail vehicle component and subsystem production. My experience has given opportunities to lead change with teams. Specifically, I planned and executed a two-year turnaround of operations for a transit vehicle system manufacturing team in North America, and during that period the team was able to achieve both sales and orders growth and a 5-point positive change in EBIT. Additionally, I have lead several different manufacturing teams through implementation of a basic Lean toolbox. I am currently learning through a focus on growing production capacity and flexibility in a cost-reduction environment.I would self-identify the following areas of deeper experience: organizational change, Lean tool implementation, bid and proposal development, proposal negotiation, project management, strategic planning, locomotive maintenance, operations.

John Blessing's Current Company Details
Amsted Rail

Amsted Rail

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General Manager at Amsted Rail
John Blessing Work Experience Details
  • Amsted Rail
    General Manager
    Amsted Rail Mar 2020 - Present
    Chicago, Il, Us
    P&L responsibility for the Amsted Rail site in Fountain Inn, SC, specializing in freight railcar brake system components and specialty products for the freight railcar market. Our leadership team is committed to growing great employees who secure the future of the business and to a continuous improvement culture that yields safer and more profitable activity every day.
  • Amsted Rail
    Director Of Operations
    Amsted Rail Mar 2015 - Mar 2020
    Chicago, Il, Us
    Leading the manufacturing and process engineering team of Amsted Rail Greenville (formerly the joint venture Amsted Rail Faiveley) toward the next level of Lean thinking. This has included establishment of a basic toolbox (5S, TPM, kaizen) in a very tenured workforce while also finding new ways to identify and capture value from the stream of market-leading freight car brake components. In the context of our manufacturing team with over 80 team members, I am interested in growing a committed Lean culture that can profitably seize the opportunity of freight car market peaks in the US (as seen in 2015) while also maintaining the flexibility to introduce new products quickly and to adapt quickly when the freight car market contracts. Our team's goals revolve around growth of the people on our team, growth of the earnings from our operations and growth of our market share through greater trust of our customers.
  • Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport
    General Manager, Transit
    Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport Dec 2012 - Mar 2015
    Gennevilliers, Île-De-France, Fr
    Turnaround responsibility for a $45M P&L that delivered all applications of Faiveley Transport brake, power, door and HVAC products to transit and locomotive customers throughout North America. While leading through a 100% changeover of the management team and a significant cultural change, our team began a journey to excellence. We systematically chased best-in-class quality, with a 40% reduction in Cost of Poor Quality and a reduction in Non-conformances by over half. We implemented meaningful manufacturing measures, introduced and maintained 5S, and fundamentally changed our ability to deliver on-time. We established an engineering team that could locally support all our products in the marketplace while pulling the necessary development effort from a global competence network. Above all, we identified a strategy that cares about the same things our customers care about every day, implemented it, and were rewarded with order intake levels that exceeded our sales levels for the first time in 3 years.
  • Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport
    Director Of Engine Products, Graham-White Mfg Co
    Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport Apr 2012 - Jan 2013
    Gennevilliers, Île-De-France, Fr
    P&L responsibility for a $13M portfolio of businesses owned by Faiveley Transport / Graham-White and primarily related to locomotive engine component reconditioning. With geographic footprints in the East (Roanoke, VA) and West (Gering, NE) and a product line that spans both North American locomotive OEMs, our customers included all of the US Class I railroads. My strategic focus was the growth and technical devlopment of non-OEM aftermarket engine solutions for the railroad marketplace.
  • Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport
    Director Of Operations, Vista Corporation Of Virginia
    Ellcon National / Faiveley Transport Mar 2011 - Jan 2013
    Gennevilliers, Île-De-France, Fr
    Responsible for operations, integration and strategic development at Vista, a leading remanufacturer of large diesel engines and engine components for the rail industry. (Vista Corporation of Virginia had been acquired by Graham-White Mfg prior to my joining the company. Graham-White Mfg was subsequently acquired by Faively Transport in February, 2012).
  • Wabtec Global Services
    Director Of Operations, Locomotive Service
    Wabtec Global Services Aug 2010 - Mar 2011
    Spartanburg, Sc, Us
    Operational responsibility for locomotive repair operations in Houston and Salt Lake City, with more than 35 employees and $6M in revenue.
  • Wabtec Global Services
    Director Of Marketing
    Wabtec Global Services Sep 2008 - Mar 2011
    Spartanburg, Sc, Us
    Planning and execution of revenue and EBIT for $90M aftermarket service division of Wabtec Corporation, a leading global supplier of value-added rail components. Functions included: revenue planning, sales growth, contract negotiation, customer relationship management, field engineering resource management.
  • Wabtec Global Services
    Locomotive Product Manager
    Wabtec Global Services Nov 2007 - Sep 2008
    Spartanburg, Sc, Us
    Business development responsibility in the aftermarket for Wabtec locomotive component product lines.
  • Wabtec Global Services
    Program Manager
    Wabtec Global Services May 2001 - Nov 2007
    Spartanburg, Sc, Us
    Project management for domestic and international OEM railcar procurement. Subsystem management for brake systems, coupler systems and power collection components.
  • Wabtec Global Services
    Technical Writer
    Wabtec Global Services Feb 1999 - May 2001
    Spartanburg, Sc, Us

John Blessing Skills

Operations Management Procurement Lean Manufacturing Manufacturing Contract Negotiation Rail Management Project Management Project Planning Railway Strategic Planning Negotiation Leadership Engineering Management Product Development Transportation Budgets 5s Proposal Writing Business Strategy Business Development Product Management Freight Rail Transport

John Blessing Education Details

  • University Of South Carolina Darla Moore School Of Business
    University Of South Carolina Darla Moore School Of Business
    International Business
  • Bob Jones University
    Bob Jones University
    English

Frequently Asked Questions about John Blessing

What company does John Blessing work for?

John Blessing works for Amsted Rail

What is John Blessing's role at the current company?

John Blessing's current role is General Manager at Amsted Rail.

What is John Blessing's email address?

John Blessing's email address is jb****@****tec.com

What is John Blessing's direct phone number?

John Blessing's direct phone number is +186423*****

What schools did John Blessing attend?

John Blessing attended University Of South Carolina Darla Moore School Of Business, Bob Jones University.

What are some of John Blessing's interests?

John Blessing has interest in Children, International Business, Railroads, Basketball, Philosophy, Railroad Sales.

What skills is John Blessing known for?

John Blessing has skills like Operations Management, Procurement, Lean Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Contract Negotiation, Rail, Management, Project Management, Project Planning, Railway, Strategic Planning, Negotiation.

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