Expertise

Jim Gifford is an experienced coach and mentor to manufacturing leaders with a passion for helping others achieve excellence. Based on his 30+ years of experience leading manufacturing teams, he has the credibility and proven process to build trust and to accelerate the development of plant leaders and future plant leaders.

Manufacturing Expertise

Jim’s practical, straight forward development process is based on real world plant leadership expertise including:

· Multi-site Plant Leadership – Most recently led 5 plants with more than 8,000 employees producing 9 million home appliances annually and previously led 3 plants with more than 6,000 employees producing almost 10 million appliances annually

· Plant Leadership - Led  9 unique plants with 3 Fortune 200 companies (General Electric, Emerson, Whirlpool) ranging from 850 to 3300 employees

· Product & Innovation – Launched a wide array of innovative products including lighting, motors, dishwashers, trash compactors, ice makers, freezers, refrigerators, ranges, wall ovens, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, air purifiers, stand mixers, hand mixers, blenders, clothes washers and dryers

· Lean Manufacturing – Expertise in leading lean transformations in continuously improving organizations by growing manufacturing leaders

· Production Systems – Implemented comprehensive production systems including Toyota Production System (TPS), Whirlpool Production System (WPS) and World Class Manufacturing (WCM)

· Diverse Operations – Successful in a wide array of environments including Greenfield start up, rapid expansion due to growth, business integrations due to acquisitions, rightsizing, relocations, turnarounds and closings

Manufacturing Leadership Development Experience

His leadership development experiences are marked by achieving significant success for organizations and individuals:

· Coached 75+ manufacturing leaders on team and individual performance

· Mentored 25 Operations Directors and Managers that went on to become Plant Leaders

· Advised 10 Plant Leaders that went on to become General Managers, VP of Manufacturing or CEO

· Worked with more than 20 Manufacturing VPs or CEOs on leadership and succession planning

· Mentored 5 Manufacturing Leaders who went on to start their own businesses

· Benchmarked over 100 manufacturing plants across 10 diverse industries

Example Advisory Engagements

Some specific coaching and development assignments and projects that Jim has undertaken include:

· Plant Leader of a $1B operation with 2200 employees who became a Multi-site Manufacturing Leader with 3 plants, $4B business with over 6000 employees

· Operations Manager who went on to become a General Manager for a Fortune 500 company

· Director of Operations of a medium sized facility who went on to become a Plant Leader of a $1.2B plant with 3300 employees

· Plant Leader of a medium sized facility in Mexico transitioning to a large US Plant Leader role with over 3000 employees

· Engineering Leader changing disciplines and industries transitioning to a Plant Leader with 1500 employees

· Finance Leader who went on to become a Plant Leader of a $800M, 1800 employee operation 

· Director of Operations who went on to become a GM and then CEO of a Fortune 500 company

· Plant Leader of the worst performing operation in the company becoming the top performing leader for 2 consecutive years

· Director of Operations who went on to become a VP of Multi-site Manufacturing for a Fortune 100 company with plants in multiple countries

Example Operations Experiences

· Benchmarked 8 world class companies in US and Europe as the manufacturing representative on the corporate team charged with selecting a new global production system (World Class Manufacturing)

· Trained by founder of WCM, Professor Yamashina, Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University 

· Implemented Toyota Production System (TPS), trained and supported by actual Toyota coaches, driving productivity and improving employee engagement

· Implemented simple, flexible and customer focused team based organizational design in Greenfield start up with 1200 employees and more than $750M in sales delivering on all ramp up metrics

· Right sized a 2.5M square foot facility with 2200 employees achieving profitability for first time in 3 years

· Led KitchenAid Small Appliance business including manufacturing operations, distribution which included globally sourced and licensed products, customer call center and first ever retail store - The KitchenAid Experience 

· Conducted internal and external plant assessments focused on operational excellence, lean manufacturing and employee engagement 

· Transitioned production from the US to South America to China in a competitive  consumer commodity business

· Led evaluation and execution of product line moves between manufacturing plants in US 

· Represented manufacturing on the vendor selection of a new company wide IT business solution

· Expertise in leading lean transformations by growing manufacturing leaders who deliver

 Professional Qualifications and Involvement

· Bachelor of Science - Industrial Distribution, Clarkson University (Presidential Honors)

· Master’s in Business Administration, Cardinal Stritch College

· Executive Development Program, Owens School of Management, Vanderbilt

· Manufacturing Leadership Program, General Electric

· Certified Manufacturing Technologist, Society of Manufacturing Engineers

· Certified Materials and JIT, American Production and Inventory Control Society

· Member, Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce, State of Oklahoma 

· Member, Board of Directors, Family Health, Greenville, Ohio

· Member of National Manufacturers Association’s Manufacturing Leadership Council

Jim Gifford

918.409.3185 

jim@giffordmanufacturingadvisors.com