KENNETH A.

STAKAS
Manufacturing Management Executive
Start-ups* Turnarounds *International Operations
10 Shetland Lane Rogers Arkansas 72758
Home: 479-696-8743
Cell: 479-899-7092
E-Mail: ksf9c376@westpost.net

EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Revenue & Profit Growth
Strategies and Solutions
Operations Reorganization & Turnaround Management
Lean Manufacturing implementation & Value Stream reengineering
Policy design & Deployment
Cross Functional Team Building & Motivation
Start-Up Operations & International Expansion
Cost Savings and Avoidance
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL, INC.
High Volume, multi-plant, international manufacturer of OEM components produced
JIT and to Stringent global quality standards.
VICE-PRESIDENT MANUFACTURING (2006-2010)
Full P&L accountability for all functions and activities for manufacturing plant
s in the US, Mexico and Europe, Accountable for financial planning, operating an
d capital budgets as well as Product design engineering, Quality, Manufacturing
& Process engineering, Facilities, Maintenance, Purchasing, Human Resources and
all in plant departments. Achieved consistent 100% on time delivery worldwide, i
mproved customer satisfaction and quality ratings, received individual plant sup
plier of the year awards.
Focus on differentiating business in an extremely cost-competitive market. Reduc
ed internal costs significantly to achieve competitiveness and gain future busin
ess globally, led focus on standardization and conformance to internal and custo
mer requirements, Attention to detail reduced internal scrap an average 50%, red
uced expensive rework an average 65% resulting in a reduction in unnecessary cap
ital spending, materials and manpower. Reduced finished goods inventories by ove
r $7 Million Dollars. Started up a new highly automated, state of the art plant
in Mexico equipped with best in class machinery sourced worldwide. Returned the
US and European plants to profitability and improved the profitability of the Me
xico operations resulting in recent record setting quarters for the company.

KEY CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES:

(1) Strengthen leadership team effectiveness and set foundation for change neces
sary to sustain competitiveness in a shifting global market. Increase awareness
of plant and company performance.
(1A) Restructured leadership team and eliminated two indirect overhead departmen
ts that were underutilized reducing $2 million in costs. Engaged team in develop
ing awareness of company and plant objectives and focused on meeting and exceedi
ng goals annually on metrics that included customer satisfaction, safety, operat
ional performance, quality, cash flow and profitability. Established formal busi
ness operating metrics and financial reviews.
(2) Eliminate operating losses and deteriorating margins impacted by poor produc
tivity, high energy costs, poor internal quality and low global product pricing.

(2A) Rationalized, reorganized and restructured the US and European operations a

fter conducting an in-depth analysis that justified the closure of two underperf
orming operations that resulted in remaining plants running at capacity and doub
le digit operating income versus double digit losses on declining sales and sign
ificant customer price reductions.
(3) Lead culture change initiatives that implemented lean practices, root cause
analysis of problems and value stream reengineering.
(3A) Worked directly and closely with each individual plant manager and their st
affs to work systematically and with essential data to determine true root cause
of issues and resolutions. Worked through the value streams and eliminated non
value added operations, costs and waste.
(4) Create plant operating budgets and performance metrics to drive continuous i
mprovement, internal competition and necessary change.
(4A) Implemented detailed plant level operating plans and consistent operating m
etrics across plants where none existed before. Developed plant productivity bon
us programs based on operating metric performance, Implemented productivity and
non-material cost reduction plans in all operations that resulted in a 50% impro
vement in total worked man-hours and a 25% improvement in non-material costs wit
hin three years.

AMCAST INTERNATIONAL - GENERAL ALUMINUM MFG.CO.

High Volume, multi-plant, international manufacturer of OEM components produced
JIT and to Stringent global quality standards.
VICE-PRESIDENT OPERATIONS (2000-2006)
Accountable for all manufacturing operations and manufacturing plants in the US,
Asia and Europe. Total responsibility for plant P&L, operating and capital budg
eting, planning, quality, product and manufacturing engineering, facilities, mai
ntenance, purchasing, human resources supplying various fabricated components to
customers in commercial and trucking markets as well as safety critical compon
ents to aerospace and automotive OEM's. Responsible for significant improvements
in quality, productivity, cost reductions, cash flow and operating income makin
g the components division a candidate for eventual sale, the only division of Am
cast that was successfully sold.
Responsible for working directly with M&A firms on the sale of the Amcast compon
ents group to a financial or strategic buyer. Post sale accountability for the i
ntegration of the two companies, P&L of the merged plants as well as the effecti
veness of the Detroit Michigan product design engineering, sales and marketing g
roups. Established a manufacturing plant in China to provide local customers and
potential export.

KEY CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES:

(1) Stabilize quickly and significantly improve the operations of unprofitable,
high cost plants which were both unionized and non-union.
(1A) Evaluate and analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
within the operations. Consolidated operations to reduce overhead costs this res
ulted in a significant multi-million dollar savings. Strengthened the plants lea
dership teams and focused on reengineering the value stream, attention to detail
and eliminating non value added operations and costs. The plants turned solidly
profitable.
(2) Significantly improve the internal cost of poor quality, high scrap and rewo
rk, late shipments and customer dissatisfaction.
(2A) Focus immediately on improving overall poor quality, delivery and internal
costs. Complete attention to each manufacturing process and procedure. Results w
ere internal scrap was reduced from double digit percentages to calculated in PP
M's,100% delivery was restored as were customer relationships.
(3) Replace ineffective seniority based wage system with a performance based sys
tem in both unionized and non-union plants. Solve issues causing high employee t
urnover and poor morale.
(3A) Negotiated directly with the union leadership and worked directly with the
non-unionized work teams to establish a performance based bonus system to elimin
ate old costly piece rate systems. The plan was adopted in all plants which prov
ided significant savings to the company and a bonus to the employees based on co
ntinuous true operating improvements. This along with town hall meetings, open d
oor policy and addressing issues immediately resulted in zero grievances, improv
ed overall morale and turnover became minimal.
(4) Maintain operations during the sale of the division, quality, delivery, mora
le.
(4A) Maintained constant honest and open communication with the plants to insure
that rumors were kept in check. Maintained a constant focus on the operational
metrics and communications with customers. During the sales process quality cont
inued to improve, 100% delivery was maintained and employee turnover was negligi
ble.
(5) Engineer new technologies, tools and systems to offset ever increasing costs
.
(5A)Engineered a new automated manufacturing line that required 85% less man-hou
rs than the standard lines. Developed tooling sources in Asia that significantly
reduced tooling costs with no quality
Hayes-Lemmerz International
High Volume, multi-plant, international manufacturer of OEM components produced
JIT and to Stringent global quality standards.
Director Advanced Manufacturing Engineering (1998-2000)
Responsible for initiating advanced manufacturing concepts to all aluminum divis
ion plants worldwide. Responsible for the development of automation improvements
, lean and focused manufacturing programs. Responsibility for improving senior p
lant management effectiveness. Worked directly with individual plant managers to
improve manufacturing OEE's and tooling maintenance. Significant emphasis on va
lue stream improvements, problem solving through root cause analysis, standardiz
ation of operating practices throughout the plants and cost reductions through o
ptimizing the value stream improvement opportunities.
KEY CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES:
(1) Improve standardization and consistency throughout the plants.
(1A) Worked directly with all levels of management to standardize manufacturing
control plans, work instructions, practices and procedures. This effort reduced
internal scrap and made it possible to transfer tools between plants seamlessly.
(2) Improve operational metrics through manufacturing engineering solutions to p
roblems and inefficiencies.
(2A) Redesigned existing equipment and processes to operate at high levels of ef
ficiency, improve OEE's, reduce labor content and redundant process steps and au
tomate non value added but necessary operations. Facilitate Kaizen and six sigma
teams to enable change and supply engineering support for true root cause probl
em analysis. Scrap, rework and OEE were all improved through these efforts. Docu
mented improvement in Takt times and reduction in WIP.
(3) Improve internal product inspection methods and strengthen product developme
nt.
(3A) Designed opportunities for automated product inspections, redefined the APQ
P internal process to highlight milestones, areas of concern and accurate produc
t development costs.
LeSueur Incorporated
Low to Mid Volume, multi-plant, international manufacturer of OEM components pro
duced JIT and to stringent global quality standards.
VICE-PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER (1992-1998)
Total P&L and day to day responsibility for a custom made to order producer of n
umerous products for the commercial, construction, trucking, aerospace and autom
otive industries. Manage all plant operations, support departments as well as se
tting product pricing, sales and marketing. The plant was very successful in its
existing markets but sales growth in those markets was stagnant.
Effectively managed internal growth through expansion and sales that doubled wit
hin four years. Guided a traditional job shop into new markets such as automotiv
e and processes such as machining to support a new and growing customer base.
KEY CHALLENGES & OUTCOMES:
(1) Develop the strategic manufacturing plans to gain entry into new markets. D
evelop a sales plan to achieve growth.
(1A) Strategically studied the market opportunities available, the costs of entr
y into those markets, the product development costs, staffing, capital and assoc
iated costs and requirements to gain entry into those markets profitability. The
plan was accepted by the ownership of the company and we were successful in acq
uiring significant new business in new markets.
(2) Engineer and construct the facilities needed to support the anticipated sale
s growth.
(2A) Engineered the building expansions and additions, researched and acquired t
he capital equipment, developed the processes and controls. Engineered and const
ructed a stand-alone high speed machining plant. Initial product was shipped on
time as scheduled from the new facilities.
(3) Develop the Quality systems and become certified to ISO and QS standards as
well as new customer standards.
(3A)
Facilitated the adaptation of ISO and QS quality standards to a company that had
a traditional in house system for many years. Initial audits were successful fo
r accreditation.
Previous positions as a General Manager, Plant manager, Manufacturing manager wi
th low to high volume custom manufacturing companies supplying similar component
s to customers in the automotive, aerospace, architectural, commercial, consumer
, medical, construction, transportation, and other markets. Early career as a fi
eld service engineer for a capital equipment manufacturer.

EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS:

BS IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Professional Training:
Goldratt Theory of constraints training (Jonah instructor level)
Quick Response Manufacturing training
Cummins Engine Kaizen training
Toyota Instructed TPM training
SAI Global six-sigma training
The Shainin system of Statistical Engineering
Project management training
Numerous industry related courses and seminars.
Professional Affiliations:
Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Related Industry Groups, Executive Forums