Michael Hardcastle
Ooltewah,TN
Summary
Senior leader making a difference in operations/manufacturing by challenging the staus quo. Streamlining operations and driving efficiencies through continuous improvement, working with integrity, developing teamwork through the organization, and striving for excellence in all that I do.
Overview
34
34
years of professional experience
Education
MS - Electrical/Computer Engineering
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN05.2000
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering
Tennessee Technological University
Cookeville05.1995
Skills
- Operations Management
- Optimization of Manufacturing Processes
- Lean Manufacturing
- PSM/APSM
- MS Office
- AB PLC SLC/ControlLogix Programming
- AutoCAD
- Six Sigma – Green Belt Certification
Work History
Plant Engineering Manager
DFA
05.2022 - Current
- Streamlining of all operations in an FDA-regulated facility producing 1M gallons of fluid weekly and 200k gallons of ice cream weekly
- Management/optimization of PSM program – Anhydrous Ammonia (100k pounds)
- First of 44 facilities to implement new CMMS system (MVP)
- $10M annual spend management.
Plant Manager/Operations Manager
DFA
11.2017 - 04.2022
- Lead 208 employee facility with joint operations in fluid dairy (46M gallons annually) and ice cream (12M gallons annually) to meet/exceed all metrics including: Continue behavior-based safety leadership to achieve lowest recordable rate in 5 years (TRIR: 2.16) with 223-person employee base
- Record quality achievements including 97% score in SQF
- Management to budget of $22M annually across all departments
- OEE improvement of 20% in four months
- Nine years in leading PSM program and improvements – Anhydrous Ammonia.
Plant Manager
DFA (Formerly Dean Foods)
11.2016 - 11.2017
- Laser focus of continuous improvement skills to streamline equipment uptime, eliminate safety issues, and maximize production throughput
- Spearheaded $5.1M capital improvement project to in-source 25% increase in fluid volume in a six month period
- Seamless integration of auditing policies to achieve record score of 98 on SQF annual audit
- Utilize behavior-based safety program to operate with ZERO accidents for 12 month period (75 employees)
- Record plant ranking in overall plant performance: #3 out of 61 facilities (started at #22 – 10 months prior).
Plant Engineering Manager
DFA (Formerly Dean Foods)
06.2012 - 11.2016
- Continuous focus on the streamlining of all Maintenance/Engineering operations in an FDA-regulated facility including the management of 23 direct/indirect employees
- Champion the justification, procurement, and installation of capital expenditures in excess of $1.5M annually
- Collaborate with Quality and EHS Managers to ensure all local, state, and federal permitting is completed and submitted in a timely manner
- Identified bottleneck, developed countermeasures, and installed corrective actions to minimize the purchase of external blow molded containers (Annual Savings: $424,000)
- Spearhead redesign of Ice Cream 48oz production line on time and within budget ($635,000)
Senior Corporate Engineer
AMERICAN WOODMARK CORPORATION
11.2011 - 06.2012
- Use of seasoned project management skills to successfully execute strategic finishing project
- Project involved the removal, shipping, and installation of $5.2M of finishing, sanding, and conveyance equipment from Utah to Indiana
- Spearhead the installation of $1.1M of utilities including main control panels, main electrical service, plumbing, natural gas, ventilation, and fluid delivery (stains)
- Removed, shipped, and installed finishing and sanding equipment from nine separate locations into final Indiana facility
- Total project capital costs - $6.3M
Plant Engineering Manager
AMERICAN WOODMARK CORPORATION
04.2010 - 11.2011
- Focus on lean systems (Kaizen, TPM, KPIV, Six Sigma) to maximize waste reduction throughout all areas of the operation
- Facilitate the development and implementation of a plant-wide uptime system for daily review, analysis, and countermeasure development
- Seamlessly justify, procure, and implement capital expenditures in excess of $600k annually
- Championed implementation of computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to manage and schedule 1000 work orders/month
- Spearhead kaizen efforts to rearrange 20% of production processes to increase output by 32%
- Responsible for 20 employee Maintenance/Engineering team to oversee day-to-day activities.
Senior Director - Engineering – Specialty Retail Division
BROWN JORDAN INTERNATIONAL
03.2008 - 10.2009
- Collaborate with executive management concerning recently acquired aluminum foundry and production facility in Juarez, Mexico to leverage aluminum foundry as significant cost reduction center
- Chief leadership and management of engineering personnel to meet and exceed product launch schedules in the US and abroad
- Travel abroad to secure most cost competitive sources for various purchased components
- Cross functional communication of deliverables including product samples, computer renderings, cost models, and tooling
- Responsibilities include two US production facilities and two Mexico production facilities
- Championed facility optimization project in Juarez, MX facility to facilitate a 200% increase in production output in less than 12 months
- Oversee product component transition from Alabama to Mexico resulting in an annual savings of $1.1M annually.
Director – Engineering/Quality – Contract Furniture Division
BROWN JORDAN INTERNATIONAL
01.2006 - 03.2008
- Use of project management skills to streamline operations from high cost center (Ft
- Lauderdale, Florida) to lower cost center (Greensboro, NC)
- Facilitated the development and establishment of the facility “up-fit” (128,000sq.ft) including utilities distribution, product warehousing, production equipment procurement and installation, finishing system installation, and facility safety/environmental evaluations
- Responsibilities include three US production facilities
- 5.8M capital expenditure management and justification
- Use of component consolidation and alternative suppliers to reduce costs by $1.45M in 2006
- Acquired new account ($2.5M annually) due to reduced product development lead times from six weeks to nine days
Engineering Manager/Production Manager – Hillsdale Automotive Division
EAGLE PICHER CORPORATION
01.2002 - 01.2006
- Redesign facility layout and controls programming to improve facility throughput, inventory turns, and product lead time for all CNC operations
- Seamlessly integrated new equipment and processes to achieve customer requested production increase of 60%
- Systematically review PFMEA documents to insure each process achieves the desired internal and external quality standards
- Statistical evaluation of all CpK and Cp reports to insure process stability for CNC, hobbing, boring, and heat treating operations
- 6M profit improvement in 24-month period ($30M Revenue)
- 34 employee reduction during a 12-month period through continuous process improvement activities
- 7.2% Labor$/Sales$ during production manager tenure – lowest in history of company while growing revenue (100% on time delivery).
Engineering Manager/Quality Manager/Maintenance Manager
BATESVILLE CASKET COMPANY
01.2000 - 01.2002
- Continuously focus on improvement activities for processes including metal stamping, plasma welding, grinding/buffing, robotically applied liquid finishing, rubber extrusion, plastic injection molding, plastic plating, upholstery, assembly line production, and automated distribution of finished product
- Facilitate the upgrade of the facilities including HVAC installation (450,000 sq ft Facility) and 3 MW utility service maintenance/compliance
- Spearhead efforts to in-source lower price point metal casket production including facility planning, equipment installation, and employee training
- Maximize human resources by “top grading” talent – removal of “underachievers” and placement of top performers
- In-source injection molding operation – Annual savings $1M
- 18% reduction of paint related rejects due to implementation of hanger coating project.
Industrial Engineering Manager
CALSONIC YOROZU CORPORATION
01.1997 - 01.2000
- Champion industrial engineering efforts in the areas of facility additions (600,000 sq ft), facility layout, processing layouts, and individual product studies (800 SKUs)
- Orchestrated the development of business plan for 1000+ employee facility including all personnel recommendations and consolidations
- Collaborate and designed processes resulting in the reallocation of 35 personnel annually for an annual savings of ($966k)
- Design and procure returnable packaging ($6M annually)
- Twelve-month lean systems training – Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation.
Assembly Engineer
CALSONIC YOROZU CORPORATION
01.1990 - 01.1997
- Engage cross-functional team to install robotic work cells including material handling, resistance welding, MIG welding, and error proofing equipment
- Collaborate, design, and implement new processing equipment with Ford, Nissan, Mazda, GM, Saturn, and Honda engineers for the assembly of suspension components
- Systematically communicate with the quality personnel to ensure all processes were statistically in specification
- Installation of 350+ 6-axis robots including material handling, resistance welding, MIG welding, and error proofing equipment
- Robotic programming of Fanuc and Motoman robots
- Allen Bradley, Omron, and Hitachi PLC programming.
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Timeline
Plant Engineering Manager
DFA
05.2022 - Current
Plant Manager/Operations Manager
DFA
11.2017 - 04.2022
Plant Manager
DFA (Formerly Dean Foods)
11.2016 - 11.2017
Plant Engineering Manager
DFA (Formerly Dean Foods)
06.2012 - 11.2016
Senior Corporate Engineer
AMERICAN WOODMARK CORPORATION
11.2011 - 06.2012
Plant Engineering Manager
AMERICAN WOODMARK CORPORATION
04.2010 - 11.2011
Senior Director - Engineering – Specialty Retail Division
BROWN JORDAN INTERNATIONAL
03.2008 - 10.2009
Director – Engineering/Quality – Contract Furniture Division
BROWN JORDAN INTERNATIONAL
01.2006 - 03.2008
Engineering Manager/Production Manager – Hillsdale Automotive Division
EAGLE PICHER CORPORATION
01.2002 - 01.2006
Engineering Manager/Quality Manager/Maintenance Manager
BATESVILLE CASKET COMPANY
01.2000 - 01.2002
Industrial Engineering Manager
CALSONIC YOROZU CORPORATION
01.1997 - 01.2000
Assembly Engineer
CALSONIC YOROZU CORPORATION
01.1990 - 01.1997
MS - Electrical/Computer Engineering
University of Tennessee
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering
Tennessee Technological University
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