Michael  Houston

Michael Houston Email and Phone Number

Packaging Engineer & Sustainability Consultant | Former P&G | Clorox | J&J | Unilever Prestige | Beachbody | Honest Co. | Ritual | Co-Founder at Shower Pouch @ Future Blue Group
Michael Houston's Location
Torrance, California, United States, United States
About Michael Houston

Michael Houston is a seasoned strategy-driven executive, packaging engineer, patent holder, innovator, effective people manager, and entrepreneur with an extensive 20+ year track record. His professional journey reflects a profound commitment to sustainability, a passion he has nurtured throughout his career. A graduate of Tuskegee University, Michael earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Material Science.Before his tenure with Future Blue Group, Michael held key roles at prominent Fortune 100 consumer packaging giants, including Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever. He has also contributed his expertise to successful start-ups such as Beachbody (IPO '21), The Honest Company (IPO '21), and Ritual. Michael's diverse experience encompasses various consumer packaging categories, spanning snacks, beverages, supplements, personal care, home care, beauty (cosmetics & skincare), cleaning, and charcoal. His proficiency extends across sustainability, product development, manufacturing, operations, international supply chains, consumer research, retail, and the direct-to-consumer business.Over the last decade, Michael has spearheaded teams of packaging engineers and scientists, driving the delivery of solutions that uphold business continuity, ensure quality, and propel new product development initiatives.At Future Blue Group (Package Consulting Company), his focus is to help brands embrace a circular economy, if possible. Leveraging his profound expertise in material science, packaging, and manufacturing, Michael endeavors to eliminate waste, incorporate reclaimed materials, explore compostable alternatives, and diminish our overall carbon footprint in the product creation process. This commitment is underscored by the utilization of a Life Cycle Analysis software tool called Compass to quantify the environmental impact of packaging decisions. As a Packaging Consultant, his mission is to work towards a Zero Waste and Zero Carbon future, contributing to preserving our planet for future generations to come.

Michael Houston's Current Company Details
Future Blue Group

Future Blue Group

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Packaging Engineer & Sustainability Consultant | Former P&G | Clorox | J&J | Unilever Prestige | Beachbody | Honest Co. | Ritual | Co-Founder at Shower Pouch
Michael Houston Work Experience Details
  • Future Blue Group
    Packaging Development & Sustainability Consulting Services
    Future Blue Group Mar 2024 - Present
    Future Blue Group is a premier Packaging Development and Sustainability consultancy dedicated to assisting brands in crafting strategies to select cost-competitive packaging while integrating sustainability principles. Our expertise extends to enhancing the visual and tactile appeal of packaging and quantifying its environmental footprint, including CO2 emissions.Furthermore, we offer comprehensive support in cost-saving initiatives, specification development, testing, sourcing and negotiations, and manufacturing optimization for brands seeking excellence in every aspect of packaging.
  • Showerpouch
    Co-Founder
    Showerpouch Aug 2016 - Present
    We Develop Convenient Hygiene Solutions For The Active Adventurer. Feel Clean Anywhere!We've developed an XL 2' x 1' body wipe that is heatable 🔥 and reusable ♻️. We offer a FDA-registered Sprayable Hand Sanitizer and a Venture Deodorant Spray. Banish dirt, sweat, and odor on-the-go. Embrace the great outdoors and feel revitalized wherever your journey takes you.
  • Ritual
    Vice President Package Engineering / Sustainability / Sourcing / Manufacturing
    Ritual Aug 2022 - Mar 2024
    Culver City, California, Us
    * Scent Tab Cost Savings: To improve gross margins across the supplement portfolio, I negotiated our most expensive packaging component, our proprietary custom scent tabs. Was able to yield a 25% reduction, cost saved $300k annually, and locked in a 3 year contract.* Process Improvement: Developed a new standard operating procedure with Quality Assurance, Product Development, Packaging, and Project Management to streamline the process to develop our Finished Good Specs.* New Packaging Vendor: Qualified a new secondary unit carton supplier to reduce cost by 36% and improve gross margins by 2 basis points. Our unit cartons represent 10% of our total cost of goods.* Ritual Protein Renovation: Redesigned our packaging format to improve the overall consumer and customer experience. We will launch with 46% post-consumer recycled content in our metalized polyester bag and leverage a Velcro powder zipper. Partnering with Product Development, we were able to make formula improvements that would also improve the consumer experience.
  • Ritual
    Sr. Director, Package Engineering & Sustainability
    Ritual Apr 2021 - Aug 2022
    Culver City, California, Us
    Working for a highly successful B-Corp science base supplement and personal care company that believes in incorporating sustainability and transparency into everything that we do! I manage a team of Packaging Engineers and lead corporate Sustainability. We conduct a life cycle analysis on all our packaging to determine our environmental impact to best inform our packaging and supply chain decisions.
  • The Honest Company
    Director Of Package Engineering R&D / Co-Lead Of The African-American Employee Resource Group
    The Honest Company Nov 2017 - Apr 2021
    Los Angeles, Ca, Us
    Brands: Honest Beauty, Honest Skin, Honest Diaper, Honest Cleaning, Honest Baby • Was on the working team to help Honest IPO on 5/5/2021 • Report directly to the C - Suite team. • Manage a team of seasoned packaging professionals who are responsible for go-to-market executions, cost savings, and brand maintenance. • Led strategic planning for innovation and future sustainability initiatives. • Developing a 3-year packaging sustainability roadmap. Which will include Terracycle, Loop, How2Recycle, Moving to 100% post-consumer recycled resins, and Timeplast.• Successfully executed over $3.5MM in annual cost savings by year two. • Rebranded the entire Honest Beauty portfolio of SKUs while moving to more cost-effective components ($1.6M). • Increased corrugate strength by 40% while converting all of our corrugate to 100% post consumer recycled material ($1M in savings). • Developed a comprehensive strategy to eliminate all Amazon chargebacks by completing Amazon ISTA-6 testing ($200K annually).
  • Murad
    Director Of Package Engineering R&D
    Murad Feb 2017 - Nov 2017
    El Segundo, California, Us
    Brands: Acne, Sensitive Skin, Age Reform, Environmental Shield, Resurgence, Man, White Brilliance • Led strategic planning for innovation and future sustainability initiatives. • New Product Launches – Murad MattEffect Cushion Compact: • Business Impact: 2nd fastest selling SKU at Sephora. Target to exceed our #1 SKU (>$3M NOS) • Led packaging development for materials, custom color, compatibility and testing. • Managed the project timeline (< 6 months) to ensure components arrive before production. • Cost Savings/Brand Improvement – Qualified new Kit supplier to improve shelf impression at Retailer: • Business Impact: Developed a more robust package with thicker gauge PET and SBS material at a cheaper cost than the incumbent supplier. Cost saved over $75K in annual savings with a projected 10% lift in kit sales. • Conducted voice of the customer interviews with the Sephora retail team to understand Sephora’s technical requirements while aligning with the Marketing/Creative team for what is achievable at our COGS requirements.
  • Murad, A Unilever Company
    Sr. Manager, Package Engineering
    Murad, A Unilever Company Feb 2016 - Jan 2017
    Blackfriars, London, Gb
    Manage the Package Engineering R&D team for new product development, brand maintenance, packaging specifications and manufacturing. Closely collaborate between Marketing, Sourcing, Operations, Creative and Product Development for all executions.
  • Beachbody
    Sr. Manager Package Engineering - Food Supplements
    Beachbody Jan 2013 - Feb 2016
    El Segundo, Ca, Us
    Brands: Shakeology, Performance, Boost, Activit, Body Beast, Reset, Beachbody Nutritionals, and 3 Day Refresh • New Product Launches – Beachbody Performance & Boost: • Business Impact: Project is forecasted to bring incremental growth to Beachbody. • Led packaging development of 8 custom packages for powder supplements. • Led all packaging COGS discussions to identify packaging solutions that met the margin requirements. • Sustaining the Business - Packaging Specifications: • Business Impact: Developed packaging specification template and ERP system • Qualified the new Enterprise Resource Planning input system which allowed us to improve the quality of our specifications, increased throughput, and integrated the system with our current BOM and PO Oracle data base. • Cost Savings - Shipper Optimization: • Business Impact: Redesign of master shippers yielded significant annual transportation cost savings due to double stacking unit loads in trailers. • Utilized TOPs software to identify which shipper and pallet pattern combination would yield the maximum number of units per pallet/trailer. Identified $500K in annual cost savings.
  • Johnson & Johnson
    Principal Manager Package Engineering R&D For Neutrogena
    Johnson & Johnson Apr 2011 - Jan 2013
    New Brunswick, Nj, Us
    Principal Packaging Engineer Manager R&D (Managed 4 Direct Reports); Sustainability Lead. Brands: Neutrogena Naturals, T/Gel, Rainbath, and Norwegian formula • Launched 5 Neutrogena Natural SKUs using post-consumer materials • Business Impact: $15M NOS Y1. Fastest growing brand since its launch in 2010. • Led development of custom & stock packaging solutions for new product launches. • Won Cosmetic Executive Women Eco Award for best sustainable packaging for 2012. • Qualification of Post-Consumer “FDA friendly” Recycled Resins for J&J Consumer Divisions • Business Impact: Identified an alternate HDPE PCR resin supplier for J&J’s global consumer sustainability initiative. • Conducted ASTM tests to ensure the ecoprime post-consumer recycled resin was safe for product contact.
  • The Clorox Company
    Category Lead For Kingsford Charcoal - Package Engineering Manager For Supply Chain Solutions
    The Clorox Company Nov 2009 - Apr 2011
    Oakland, Ca, Us
    Package Engineering Supply Chain Project Manager; Sustainability, Cost Savings, and Kingsford Category LeadBrands: Brita, Glad, STP, Kingsford, Armor All, Green Works, Pine-Sol, Kingsford Charcoal, 409, and Tilex1) Bottle Improvement / Supply Assurance for home care trigger bottles: Technical Lead• Business Impact: Cost avoided the plant ~$1M per year in throw away and downtime. – Utilized statistical base sampling to determine supplier’s variability for blow molding trigger bottles. – Interpreted wall thickness data from over 5k cavity molds to redesign the bottle specification to add 5 more grams of resin to the neck finish. – Negotiated with supplier to improve bottle quality through increasing the amount of resin, while maintaining unit cost price.2) Category Lead: Project technical leader for Kingsford Charcoal. Responsible for developing the strategy with Sourcing and Marketing to prioritize cost savings and brand maintenance activities for the fiscal year.• Business Impact: Identified $3.6M in annual cost savings for the 2011 fiscal year. – Conducted a series of design of experiments (DOEs) to prove that down gauge pallet stretch wrap material would not jeopardize the safety of the pallet during transportation. Yielded a net savings of $300K annually. – Reduced the height of the Kingsford multiwall bag to yield a cost savings of $400K annually.3) Latin America Supply Chain: Advisor to the Latin America (LA) supply chain organization for implementing the “One Americas model” – integrating North America and Latin America manufacturing & supply chain.• Business Impact: – Identified alternate secondary packaging options that led to $300K in annual savings (e.g. corrugate with vents for high humidity environments and shelf ready shippers).
  • The Clorox Company
    Package Engineering For Supply Chain Solutions
    The Clorox Company Nov 2007 - Nov 2009
    Oakland, Ca, Us
    Supported all packaging needs across all the global business units. Managed rapid response, supply assurance, brand maintenance, and cost innovation projects. Supported brands were 409, Tilex, Glad, Pine-Sol, Kingsford, Match Light, Glad Ware (Joint Venture with P&G), Brita, Green Works, and Armor-All. Supported and led projects for Latin America's supply chain One-America model.
  • Procter & Gamble
    Package Engineering Manager - Snacks & Beverage Global Business Unit (Pringles)
    Procter & Gamble Apr 2006 - Nov 2007
    Cincinnati, Ohio, Us
    Snacks Package Engineering Manager R&D - Snacks and Beverage Global Business UnitBrand: Pringles1) Thermoform redesign for Pringles single serve tub to achieve material cost savings: Technical Lead• Business Impact: To reduce resin weight and actualize material cost savings. – Managed technical design criteria between all suppliers and corporate design. 2) Packaging specification management. • Business Impact: Ensured quality and compliance with production components.3) Managed eastern and western European Snack business • Business Impact: Responsible for successful plant start ups after executing in North America.
  • Procter & Gamble
    Package Engineering Manager - Snacks & Beverage Global Business Unit (Folgers & Milestone Coffee)
    Procter & Gamble Dec 2004 - Apr 2006
    Cincinnati, Ohio, Us
    Coffee Package Engineering Manager R&D / Products Researcher; Snacks and Beverage Global Business UnitBrands: Folgers, Millstone Coffee 1) Folgers Kangaroo new on-pack lid design and pouch - cost savings and improved consumer experience• Business Impact: Created incremental growth of $6.1M annually for flavored coffee SKUs. – Achieved 20% logistical cost avoidance through designing the thermoform to support double-stacked unit loads. – Received patent for the thermoformed lid2) Upstream development for the Folgers Plastic Coffee Canister: To develop next-generation prototypes for the Folgers canister. • Business Impact: To be launch ready in the event a competitor launches a comparable plastic coffee package in market. – Led focus group discussions to understand how to translate packaging performance attributes that further communicates freshness and convenience in a coffee canister. – Translated data into physical prototypes to be used for consumer testing. Became proficient with injection molding, labeling, blow molding, flexible films, corrugate, cartons, rapid prototyping, and thermoforming.

Michael Houston Skills

Leadership Product Marketing Packaging Team Building Research And Development Lean Manufacturing Statistical Sampling Root Cause Analysis Open Innovation Plastics Sourcing Consumer Research Supply Chain Management Negotiation Strategic Planning Strategy Product Innovation Sustainability Fmcg Contract Manufacturing Customer Insight Program Management Cross Functional Team Leadership Manufacturing Design Of Experiments Procurement Management Product Development Project Management Process Engineering Consumer Products Supply Chain Packaging Engineering Continuous Improvement Packaging Design R&d Sustainable Design Marketing Research

Michael Houston Education Details

  • Tuskegee University
    Tuskegee University
    Material Science

Frequently Asked Questions about Michael Houston

What company does Michael Houston work for?

Michael Houston works for Future Blue Group

What is Michael Houston's role at the current company?

Michael Houston's current role is Packaging Engineer & Sustainability Consultant | Former P&G | Clorox | J&J | Unilever Prestige | Beachbody | Honest Co. | Ritual | Co-Founder at Shower Pouch.

What is Michael Houston's email address?

Michael Houston's email address is mh****@****est.com

What is Michael Houston's direct phone number?

Michael Houston's direct phone number is +131057*****

What schools did Michael Houston attend?

Michael Houston attended Tuskegee University.

What are some of Michael Houston's interests?

Michael Houston has interest in Traveling, Nsbe, Mentoring, Camping, Off Roading, Motorcyles.

What skills is Michael Houston known for?

Michael Houston has skills like Leadership, Product Marketing, Packaging, Team Building, Research And Development, Lean Manufacturing, Statistical Sampling, Root Cause Analysis, Open Innovation, Plastics, Sourcing, Consumer Research.

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