Speakers
Dan Bednarzyk
Vice President of Manufacturing (at Canton, MISS plant)
Nissan North America Inc.
Dan Bednarzyk is a vice president of manufacturing for Nissan North America, Inc. He is responsible for all manufacturing operations at Nissan's vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi.
Mr. Bednarzyk joined Nissan in 1985 as a manufacturing engineer in stamping at the company's vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. He spent 18 months in Japan as a long-term trainee at Nissan's Oppama Plant and at the Nissan Technical Center. A member of the Smyrna management team since 1993, he has held responsibilities for engineering, manufacturing and tool-and-die maintenance. In 2002, Mr. Bednarzyk transferred to the Canton Plant start-up team, where he served as plant manager of body assembly and stamping operations, and later was named director of engineering and maintenance. He assumed his current responsibilities in October 2007.
Dan Bednarzyk earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, and a master's degree in business administration from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Mr. Bednarzyk currently serves on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Central Mississippi, as well as the board of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Automobile Manufacturer's' Association, and the Mississippi Economic Council.
Gary L. Cowger
Group Vice President Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations
General Motors
As group vice president of global manufacturing and labor relations for General Motors, Gary Cowger is responsible for directing all of GM's manufacturing and labor relations activities worldwide. Prior to his current position, Mr. Cowger served as president of General Motors North America.
Mr. Cowger began his GM career in 1965 at the company's Kansas City, Kansas, assembly plant as a co-op student for General Motors Institute. He worked his way up through the ranks to become superintendent of the plant, taking a brief break in 1978 to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a GM Sloan Fellow.
In 1979, Mr. Cowger moved to GM's Oldsmobile division in Lansing, Michigan, to become general superintendent of the Lansing Car assembly plant, before moving to the St. Louis, Missouri, assembly plant to serve as production manager. In 1982, Mr. Cowger was appointed the first manager of the brand-new Wentzville, Missouri, assembly plant, where he was responsible for every aspect of the facility-from building to staffing to the start of full production. Four years later, Mr. Cowger was named complex manager of the Lordstown assembly and stamping facilities in Ohio.
Gary Cowger was appointed manufacturing manager of GM's Cadillac division in 1987. During this position, he was instrumental in helping Cadillac win the coveted Malcolm Baldridge Award for quality. Mr. Cowger then became executive director of advanced manufacturing engineering and executive in charge of the North American Operations Manufacturing Centers. He was appointed president and managing director of GM de Mexico in 1994 and was elected a GM vice president in October 1994.
Mr. Cowger was named manufacturing vice president for GM Europe in 1998 and placed in charge of the overall coordination of Opel/Vauxhall operations for 14 plants in ten countries. He was then appointed chairman and managing director of Adam Opel in Germany.
Later that same year, Mr. Cowger became group vice president of labor relations for GM North America and then group vice president of manufacturing and labor relations in 2001.
Gary Cowger earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and a master of science degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received an honorary doctorate from Lindenwood University in 2002 and was honored with Kettering University's Distinguished Alumnus Award that same year. In 2006, Mr. Cowger was named a Fellow of Stanford University, becoming the fifth recipient of this coveted honor in 20 years. And in 2007, Mr. Cowger was once again honored by Kettering University with an honorary doctor of engineering degree.
Gary Cowger has received a number of other honors and industry awards. In 2006, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In 2004, he was named Automotive Industries' Executive of the Year; and the prior year, he received the Society of Automotive Engineers' Manufacturing Leadership Award. And in 2001, Mr. Cowger was honored with the prestigious Wu Manufacturing Leadership Award.
Charles D. (Chuck) Ernst
Senior Vice President and Plant Manager
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC
Charles Ernst is senior vice president and plant manager for Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC (HMA). As plant manager, he is responsible for daily operations of the entire Lincoln facility, including automobile and engine production.
Located in Lincoln, Alabama, Honda's $1.4 billion vehicle and engine operation in Alabama employs 4,500 associates. The company produces the Odyssey minivan, Pilot sport utility vehicle, Ridgeline pickup truck and the V-6 engines that power them. HMA currently produces 300,000 vehicles and engines annually at its Alabama facility.
Since 1999, Mr. Ernst has been responsible for all phases of HMA's development. He has worked for Honda since joining Honda of America Manufacturing in February 1985. During his tenure with Honda, Mr. Ernst has held positions ranging from engineering coordinator and senior staff engineer to senior manager and vice president.
He was involved with the start-up of Honda's Anna Engine Plant (Anna, Ohio), and was vice president of Findlex Corp., a Honda supplier. While working with Findlex, he was responsible for all aspects of the plant's operations including automotive brake systems and special component production. From 1995 until the start of the Alabama Project, Mr. Ernst was responsible for the powertrain and body equipment divisions for Honda Engineering North America.
Before joining Honda, Mr. Ernst worked in the automotive steel and engineering industries. He has a bachelor of science in applied science from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, with a specialty in manufacturing engineering.
Mr. Ernst currently serves as the chairman of the Alabama Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Ashley Frye
Director - Production
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC
Ashley Frye currently serves as HMMA's director - production. In this role, Mr. Frye is responsible for all manufacturing operations at Hyundai's first and only U.S. manufacturing plant. Before being promoted to HMMA's director - production, he served as director - general assembly from April 2003 until April 2009. As one of the first leaders to join HMMA in 2003, Mr. Frye was involved in construction, equipment procurement and installation prior to the plant's start up in early 2005. He played a critical role in the selection and training of all production and staff personnel. He also developed business practices and policies in alignment with corporate headquarters located in Seoul, South Korea.
Prior to joining HMMA, Mr. Frye was the engine and suspension engineering department manager for Nissan North America. He worked at Nissan for 22 years in a variety of leadership roles. He also served as a resident engineer at Nissan's technical center in Apsugi, Japan.
Mr. Frye has a Masters of Science in Industrial Technology from Middle Tennessee Sate University and a Bachelor's of Science from University of the State of New York (USNY).
Mark Gardner
Principal
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Mark Gardner leads both the Industrial Products and Automotive industry sectors for Deloitte Consulting LLP. In this role, Mr. Gardner is responsible for the growth and profitability of the industry practice in the United States, working with over 30 account teams.
Mr. Gardner's areas of practice include strategy development, merger integration, supply chain, technology transformation, operations improvement and organization change. He has served global clients, including automotive original equipment manufacturers, suppliers and industrial manufacturers. He has experience with issues facing global manufacturers.
Based in Detroit, Mr. Gardner has been with Deloitte Consulting for 20 years. He previously worked in space flight operations at NASA in Houston. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in business administration (MBA) from Northwestern University.
Laurie Harbour-Felax
President
Harbour-Felax Group
Laurie Harbour-Felax is president of Harbour-Felax Group. She has over 20 years of experience in benchmarking, operational assessments, performance enhancement and strategic planning. Ms. Harbour-Felax works closely with automotive and manufacturing companies and their suppliers on analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, identifying existing gaps and risks and developing a strategic transformation process to achieve sustainable improvements, ultimately mitigating risk and improving the health of organizations.
Ms. Harbour-Felax focuses primarily on small and middle market suppliers. She assists companies with a proactive supplier development program that focuses on reducing risks among the supplier base.
Ms. Harbour-Felax has lectured and presented on numerous topics, including supplier transformation, manufacturing and overall business operations improvement. She is regularly quoted in local and national publications as an experienced automotive and operational analyst.
Prior to starting Harbour-Felax Group, Ms. Harbour-Felax was vice president and company officer at Harbour Consulting. Her principal responsibilities included business development, project oversight, strategic planning and internal administrative functions. She was involved in numerous consulting projects with global-automotive manufacturers, tier-one suppliers and the defense industry and provided analysis and counsel in operations improvement, product and process development, competitive research and benchmarking. Also, while there, Ms. Harbour-Felax was responsible for management of The Harbour Report, which included presentations to executives at global manufacturers, issue resolution, data analysis, verification and methodology training. She was also responsible for the report's strategic planning and future growth to other areas of the world. Over the course of a year, she toured over 30 automotive manufacturing operations worldwide.
Ms. Harbour-Felax earned a BA from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is on the executive advisor board of the Automotive Women's Alliance (AWA) and the board of directors of the Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA).
Joe Hinrichs
Group Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs
Ford Motor Company
Joe Hinrichs is group vice president, global manufacturing and labor affairs, Ford Motor Company. He is responsible for the operations of 105 assembly, stamping and powertrain plants worldwide.
He oversees the company's worldwide engineering support for the stamping function as well as vehicle and powertrain manufacturing. He has global responsibility for the company's material planning & logistics, Ford production system, manufacturing business office and labor affairs organizations. Additionally, Mr. Hinrichs is responsible for Automotive Components Holdings, the Ford-managed temporary business entity comprised of former Visteon Corporation plants and facilities in the United States and Mexico.
He assumed the worldwide position on Jan. 1, 2008. Mr. Hinrichs reports to Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer.
From September 2006 to December 2007, Mr. Hinrichs was vice president, North America manufacturing. From October 2005 to September 2006, he was vice president of vehicle operations, responsible for 19 assembly plants and eight stamping and tool and die plants in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Prior to that, Mr. Hinrichs served as president and CEO of Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited. There, he led Ford of Canada's operations, including the national headquarters, six regional sales offices, five vehicle assembly and engine manufacturing plants, two parts distribution centers, and affiliates including Ford Credit, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and Hertz.
Before moving to Canada, Mr. Hinrichs was director of manufacturing, vehicle operations, responsible for the manufacturing, quality, and launch of several Ford sport utility vehicles and trucks produced at six assembly plants.
Mr. Hinrichs was executive director of the company's Material Planning and Logistics organization, from April 2002 to July 2003.
Mr. Hinrichs joined Ford in December 2000 as plant manager of the Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Prior to joining Ford, he was a partner and senior vice president of Ryan Enterprises Group, a manufacturing investment group in Chicago. Early in his career, Hinrichs spent 10 years at General Motors in various positions in engineering and manufacturing, including plant manager.
He was the recipient of the 2008 Shien-Ming Wu Manufacturing Leadership Award which recognizes manufacturing leaders for their visionary and strategic thinking, courage and impact on the manufacturing industry. He was also named to Automotive News' 2007 All-Stars for Manufacturing. He was recognized for leading Ford's North American manufacturing team to help boost vehicle quality and improve plant productivity.
Joe Hinrichs earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering magna cum laude from the University of Dayton (Ohio) in 1989, and a master's degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School in 1994 as a GM Fellow.
Don Jackson
President, Manufacturing
And Production Senior Advisor to the Board of Directors
Volkswagen Group of America
Don Jackson joined Volkswagen on Sept 1, 2008. His responsibilities include overall manufacturing operations within the new Chattanooga, Tennessee facility. He is also supporting global production in an advisory position to promote the advancement of the Volkswagen way.
The new plant will produce a new mid-size sedan that will launch in early 2011. This facility will become a model plant based on a strong foundation of superior engineering for products, production concepts and production systems operating in a lean environment.
Prior to joining the Volkswagen team Mr. Jackson worked for Toyota Motor Manufacturing for 21 years. From 2004 to 2008 he was the senior vice president of the Toyota Texas team which produced the all new Tundra Truck. This 1.7 million square foot facility employing 2,000 team members was considered a model plant within Toyota for overall lean manufacturing. The 21 on-site supplier concept assured the delivery of "Just in Time" components. The Texas team received the Silver Plant Award the first year eligible.
Initially Mr. Jackson was hired as part of the start-up operation in 1987 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky where he became the head of the Quality Department. The Kentucky leadership team won eight (8) JD Power Quality Awards, four (4) of which were Gold Level. They produced Toyota's Camry, Avalon and Sienna.
From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Jackson was dual capped between the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Plant and the Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America Headquarters. He designed the Supplier Improvement Program and led the committee that developed and implemented the program.
In 1999, Mr. Jackson became general manager of the Body Weld and Stamping Departments where he led his organization in implementing the installation of the New Global Body Line.
Prior to his career with Toyota, Mr. Jackson worked for three years at a supplier for automotive OEM's and six years for a heavy industrial equipment company.
Don Jackson graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial technology.
Josef Kerscher
President
BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC
Josef Kerscher is president of BMW Manufacturing Co., a position he was appointed to in April, 2007.
Mr. Kerscher began his career with BMW in 1979 and has served in various positions as group leader and department head at the company's Landshut plant, as managing director of assembly at the Munich plant and as plant manager of the Munich plant.
Mr. Kerscher earned a mechanical engineering degree with an emphasis on environmental engineering from Technical University Munich in 1979.
Richard Morris
Assembly Department Manager
BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC
Richard Morris is the assembly department manager for the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
He began his automotive career in 1989 as a quality engineer and supervisor for the GM Hydramatic Division in Flint, Michigan. In 1991, he moved over to Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation in Smyrna, Tennessee also as a quality engineer and by 1993, he joined BMW Manufacturing Corporation where for the next 11 years he held a series of group leader and department manager positions in New Model Development, Quality, Production, and Planning within Assembly at BMW Manufacturing Co. By 2004, he was promoted to plant project leader for a second generation X5 at the BMW Development Center in Munich, Germany and in 2006 he was appointed to his current position as assembly department manager.
Mr. Morris graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the General Motors Institute in 1990 and an MBA from Clemson University in 2004.
Steve St. Angelo
Senior Vice President
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc.
After joining Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA) on April 1, 2005 as vice president, Steve St. Angelo was promoted to executive vice president on June 23, 2005. In June 2006, he was named president of TMMK, Toyota's largest complex in North America. On June 26, 2007, Mr. St. Angelo was also named the senior vice-president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc., (TEMA).
Mr. St. Angelo retired from General Motors after a 30-year career that saw him hold various leadership positions in manufacturing engineering and production, planning and project management.
Mr. St. Angelo began his career at GM in 1974 as a production team member at the Fisher Body Fleetwood plant in Detroit. He progressed through various supervisory positions and in 1982 transferred to Fisher Body General Offices and Central Engineering as senior manufacturing engineer. In 1989, Mr. St. Angelo was promoted to engineering group manager with the Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada group. In 1993, he was promoted to executive, Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Mr. St. Angelo has also held leadership positions at GM's Lordstown, Willow Run, Oshawa and Lansing plants.
In 1995, Mr. St. Angelo relocated to California to work at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), the joint venture between GM and Toyota. Mr. St. Angelo held the position of senior advisor at NUMMI and eventually was named vice president at the Freemont, California plant in September 2001.
Prior to retiring from GM, St. Angelo was the manufacturing director at General Motors de Mexico where he had responsibilities for three major complexes and a total of ten plants.
Steve St. Angelo earned a bachelor of science degree in computer engineering from Madonna University, associate degrees in industrial management and electrical technology from Henry Ford College, and a master's degree in manufacturing management from Kettering University. He also completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
William (Bill) C. Taylor
President & CEO
Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc.
Bill Taylor's automotive career spans 38 years, although he has just accepted a new role - He becomes president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama on July 1st.
Mr. Taylor has been a key player at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) for 16 years. A native of London, Ontario, Mr. Taylor came to Alabama when MBUSI located in the state in 1993. He was a key figure in the start-up of the new plant, led production for five years and became president of the company in 1999. Mr. Taylor was instrumental in the establishment of the Mercedes Production System, which is now a global standard for all Mercedes-Benz plants in achieving the highest levels of quality and efficiency.
Mr. Taylor oversaw the plant's $600-million expansion, which was completed at the end of 2004, and the plant also now has a $300-million expansion underway to prepare for successor models. MBUSI is the sole production location for three vehicles - the M-Class, the R-Class and the GL-Class luxury sport utility vehicles. The plant employs more than 3,000 Team Members - significantly more than the 1,500 originally planned back in 1993.
As president of one of the best-known companies in the state, Mr. Taylor has often been called on to meet with prospective companies considering Alabama for new facilities. He also has worked with communities and regions across the state, offering input and advice on economic development efforts. Mr. Taylor has served on the EDPA Board of Directors since 2000 and has been actively involved in Alabama's economic development efforts over the years.
Keith Updike
Managing Director
BBK
Keith Updike has more than 25 years of experience in the automotive industry. He provides BBK clients with extensive expertise in world-class manufacturing practices and continuous improvement methodology - targeting improvement in the areas of manufacturing, quality, supply chain and materials management. He is an experienced operations executive, having managed multiple facilities, union and non-union workforces, and in public and private companies.
Mr. Updike served as vice president of operations for Siegel-Robert, Inc., a globally diversified industrial manufacturer of automotive decorative trim products with 6 facilities in three states. In this role, he led operational due diligence for a prospective European acquisition, improved the bottom line by $18 million, improved safety recordable measurement by 50%, lost time accidents by 43%, and slashed PPMs from 559 in to 115 in one year. Mr. Updike also drove scrap improvements of 4.3% and increased on time delivery, resulting in a $1 million inventory reduction.
As plant manager for Guide Corporation, Mr. Updike was accountable for the operations of a 2.3 million sq. ft. facility with $368 million in sales, 1500 UAW and 180 salaried employees. He achieved productivity improvements of 22%, reduced overtime by 54%, improved safety recordable measurements by 19%, and improved lost time accidents by 33%. Mr. Updike also lowered PPMs by 28%, realized inventory savings of $2 million, plus reduced hourly headcount by 27% and salaried headcount by 39%. He employed
his labor relations skills to transform an adversarial management and UAW relationship to one of respectful cooperation.
Mr. Updike started his career as a floor supervisor at the Adrian Manufacturing location of Delphi Interior and Lighting Systems. He spent 15 years taking on a variety of roles within the areas of quality, materials and manufacturing.
Mr. Updike has a master of business administration and operations management from the University of Toledo in Ohio and a bachelor of business administration, accounting & business management from Adrian College, Michigan.
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