ZAHARAH RUSSELL

Directed daily operations for USDA Ready-to Heat and Ready-to-Cook meal manufacturing facility. Managed a annual budget of 14.4MM, through a team of 13 salaried leaders and 267 hourly associates.

• Achieved the facilities highest food safety score of 99% on SQF audit two years in a row, through strick adherence to policies and procedures.
• Increased cross-functional capabilities 60%, by revamping training process and established machine operator progression program.
• Improved unit economics 32% by eliminating process redundancies and unnecessary labor hours.
• Reduced waste by 62%. Implemented root cause analysis methodologies to identify areas of improvement and prevent future defects from occurring.

Provide operational leadership, financial oversight, and talent development across two multi-client facilities totaling 220k square feet. Full P & L responsibility for 23.2M annual revenue. Direct a leadership team of nine salaried, 100 associates and 100 contract drivers.

• Drove year-over-year business growth while leading operations, strategic vision, and long-range planning. Increased revenue 77% and margins 22%.
• Deployed structured cost tracking and control measures, slashing site operating expenses (18%).
• Developed driver score card to create consistency and greater visibility. Improved on-time performance (3%) and proof of delivery scan (7%).

Accountable for strategic and day-to-day operations of a 250,000 sq ft high volume, multi-shift grocery fulfillment center. Provided leadership, direction and ongoing development to a team of 12 salaried and 250 hourly associates.

• Fostered safety first culture through awareness, training and accountability. Achieved 420 days without injury.
• Drove operational efficiencies through continuous improvement initiatives, deep data analysis and aggressive operational planning. Lowered variable cost per unit (VCPU) 32%.
• Established strict quality measures, introduced process paths audits, and expedited response time for inventory reconciliation. Order fill percentage or 99% and inventory accuracy of 99.2%
• Successfully led all FC efforts during capacity expansion for Jet 2.0 relaunch, reducing order split (15%), improving on time performance (5%), and improving NPS scoring (17%).
• Developed and launched company’s first package sortation process for Jet last mile. New process enabled same day delivery to customers in NYC area.

Responsible for new site launches and implementation projects within the retail vertical. Managed various projects including, WMS system implementations, facility design and drafting of work instructions and SOPs.

• Successfully launched west coast distribution center for UNIQLO stores. Executed an aggressive plan to transfer of over 500K units from old 3PL to new site, four weeks ahead of schedule and saved 65k in rent cost. Developed a new value-added solution, expediting merchandise delivery and generating 250K in additional revenue annually.
• Successfully launched outbound operations for Target’s first stand-alone fulfillment center. Hired, trained, and directed a combined team of 14 operations managers and supervisors during the launch/ramp-up period.

Responsible for the overall safe execution of night shift operations, within a 600,000 sq ft package sort facility. Led and developed a team of six salaried and 200 hourly associates.

• Increased buildings thru put (67%) in a three months span and exceeded peak volume (22%), through aggressive onboarding and training process.
• Drove quality by implementing an aggressive audit/retraining process, drove miss sort effectiveness to (99.3%) and damages to (99.8%) effectiveness.

Responsible for the overall safe execution of second shift operations, within a 580,000 sq ft rapid deployment center (RDC). Led and developed a team of nine salaried and 150 hourly associates.

• Led team in achieving operational excellence through benchmarking; grew shift UPH by (15%) for three straight quarters, increased flow through sorter (20%), and bolstered palletization rate by (18%).
• Served as DC outbound Subject Matter Expert; selected to pilot company’s first fluid loading process. Improve trailer cube by 23%