CRAIG A.

WHITT
1375 Woodhill Lane, Lake Forest Illinois
Home: (847) 235-2285
cw51a9ca@westpost.net Mobile: (734) 637-4979
EXECUTIVE PROFILE - C-Suite & Senior Vice President Leadership in Operations, Ma
nufacturing & Engineering
20+ year career built on passion and energy in building new businesses and cutti
ng edge operations to meet broad-based business, financial and market demands. E
xpertise in the creation of global business models and operating structures enco
mpassing low-cost accelerated lifecycle design, development, production and deli
very. Well-versed in sourcing and overseeing global OEM providers, joint venture
design/development partners, contract manufacturing and managed service arrange
ments.
Market-driven, fiscally prudent, customer-focused and technically proficient. Bu
ilt high-performance environments with the structure and discipline required to
support rapid growth and expansion. Committed to best practices that improve eff
iciency, lower costs, and enhance quality and value. Strong entrepreneurial and
large enterprise leadership in business development, operations, product develop
ment, project management, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, P&L management,
environmental health & safety and process improvement. Advanced academic credent
ials including an MBA, MSE and JD coursework and Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Provides the unique perspective of utilizing manufacturing, operational, and fin
ancial skills to accomplish strategic and tactical tasks. An MBA while emphasiz
ing in Accounting is uncommon background in a manufacturing environment.
CAREER HISTORY
FORCE PROTECTION INDUSTRIES, INC. 2005 TO PRESENT
$1.5B, 1.1K-employee, multi-site NASDAQ company and world-leading provider of ar
mored land vehicles for the US Government and NATO
Senior Vice President, Operations, 2009 to 2010
Vice President, Manufacturing, Engineering, Facilities, 2006 to 2008
Vice President, Quality Assurance, 2005 to 2006
Joined an organization in its infancy, initially to build a quality organization
from the ground-up. Earned successive promotions and assumed P&L responsibility
and management oversight to build out other functional disciplines and operatio
ns during a period of hyper-growth and expansion. Lead the Operations Council, a
nd serve on the Executive Council, Product Development Council and SEC Disclosur
e Committee. Report to the CEO & Chairman of the Board, and act as key liaison/c
ommunicator to the Board, investors, strategic partners and customers.
Take a lead role in investment funding, strategic planning, business decision-ma
king, financial/operating performance and product innovation. Established a part
icipative, team-oriented environment for a 6-person senior management team and 5
50 employees in 8 domestic/offshore facilities with oversight for manufacturing,
manufacturing engineering, facilities, EH&S purchasing, supply chain, quality,
material control and product management.
* Established an ambitious vision for growth with sense of urgency, tangible ope
rating goals and clear accountability metrics to build a high-performance organi
zation and maximize revenue, profit and shareholder value.
- Played an influential role in rapid growth from >$500K in revenue to $1B+ in r
evenue over 3 years and established a reputation as an innovative, nimble, forwa
rd-thinking company focused on customer needs.
- Transformed a US-centric company into a global platform business with direct i
nvestment and customer responsiveness through total lifecycle support operations
in the Middle East and other emerging markets.
- Sustained 20% gross profit margins for 4 consecutive quarters through dedicate
d focus on capital expenditures, cash management, cost of goods, inventory, oper
ating expenses, overhead and other bottom-line costs.
- Created a new technology business unit to invent and produce a new product lin
e for direct sale and as a complement to competitor products. Positioned the bus
iness for growth to $100M over the next 2 years.
* Wrote a comprehensive partnering, outsourcing and supplier management strategy
to optimize limited resources and offer customers a diversity of products/servi
ces at the lowest cost, highest performance and fastest lead time.
- Forged a strategic partnership in UK, and implemented world-class quality and
manufacturing standards at a start-up joint manufacturing facility. Outperformed
domestic companies and become the country's supplier of choice.
- Co-led a development joint venture with General Dynamics, showcasing the compa
ny's innovation, quality and performance leadership to produce and deliver 2.9K
products over a period of 2 years.
- Ramped up facilities in South Carolina, Alabama, and Michigan to serve as the
first total integration production operation with Raytheon and other key supplie
rs for a next generation product representing $4.3B in annual revenue.
- Established and oversee the first-ever product upgrade/modernization manufactu
ring site based in Kuwait.
* Hired, trained and continuously develop the best talent, and optimized product
ivity and performance through process automation, efficiency improvements, fisca
l discipline and effective value stream management.
- Designed and implemented a flex staffing/scheduling platform to expand capacit
y 150% to meet high demand business cycles without additional capital expenses a
nd with minimal recruitment/training costs.
- Launched best practices purchasing, materials management and manufacturing eng
ineering organization providing accurate, timely and cost-effective services to
multi-site facilities.
- Rationalized manufacturing headcount from 800 to 390 while increasing product
output 4-fold and accelerating lead-times. Reduced missed/delayed deliveries fro
m a high of 20% to less than 0.5% within 5 months.
- Drove a 200% improvement in environmental, health and safety record in 1 year
and maintained levels thereafter.
* Instituted a progressive, scalable infrastructure, processes and controls to r
amp up production capacity across corporate and joint venture operations while m
aintaining high levels of product quality, cost effectiveness and performance.
- Invested $12M to completely refurbish 4 manufacturing, 1 R&D and 1 test sites,
installing new equipment production lines on schedule and within budget.
- Increased throughput at the 3 main South Carolina plants from 17 to 320 units/
month, added production capacity with joint venture partner to achieve 1K units/
per month over 18 months.
- Used Lean, value stream mapping and Kanban techniques to improve throughput, w
arehousing and site product flow allowing for a 56% inventory reduction from $18
0M to $80M.
* Established a value-driven, quality-centric culture using ISO 9000, ISO 14001
and Deming philosophies to build world-class standards, methods and procedures t
o ensure product precision, accuracy and reliability.
- Achieved ISO 9000 recertification in the 1st 90 days of tenure, and tracking t
o complete ISO 14001 by year-end 2009 and ISO 9001 by Q1 2010.
- Utilized Lean techniques to reduce manpower requirements while shifting to a v
alue-added operational model.
- Worked collaboratively with joint venture partners and customers to anticipate
and address underlying issues impacting manufacturing schedules, product requir
ements, product quality and business operations.
MATERIAL SCIENCES CORPORATION 2004 TO 2005
~$ 300M publicly traded company and supplier of engineered materials, including
acoustical solutions and decorative/protective metal coatings and steel componen
ts for the automotive, construction/HVAC, consumer products, and high-tech and c
ommunications sectors
Corporate Global Director, Quality & Six Sigma Deployment - Engineered Material
& Solutions Division
Director, Global Operations - Engineered Material & Solutions Division
Assumed multi-plant, multinational P&L responsibility for 8 facilities and 300+
employees geographically dispersed across the US, Southeast Asia, Europe and Lat
in America. Reported to the President.
* Built high-performance 15-member global leadership team and brought in new tal
ent committed to operational excellence, superior quality and high performance.
* Introduced Six Sigma and Lean management approaches and led continuous improve
ments through multi-faced people, process and technology optimizations plans.
- Reduced costs $1.3M annually in the 1st 90 days. Drove 10% total cost reductio
n, a $1M year over year savings.
- Negotiated the 1st first union labor contract for largest domestic facility.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY 1990 TO 2004
Fortune 500 corporation and world leading automobile manufacturer with 300K empl
oyees and 45 operations and joint ventures worldwide
Product Development Manager/Team Leader, 1997 to 2000; 2003 to 2004
Six Sigma Master Black Belt, 2000 to 2003
Buyer / Supply Chain Manager, Manufacturing, 1990 to 1996
Recruited out of business school and advanced on the fast-track through high-pro
file supply chain management, product development and production/engineering opt
imization roles. Led closure system concept to launch lifecycle management for 7
different product lines, including launching stamping and assembly operations a
t 4 locations in 2 states. Also became one of the first Certified Six Sigma Mast
er Black Belt, and worked closely with Global Vice Presidents and Directors acro
ss purchasing, engineering, production, quality and product management.
* Led engineering solution testing and quality assurance for 2 $1.5B development
initiatives. Saved $5M by identifying design flaws prior to production and acce
lerating design to launch cycle.
- Turned around 2 troubled major vehicle programs, overcoming significant obstac
les to reach scheduled launch.
- Created an award-winning variation analysis model that reduced 3K+ monthly rep
airs to zero in US and Mexico.
* Achieved/exceeded project cost, quality and performance metrics on a European
product design transfer to the US and Mexico, requiring fast paced re-engineerin
g and integration to meet launch deadline.
* Won President's Award for orchestrating 38 Six Sigma projects involving up to
90+ employees and 34 Black Belts.
- Achieved the company's highest productivity, cost and customer satisfaction im
provement, and delivered $414.5M in cost reductions/savings.
- Addressed Top 25 customer concerns while delivering total savings of $64.5M ac
ross 5 product lines.
* Delivered a comprehensive supply chain strategy delineating new standards for
quality, timeliness, and cost for sourcing of $3.4B in components annually.
- Consolidated supply base from 200+ vendors to 3 strategic partners, and struct
ured full-service supply agreements, saving up to 26% on $500M global commoditie
s purchases.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Spent 20 years as a US Army Officer (7 years' active duty; 13 years' reserves).
Served as a Ranger and Green Beret (Special Forces), and selected for high-profi
le leadership assignments with oversight for 70-500 personnel and millions of do
llars of equipment, technology and operational expenses. Retired as a Captain in
1997.
EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS & TRAINING
Executive Education in Operations Strategy - Massachusetts Institute of Technolo
gy
Master of Science in Industrial & Systems Engineering - University of Michigan
Guest Instructor, Total Quality Management & Design of Experiments
Masters of Business Administration, Accounting - Campbell University
Juris Doctor Coursework 21 credit hours completed - University of Detroit School
of Law
Bachelor of Science, Economics/Political Science - Eastern Michigan University
Six Sigma Master Black Belt & Design For Six Sigma - Six Sigma Academy & Ford Mo
tor Company
Sarbanes-Oxley Training - PricewaterhouseCoopers / Communications & Human Relati
ons - Dale Carnegie