Sukh Rabeendran
Knoxville,USA
Summary
Results proven management career spanning 20+ years, demonstrating year over year improvements in safety, quality, productivity and cost. Strong and decisive operations leader with excellent engineering, analytical, organizational, team building and planning skills. Maintains uncompromising focus on high quality standards and bottom line profit improvement. My management philosophy is based on building a good foundation (operational discipline), building strong pillars (ESH, Quality, Continuous Improvement and Drive to Perfection) resulting in a highly productive team with predictable and superior returns.
Knowledgeable [Desired Position] with proven track record of optimizing operations and driving strategic initiatives. Successfully led cross-functional teams to streamline processes and enhance productivity. Demonstrated expertise in operational management and strategic planning.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
VP of Operations and Engineering
Primient Covation
11.2012 - Current
- Recruited to spearhead operational transition of the manufacturing facility from a start-up plant to a profitable commercial plant to support the growing demand
- Direct all manufacturing, engineering, logistics, sustainability and safety efforts for the first and largest Bio based production of 1,3 Propanediol
- Work closely with R&D on new product development and scale up to commercial production
- Developed a 5 year strategic plan for the plant based on business goals
- Developed a new 1-5 year road map with the management team to align manufacturing goals
- Developed new challenging COTs (Critical Operating Targets) to better align with transition
- Lead and mentored management to a use Manufacturing Excellence approach to all daily activates
- Increased plant yield by 1.5% through reduced variability
- Achieved 15% capacity increase in fermentation through productivity gains
- Have focused on multiple debottleneck projects to keep up with higher than anticipated growth
- Reduced manufacturing costs by over $4MM over the last 3 years
- Member of a team that negotiated a tolling opportunity to demonstrate first commercial production of Bio-1,4 Butanediol
- Generated revenue for the business while using excess plant capacity
- Successfully scaled up two high value product line at lower than modeled variable cost
- Lead effort to qualify site for food manufacturing in support of upcoming marketing efforts in this space
- Identified an opportunity to bring warehousing operation in-house and save $1MM/yr, increase quality standard, operational flexibility and reduce working capital
- Lead FEL 1-3 studies to justify $40MM debottlenecking projects across the manufacturing site
- Leading a steering team to evaluate a major plant expansion
Operations Manager
CP Kelco
07.2008 - 08.2012
- Promoted to Operations manager of an unionized Xanthan gum manufacturing facility, consisting of large scale fermentation, distillation, absorption, dewatering, drying, powder conveying, bulk packaging and waste water treatment
- Managed an operations team of 90 employees with 14 direct reports consisting of shift supervisors, area supervisors and process engineers
- Complied and presented monthly plant performance report to company directors and quarterly to CEO
- Developed and managed site budget each year of $70-75MM
- Developed clear accountability through meaningful KPIs
- Developed operator friendly SOPs and drove to a 'Do it the Same' culture
- Trained all operators and engineers on all new procedures with a rolling certification / decertification process
- Created training coordinator role to manage all training requirements at site
- Worked with HR to create a points based work rule system to replace current disciplinary process
- Implemented a new BBS program at site which involved employees at all levels
- Initiated Risk Assessment program to cover all regular production tasks and started tackling the major risks
- Provided a more interactive approach to safety and safety training to obtain ownership down to operator level
- Provided in-depth training to employees on risk recognition and manual handling
- Implemented work area rules which encompassed safety and GMP
- Increased First Pass Success Rate from 65% to 85%, aided by implementing Failure Investigation Report (FIR) system at shift supervisor level
- Record high quality performance achieved that resulted in WIP reduction of $1.4MM
- Led HACCP/HAZOP process and equipment evaluation team to reduce the number of extraneous matter complaints (Japanese customers), over 80% reduction since last year
- $2MM of improvements identified and successfully implemented
- Improved fermentation productivity by 10% which saved over $4MM in raw material consumption and increased throughput this year
- Reorganized and streamlined plant operation resulting in over $1MM per year savings
- Implemented 'Pull' system to manage and reduce finished goods inventory, 35% ($8MM) reduction achieved
- Designed the concept of plant scheduling tool in Excel that has reduced fermentation and recovery down time and increased throughput by 2% saving $500K in extra absorption
- Worked closely with S&OP group to create clarity and transparency for impact of product mix in terms of balance and capacity
- Increased site profit margin from 25% in 2010 to 45% by the end of 2011
- Helped re-instill confidence in biogums business as solid contributor to CP Kelco performance and rescue from low cost strategy
Production Manager
CP Kelco
10.2006 - 05.2008
- Promoted to Production Manager of a team of 25 employees with 6 direct reports
- Developed and managed site budget of $25MM
- Designed plant scheduling tool in Excel that was further developed in US site
- Streamlined plant to lower cost and allow an extra year of operation prior to closure without lowering throughput
- Achieved inventory build volumes needed to allow transition of product from UK to US
- Led plant clean up and decommissioning for permanent closure with zero accidents
Process Engineer
CP Kelco
10.2001 - 10.2006
- As a process engineer saved over $5MM in 5 years and earned recognition and promotion within the company resulting in managing the operations of the largest facility in the world for Xanthan gum
- Eliminated the use of liquid oxygen in fermentation process without a negative impact on productivity, saved $750K per year
- Discovered a major lever in fermentation to control final product viscosity and eliminated a major failure mode for the plant
- Optimized distillation process by implementing a cascade control system and reduced steam and antifoam usage, saved $300K per year
- Reduced the amount of alcohol needed in precipitation process by installing a high shear pre-mixer, saved $500K per year
- Successfully led a project to increase viable cell counts in seed fermenters by changing raw material to increase productivity, saved $1.5 MM per year and capital avoidance of $6MM
- Managed $1MM project to install a seed tank resulting in increased plant capacity
- Managed $750K project to install a new clarification system
- Managed numerous smaller projects in the range of $50-200K
Education
BSc Hons - Chemical Engineering with Diploma in Industrial Studies
Loughborough University
06.2001
Skills
- Strategic planning and execution
- Organizational development
- Cost analysis and savings
- Business development
Accomplishments
- Achieved [Result] through effectively helping with [Task].
- Collaborated with team of [Number] in the development of [Project name].
- Supervised team of [Number] staff members.
Certification
- Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
- CGMP & ISO 9001 Lead Auditor
- Lean Manufacturing
Personal Information
Citizenship: British
Languages
Tamil
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
VP of Operations and Engineering
Primient Covation
11.2012 - Current
Operations Manager
CP Kelco
07.2008 - 08.2012
Production Manager
CP Kelco
10.2006 - 05.2008
Process Engineer
CP Kelco
10.2001 - 10.2006
BSc Hons - Chemical Engineering with Diploma in Industrial Studies
Loughborough University
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