Tracy Bates Email & Phone Number

Novolex™ is one of North America’s leaders in packaging choice and sustainability; serving retail, grocery, food service, hospitality, institutional and industrial markets. Novolex’s™ packaging brands are leaders in the markets they serve due to their innovation, diversity of products, and dedication to sustainability and quality embraced by the nearly 10,000 Novolex™ families. With the acquisition of Zenith Specialty Bags, now part of Bagcraft, Novolex has 61 locations worldwide, including two world class plastic recycling facilities.The family of historic Novolex™ brands includes Hilex Poly®, Duro Bag®, Bagcraft® Packaging, De Luxe®Packaging, General Packaging® Products, International Converter®, Shields™, Heritage Bag® , Burrows Packaging™ , Waddington North America™ , Polar Pak™ , Waddington Europe™ , and Eco Products®. Each of the Novolex™ brands brings a unique sustainability and product story in plastic, paper, foil, recycling, or composting applications. The Novolex™ brands are unified by four common values: Manufacturing Innovation and Quality, Service, Packaging Choice, and Sustainability.

• Supported Shields and Specialty Laminations as corporate continuous improvement resource for 10 of the company’s 60+ plants, working with business unit directors to plan, set priority, and accomplish work through and with plant managers and teams• Led Novolex Operational Excellence System [NOES] deployment through corporate and self-assessments, subsequent action planning, authored NOES training modules and deliver training across business units • Planned and led the 2019 CI Summit• Redesigned Iuka warehouse layout and flow, documented and trained in new processes, resulting in a 24% reduction in raw material paper inventory volume and a 29% reduction in material handler overtime• Improved Orangeville Converting output by reducing maintenance downtime and operator turnover, improving production efficiencies through machine rate increases, along with designing and deploying a plant-wide training process• Supported quality improvement efforts at Yakima through ongoing coaching of quality manager in process thinking and problem solving, facilitated effort to provide 8D responses and corrective actions for significant plant issues, resulting in a mended and improved business relationship with Owens Corning• Led labor rebalancing project at Hilex North Vernon by evaluating two new manning plans, extended trial of the more favorable option was run to get additional data, and transitioned back to plant management• Served as coach/mentor for plant manager and warehouse supervisor

Mooresville, Nc And Alajuela, Costa Rica

• Leads the global Operations organization in a strategic manner, providing guidance to NC and Costa Rica leadership teams for day-to-day and longer term operations, optimizing the value stream across the organization• Manages, directs, and oversees NC operations processes (scheduling, material control and receiving, production, quality, shipping) to meet established performance and quality objectives• Responsible for all talent management of 60+ associates: hiring, training, cross training and developing, coaching and evaluating, correcting and separating• Develops a culture of setting expectations and holding all accountable to meeting those expectations• Develops short and long range operations goals to support company strategies and objectives• Continuously improves operating methods and procedures to improve product and process quality, using production, quality, maintenance, and operational data• Directs product transitions between sites based on product rationalization using standard work processes• Awarded training funds from the state of North Carolina to cover roughly $120K of training to be delivered at no expense to GMI after preparing training plan currently underway• Founding member of Vistage key executive group in Charlotte, NCExecutive Team Integrator, Entrepreneurial Operating System [EOS] • Leads, manages, and holds the leadership team accountable for achieving agreed-upon commitments• Integrates all major operating functions of the organization and ensures everyone is aligned in driving improvement• Develops and executes the business plan, achieving or exceeding planned objectives• Facilitates effective resolution of issues through cadence of weekly executive team meetings

Mooresville, Nc And Alajuela, Costa Rica

• Facilitated investigation of customer issues and implement solutions to reduce recurrence• Managed suppliers by providing feedback and obtaining action plans for resolution of issues• Maintained QMS documentation• Consistently met objectives of customer returns, customer satisfaction, on time delivery, DPMO, first pass yieldISO Management Representative (9001, 13485, 14001, 80079-34)• Served as ISO expert in the organization - skilled in interpreting requirements and determining simplest compliance paths with standards and regulations• Ensured quality systems are established, implemented, and maintained in accordance with standards• Facilitated reporting on QMS performance to management for improvement• Managed internal and external CAR processes• Served as primary contact with the ISO registrar, facilitate external ISO auditsLean Manufacturing Leader• Established lean manufacturing foundation and develop lean culture in both NC and CR facilities: visual management, work cells, Gemba walks, Lean events (VSM, SMED, 5S, work flow), Lean 101 and problem solving training, kanban processes• Coached and mentored 20 green belts through training and certification process, resulting in 10 completed projects with associated savings and improvements• Won Charlotte Business Journal’s Advanced Manufacturing Award in 2014 for Best Process Improvement project, Lean Journey: Inventory Reduction• Presented GMI’s Lean Journey at American Lean Manufacturing Conference• Established work cells in Costa Rica, resulting in lead time improvement of 86% - from 384 units in 7 days (10.12 minutes/unit) to 400 units in 1 day (1.39 minutes/unit)• Improved material flow in Costa Rica resulting in one point scheduling, pulling complete kits, and exceeding shipping goals• Led Compensation and Training Committee: wrote Employee Handbook, created Employee Skills Matrix to facilitate cross training, implemented employee evaluations and disciplinary corrective action process

Salisbury, Nc

• Led organization through lean manufacturing transformation: created value stream maps of processes, established pulse points, performance boards, visual management, and leadership standard work• Established pilot site and then deployed lean management system processes to three other facilities• Contributed to lean transformation savings of over $3 million annualized• Steered continual improvement: monthly kaizens, lean training, weekly leadership team Gemba walks• Lean event topics have included value stream mapping, 5S, quick changeover (SMED), packaging material return rate, response time to interruptions, and automation efficiency

Salisbury, Nc

• Mentored 20 green belt candidates in certification project work• Secured grant funds from Centralina Workforce Development to cover plant lean six sigma training• Green belt project certified by NCSU resulted in $246,000/year cost savings, 20% reduction in the number of new cylinders purchased and better management of cylinder inventory• Black belt project certified by NCSU resulted in $219,000/year cost savings and reduced waste in the value chain across the supplier-customer relationship: Regional finalist in 2010 Advanced Manufacturing Awards in the Best Process Improvement category by the Centralina Economic Development Commission• Continual improvement projects related to packaging materials delivered annualized $250,000 in savings

Salisbury, Nc

• Ensured that the quality management system was established, implemented, maintained, and improved - plant initially registered in 1993• Served as ISO expert in the organization - skilled in interpreting requirements and determining simplest compliance paths with any standards or regulations• Managed internal, external, and supplier audit processes - certified lead auditor• Managed corrective and preventive action processes• Led ISO Best Practice Team upon integration with new company – resulted in significant opportunity cost reductions as well as registration cost savings across six plant locations• Streamlined Quality Management System by restructuring internal and external audits, combining systems, and redesigning management review• Led ISO/TS16949 registration effort for Winnsboro, SC facility

Salisbury, Nc And Shelby, Nc And Winnsboro, Sc

• Secured ABS Type Approval, including Product Design and Manufacturing Assessments Certification, for a fiber used in the off-shore mooring markets• Delivered Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) packages to customers upon request• Led cross functional investigation teams (comprised of personnel from quality, manufacturing, warehouse, lab, customer service, and other areas) for customer complaints and concerns, driving cause analysis and resolution• Established and maintained product targets and limits based on process capability analyses• Established supplier evaluation process to be used across multiple sites• Automated data management systems which allowed for a workforce reduction in personnel

Bachelor'S Degree, Chemical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Omega Chi Epsilon (Chemical Engineering Honor Society) Briaerean Honor Society for Co-op Students

Master Of Business Administration (Mba)