Curtis Makovec
Winter Haven,FL
Summary
Knowledgeable Logistics leader with proven history of leading high-performing teams and executing strategic initiatives that drive organizational growth. Successfully directed cross-functional projects that resulted in significant process improvements and operational efficiencies. Demonstrated leadership and communication skills in fostering collaborative environments and delivering impactful results.
Overview
34
34
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Director of Global Logistics
Florida's Natural Growers
Lake Wales, Florida
01.2017 - Current
- Directed multi-site warehouse operations totaling 1.1MM sq. ft. of company owned facilities, in addition to 7 regional and local 3PL warehouses. Improved labor productivity by 20% through process standardization, slotting optimization, and workforce planning.
- Reduced warehouse operating costs by 20% by implementing forklift work zones and distance travel analysis processes, reducing inventory loss, improving putaway practices, bottleneck elimination, and upskilling the workforce.
- Led two strategic business-driven restructuring/consolidation events, resulting in increased efficiency and talent optimization. These projects resulted in right-sizing the operation and generated $10.6mm of run-rate savings for one-time costs of $2.7MM and capital investment of $1.75MM
- Led implementation of a WMS and TMS, increasing inventory accuracy to 99.8%, improving shipment costs by 18%, and adding visibility across the network.
- Optimized transportation strategy across asset and brokered carrier base, both LTL and FTL modes, increasing weight per truck metrics, and lowering freight spend by $14.9MM while improving on service-level commitments. Consistently averaging 5% better than market on transportation spend for like-lanes.
- Negotiated carrier contracts and established performance scorecards, resulting in an improvement on OTIF performance from 73.5% to 91.8% for all customer orders.
- Developed and mentored transportation/logistics, warehouse, and customer service leaders, strengthening planning and management activities, and increasing the skill of logistics professionals and operators at the floor level, driving teams to 99%+ order fulfillment.
- Established KPI’s and dashboards for logistics teams enabling data-driven decision making and continuous improvement.
- Led the Safety team in our organization’s improvement toward a reduction of TRIR to 1.0, with new targets set for 0.6, a 30% reduction in property damage incidents, 50% reduction in identified risk, and site safety scorecard improvement above 80%. Renewed content and delivery of safety training, introduced safety inspection metrics, and initiated Gemba walks with a focus on risk reduction.
- Established a culture of continuous improvement by fostering open communication channels and empowering employees to voice their ideas.
- Successfully managed budgets and allocated resources to maximize productivity and profitability.
Supply Chain Manager
Florida's Natural Growers
Lake Wales, FL
01.2012 - 01.2017
- Led Production Scheduling and Transportation teams. Reduced logistics costs by 18% by optimizing transportation routes, and implementing strategic sourcing freight sourcing initiatives.
- Successfully managed supply continuity during periods of disruption (e.g., demand spikes, supplier shortages), maintaining zero production shutdowns.
- Established KPIs and dashboards for procurement, logistics, and inventory management, enabling data-driven decisions and continuous improvement
- Delivered double-digit cost savings through strategic sourcing and logistics optimization.
- Managed 3PL services at three sites that supported surge production windows.
Packaging General Supervisor
Florida's Natural Growers
Umatilla, Florida
01.2010 - 01.2012
- Initiated a review and response process for leadership review of operational concerns. This generated increased communication amongst the packaging leadership team, electrical, and maintenance teams, as well as improvements in quality, productivity, and safety. The process has yielded 251 unique items for operational improvement in the first two years, and the team excelled by implementing and closing 190 items.
- Led maintenance personnel to overcome an assumed design limitation in filling efficiency. Realized a 27% increase in rated speed by doubling the utilization of filler, allowing full flow.
- Reconfigured pallet pattern for a size class of items to increase storage and shipping density by 10%.
- Assumed control of material accuracy and drove increase from 70 to 94%.
Manager, Loss Recovery and Inventory Control
Tropicana Products, Inc.
Fort Pierce, Florida
01.2009 - 01.2010
- Spearheaded two detailed loss analyses for Fort Pierce plant, generating project ideas for more than $8,000,000 in estimated savings.
- Formed teams to execute cost-reduction strategy of over $5,000,000 in 2009, consisting of resource conservation, supply efficiency, packaging material loss reduction, maintenance improvement, parts reduction, and streamlining outside services.
- Assigned initiatives to local owners, observing projects throughout implementation phases and garnering resources to ensure success. Coached teams toward specific targets, removing barriers and marshaling required resources.
- Communicated strategy and progress at monthly intervals to operating teams and senior leadership, and maintained regular plant communication on project status, identifying gaps and ensuring team recognition of successes.
Change-Readiness Lead, Plant SAP Integration
Tropicana Products, Inc
Ft. Pierce, FL
01.2006 - 01.2009
Packaging and Logistics Manager
Tropicana Products, Inc
Ft. Pierce, FL
01.2002 - 01.2006
General Supervisor, Warehousing
Tropicana Products, Inc
Bradenton, FL
01.1999 - 01.2002
Supervisor, Inventory Control
Tropicana Products, Inc
Bradenton, FL
01.1997 - 01.1998
System Administrator, Logistics Management System
Tropicana Products, Inc
Bradenton, FL
01.1994 - 01.1996
Shipping Coordinator
Tropicana Products, Inc
Bradenton, FL
01.1992 - 01.1994
Education
B.A. - Economics
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia01-1992
Skills
- ERP - Oracle, SAP
- WMS - Red Prairie, Oracle
- TMS - Oracle Transportation Management, OTM
- Relationship building
- Strategic planning
- Verbal and written communication
- Decision-making
- Team management
- People management
- Operations management
- Project management
Certification
- Good to Great, 2023
- Leadership Polk, Polk Vision, 2015
- Leadership Lake Wales, Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce, 2013
- Graduate Institute of Co-Operative Leadership (GICL), University of Missouri, 2012
- Florida Council of Cooperatives, Education and Leadership, 2012
- HACCP for Juice Processors, February 2011
- Natural Work Teams, 2009
- Loss Analysis, 2008
- TPM, 2008
- High-Performance Work Systems, 2003
- Leadership Development, 2001
Timeline
Director of Global Logistics
Florida's Natural Growers
01.2017 - Current
Supply Chain Manager
Florida's Natural Growers
01.2012 - 01.2017
Packaging General Supervisor
Florida's Natural Growers
01.2010 - 01.2012
Manager, Loss Recovery and Inventory Control
Tropicana Products, Inc.
01.2009 - 01.2010
Change-Readiness Lead, Plant SAP Integration
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.2006 - 01.2009
Packaging and Logistics Manager
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.2002 - 01.2006
General Supervisor, Warehousing
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.1999 - 01.2002
Supervisor, Inventory Control
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.1997 - 01.1998
System Administrator, Logistics Management System
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.1994 - 01.1996
Shipping Coordinator
Tropicana Products, Inc
01.1992 - 01.1994
B.A. - Economics
Emory University