Meet Our Team
Brian F. Cunningham
Managing Director, Softura Consulting Services
BRIAN F. CUNNINGHAM, PMP, CPIM, has had a lengthy and distinguished career encompassing all components of the Supply Chain, including Strategy, Strategic Sourcing, Manufacturing, Logistics and Technology. With more than 35 years of experience in both domestic and international operations, he offers sustainable solutions based on his line positions with a Fortune 50 company, business consulting in the Big Four and academic pursuits. He has provided guidance and solutions regarding corporate strategy and leadership, supply chain optimization, logistics, physical distribution, procurement and systems applications.
Mr. Cunningham’s client expertise involves global experiences in Europe, Mexico, Japan and sourcing in the Pac-Rim. His client list includes: AK Steel, Air Trans, AmeriCold, Apache Corp.,Arvin-Meritor, Brass Craft, Computer Van Lines(3PL), Compton Petroleum, Cooper Standard, Cooper Tire and Rubber, Dana Holdings, Delphi, Detroit Diesel, Eastman Kodak, Gage Products, Hon Furniture, HoMedics, J&J Medical Devices, LA-Z-Boy Furniture, Modus Media, Owens Illinois (OI), S.C. Johnson, Shell, Sara Lee Foods, Solo Cup, Suncor (Alberta, CA),Tenneco, Tru-Serv Hardware, Walt Disney and Worthington Steel.
Cunningham is an active member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), having presented both nationally and locally at various events and forums. He is active with the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) and the Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC). He has chaired/presented at corporate and public seminars in both industry and academia. He has been a guest speaker at APICS chapters in Michigan, Indiana and upstate New York, as well as at Eastern Michigan University where he is a member of the Supply Chain Advisory Board for the curriculum and MBA program development.
His line experiences of more than 20 years in executive positions including, Director, Global Supply Chain for a $5.2 billion division of a Fortune 50 company, Distribution Manager, Transportation Director, National Operations Manager and Regional SCM Director. His business consulting expertise was earned as a Principal, Arthur Andersen Business Consulting where he led the central region Supply Chain practice, and as a Director, Deloitte Consulting in a similar position. Most recently he was a Director, Supply Chain Practice for Resources Global Professionals. His published articles have appeared in Supply Chain Management Review and in the proceedings of the CSCMP.
Brian holds a BA from The College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, MA., an MBA (Statistics) from The Stern School of Management at NYU and is a graduate of the Logistics Institute at the University of Tennessee. He also has consulted in the proposed development of course material for the Supply Chain program at The Williams Graduate School of Business at Xavier University in Cincinnati, and is highly involved in Xavier’s University’s Leadership Center programs.
Ron Emery
Director, Supply Chain Management
RON EMERY is a Senior Executive with diverse background in materials management,
strategy formulation, logistics, customer service, fulfillment, global strategic supply chain, procurement, sales and operational planning, project management and engineering. Mr. Emery has broad-based international experience with a record of promotion to highly responsible assignments, including working with manufacturing locations in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He has held up to $3 Billion in procurement authority while managing over 150,000 SKU’s. He has produced favorable long-term supply agreements with major suppliers. He is adept in cost reduction, JIT purchasing, fulfillment modeling and implementation, distribution, warehouse management and design, strategic supply chain design and implementation, kanban, logistics, lean manufacturing, project management and component engineering with a customer interface. He is skilled in anticipating strategic needs and cost effective methods utilizing lean and continuous improvement processes, and has excellent rapport with internal/external customer.
INDUSTRY BACKGROUND:
• Electronic Manufacturing Services
• Telecom/Datacom
• Mining and Capital Equipment
• Electro-mechanical devices
• Transportation
• Diverse Manufacturing
• IT Services & Telecommunications
• Logistics/Warehousing
• Management Consulting
FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE:
• Spend Analysis
• Strategic Sourcing
• Spend Category Management
• Vendor and Contract Management
• Project Management
• Capital Equipment acquisition
• Construction of new plants in Mexico and China
• SAP/Oracle
• Supplier Relationship Management
• e-sourcing, e-procurement, Procure-to-Pay
• Sourcing Program Implementation
• Procurement Infrastructure Design/Implementation
• Procurement Outsourcing
RELEVANT PROJECT EXPERIENCE:
Mr. Emery has a significant background in Supply Chain and Sourcing. He has managed a number of large scale projects for process industries such as steel, energy and mining over the past 20 years, involving multi-phase, multi-disciplined cross functional teams. He also managed two major construction operations offshore expanding capabilities in the motor industry.
• Managed the construction activities for two new facilities in China and Mexico for Ametek.
Both projects were completed earlier than budget and under costs. Worked with major contractors to review project costs and timeliness of completion and coordinated those costs with country manager in both cases for successful completion.
• Developed Global Strategy for Metso Minerals solving problems they had with allocation of materials due to high demand of the energy sector. Created partner ships for them that allowed for improved forecasting and delivery. Developed a deliver to mine site program for Metso of direct ship of kitted parts to the actual mine site for assembly at the mine reducing costs by over 30%.
• Currently developing a Global Strategy for gearbox manufacturer in wind turbine energy market utilizing project management incorporating process mapping for organizational success. The ability of incorporating the project management process will allow that organization to grow tenfold and focus on new markets within the energy and process segments with a technology overlay.
• Worked with major process industry client to overlay technology (Metrology-laser measurement) within their process to justify premium costs within their sales for a $1B steel mill project. Client may take the process improvements and incorporate it into the delivery of their product. Allowing for improved throughput and uptime by being able to monitor alignment of equipment
• Managed three major reorganization projects within the supply chain having to manage hundreds of people and hundreds of processes in electronics, outdoor power equipment and mining market sectors.
• Created global partnerships with Celestica (Global Electronics Manufacturer) that allowed them to compete with vertically integrated competitors through a model we coined “Virtual Vertical Integration”. This is a model that facilitated the growth of Celestica and Jabil Circuits, a competitor who followed.
• I reengineered the traditional supply chain organization at Celestica into a more customer focused organization that we called “Customer Solutions”. This became the model for the Electronic Manufacturing Services industry. This combined the traditional supply chain roles, purchasing and logistics with program management, engineering, supplier development, product development and manufacturing.
• As a consultant contracted to Cummins Emissions Solutions, I reengineered their manufacturing processes to allow increased production form 25 filters per day to 600 per day by reengineering their production lines in a lean manufacturing format, eliminating waste. This plant was scheduled to close and it went from an annualized sales volume rate of 30M USD to $380M USD in a four month period. We hired nearly 600 additional workers. Most of this was accomplished by reengineering of the assembly lines, freezing manufacturing schedules for 3 days and staging of material at key subassembly areas.
• Worked closely with plant and division leadership teams at Cummins Turbo Technologies on process improvements in non conforming material, quality systems and segregation of materials that are discrepant, improved flow of material in subassembly area through the rightsizing and use of kanbans, material identification from warehouse, dealing with excess material and returning that material to warehouse and line side presentation of all material into production line. Part of a team that reduced past due orders by 80% over a three month period improving customer satisfaction.
• Worked closely with Materials Management leaders at Consolidated Diesel Company to improve material flow and production capabilities. Identified areas for improvement on the floor and worked with operations and engineering to design and implement solutions.
• For Cummins Emission Solutions served as Materials Delivery Manager. Part of team which increased production from 60 to over 500 units per day. Identified and implemented processes to improve material flow and ensure the lines are fed material a timely basis. Changed from batch processing to synchronous flow. Recognized by Cummins’ management for contributions.
Mr. Emery has a Masters Degree in Materials Management from Antioch University, and earned a Bachelors Degree in Business and Economics from Hiram College. He has completed some course work toward a Ph.D. in Management
Terrence Kosky
Director, Operations & Technology
TERRENCE KOSY has more than 25 years experience with implementing complex
business process transformations throughout the supply chain, focused on revenue enhancement, cost reduction and performance improvement. His experience includes supply chain strategy, sales & operation planning, strategic sourcing, lean manufacturing, and distribution in a range of companies and industries both domestic and international. The supply chain transformations have been supported by his design and implementation of global ERP systems, including Oracle, SAP and JD Edwards, specifically focused on demand/supply planning, production planning, and flow/discrete manufacturing systems.
He is Oracle-certified in Value Chain Planning processes and system implementations.
Previous to his consulting career, Mr. Kosky held Director-level positions in PricewaterhouseCoopers Automotive and Industrial Product Performance Improvement Practice, Coopers Lybrand Automotive Practice, KPMG Advisory Services and Accenture Consulting.
Mr. Kosky’s clients include: Motorola, Master Lock, Rheem Manufacturing, Cummins, Tecumseh Products, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Samsung Motors, Volkswagen of America, Trico Wipers, SPX Industries, American Axle and Manufacturing, Snap-On Tools, Delphi, Lear, Visteon, Valeo, Masco, NSK, TI Automotive, Tomkins UK, Allied Signal, Arvin-Meritor, Caterpillar, Nike, Delta Air Lines, Pitney Bowes, Nabisco, John Deere, Bacardi, Liz Claiborne, Epson of America, Motor Coach Industries and NASA Space Program and Governmental Service Agency.
Mr. Kosky is APICS-certified in Production and Inventory Management, and is a Lean Six-Sigma
Black Belt. He holds a MBA in Finance and Operations from the University of Detroit/Mercy and undergraduate degree in Accounting from Wayne State University.
Selected client accomplishments include:
• Assessment of multi-divisional planning and supply operations, identifying operational issues and root causes affecting process efficiency; implementation of action plans resulted in manufacturing throughput improvement of 40% and inventory reductions of 28%.
• Developed global supplier collaboration using VMIs to improve inventory availability, supplier commits to forecast, and supplier on-time performance in global hub &spoke operations.
• Implemented global Sales and Operation Planning processes for business units synchronizing global production capacity with 18-month rolling demand plan to maximize capacity utilization and margin contribution. Results include: 30% reduction in inter-company inventory; increased capacity utilization to 85-90%, and schedule attainments averaging 95%.
• Implemented Flow Manufacturing in 8 production lines including recalculation of variable lead times to rebalance lines. Results: 28% improvement in production throughput and WIP inventory reduction
• Implemented Lean Six Sigma in a $6.0B US Tier I auto manufacturer to reduce lead times, convert to flow manufacturing, and improve first-run yields using Oracle Flow Manufacturing and MRP applications. Lean Six Sigma programs resulted in: reduced manufacturing lead times by 32%, inventories by 41%, manufacturing overhead and quality costs by 28%. Project realized savings of $2.6M annually.
• Implemented supply chain planning processes (S&OP) to effectively match demand to supply to obtain target operating margin improvements of 25%+. Demonstrated ability to resolve production and supply issues, identify root causes, and drive measurable performance improvement through Six Sigma Lean initiatives.
Arlene S. Dalida
Director, Operational Strategy
ARLENE DALIDA currently is a Senior Consultant with the Xavier Leadership Center, and a principal with Kunst Solutions Corp, a holistic professional services firm helping client partners achieve performance excellence through application of lean enterprise concepts and techniques. Her most recent corporate role was Director of Business Development and Consultant in the Supply Chain practice at Resources Global Professionals.
Ms. Dalida has extensive experience in strategic financial and supply chain management in diversified industries, holding director and vice president positions at FedEx Supply Chain Services, La-Z-Boy Manufacturing, and Comerica Bank among others, in addition to a CFO role in a middle market firm.
Ms. Dalida is recognized as an expert in the application of strategic and profitability analyses to accomplish operational efficiencies and cost reduction. Using process definition and continuous improvement methods to uncover hidden value within an organization, she has re-engineered operations and supply chain processes, integrating diverse activities across the enterprise for companies in various industries and markets. She was a recipient of the prestigious FedEx Five Star Award for developing and implementing a new strategy transitioning a multi-unit regional business model into a single, standardized operating unit.
Ms. Dalida has a BBA degree from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy, along with an executive certification in logistics management from Georgia Tech.
Dennis O’Connor
Director, Project Execution
DENNIS (DOC) O’CONNOR is an executive with 25 years of consulting experience in assessment, evaluation, Leadership training and marketing/communications. He is highly skilled at implementing tactical projects through the management of clients and teams of Supply Chain specialists who understand how to get the job done on time, on budget and at the highest quality standards.
O’Connor has consulted, trained and facilitated numerous process improvement initiatives for private
and public sector entities, as well as for the UAW Joint Training Programs, focused on Quality, Safety, Diversity, Process Improvement and Customer Service. This hands-on Leadership training has been conducted at all levels of various organizations, including hourly employees, salaried supervisors, executive leaders and elected officials.
O’Connor’s corporate experience includes 15 years at Maritz, Inc. where he served as a
Vice President-Training Operations Director in the Detroit Region. Prior to that,
he began his career as a journalist, serving as the Managing Sports Editor for the
Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit for 10 years.
He also is the co-author of a newly-published book called TARGETED TRAINING™,
A “How To” Guide for Changing Employee Behavior in 30-Minute Intervals.
DOC earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing/Management from
Wayne State University in Detroit, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mathematics
(with secondary teaching certification) from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
He also is a Certified Focus Group Moderator through the Burke Institute in Cincinnati.
Selected Accomplishments:
• Managed vision alignment and business objectives during a reorganization process
for a 6-person sports department in the newspaper industry
• Organized and facilitated an extensive recruiting/hiring process to staff a $12-million Saturn launch initiative
• Spearheaded two (2) separate corporate culture initiatives through Quality and Diversity training programs for labor and management personnel at both UAW-Ford and UAW-GM
• Sold, managed and produced the design, development and delivery of a
$10-million Oldsmobile Training Matrix program – a comprehensive creative solution
to integrating all the national marketing, training and rewards programs for dealership personnel.
• Managed and produced the design, development and delivery of a $3-million Audi communications/training network during a very complex political time when Audi products were under media attack (60 Minutes) for unintended acceleration problems
David Stock
Director, Financial Analysis
DAVID STOCK has more than 15 years of finance and accounting experience in the following industries:
• Food manufacturing
• Distribution of after-market auto and heavy equipment
• Computer services industries.
Mr. Stock also has over 10 years of experience in the areas of process improvement, implementation of ERP Business systems, and financial and computer auditing. His titles have been corporate accountant, assistant plant controller, senior financial analyst and VP CFO.
Mr. Stock has helped others as a finance and software professional by identifying inefficiencies and applying solutions to reduce costs. As a hands-on leader, he has structure effective accounting processes to ensure accurate allocation of resources, broad spectrum cost control and well-focused financial reporting.
Co-workers and supervisors acknowledge Mr. Stock’s business acumen and his ability
as a creative, conceptual thinker capable of quick problem solving. He communicates key information quickly across all departments, and at all levels of an organization, to ensure responsible financial management.
David’s success is supported by an MBA in Finance and Logistics from Wayne State University, and a BA in Economics and Management (with an emphasis in Accounting) from Albion College. He is a licensed CPA, a member of the Michigan Association of CPAs and the AICPA.
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