Kevin Duscha

Driving cultural change within the AFS team, introducing Six Sigma DMAIC and LEAN principles. Upgrading the Quality Management System and maintaining ISO 9001 certification. Provide corporate governance and compliance to meet the needs of tier one military contractors, OSHA, MSHA and other federal and state agencies.

I established this professional group for the purposes of attending networking events to connect with those experienced in Operational Transformation, Continuous Process Improvement & Project Management. The objectives of the group are to research industry leaders, participate in industry discussions and evaluate innovations in the marketplace.

I advanced to this role to hire, develop, and direct a global new product development team comprised of professionals from the US, China, India, Italy, Brazil, Japan and Korea. I lived in China for 2 months, and improved the engineering rigor of this new team. My scope further encompassed hiring and training 9 specialists for the US Engineering team. Under my leadership, we deployed LEANPD (Lean Product Development), and instituted PFMEA (Product Failure Mode Effects Analysis) and DFMEA (Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis) templates. ► Directed the release of new products with 1st year sales of $5M, and 3rd year sales of $33M, while simultaneously reducing costs of products sold $7.2M, and reducing product development over those 3 years. ► Won the 2016 Operational Excellence award, for developing and deploying standard work for new product development. ► Captured 2013 Presidents’ Award, in recognition of the launch of the business unit’s largest new product release. The sponsoring customer submitted the award nomination. ► Orchestrated successful re-launch of rotational engineering leadership program.

At this time, I was overseeing new product development teams creating product designs, tooling and assembly machines for major new product releases. My role involved interfacing with sales teams, translating customer requirements, and securing financing from executive project approval committees. ► Efficiently managed projects to achieve a 95% on time delivery rate, and 100% of projects below the capital budget. ► Directed launches of 2 major product releases of next-generation high speed connectors. ► Integrally contributed to initiative to scale manufacturing, in collaboration with executive project sponsor. ► Forged partnerships with high-volume manufacturing locations for seamless transfers from development.

In this role, I principally guided a manufacturing footprint overhaul that involved moving 36 global product lines, up fitting 7 sites globally, building a $5 million inventory, training US and China personnel, and transferring assets to the US, China, securing 1st article approval, and processing a safe launch. We delivered these changes 2 months ahead of schedule and 5% under budget.

This position involved overseeing 1,200 employees within a non-union manufacturing environment. AMP produced $250M annually of Level III board-to-board connectors. I led an operational consolidation from 6 smaller AMP plants. My role further involved developing associates’ skill sets, and cultivating a transparent, collaborative business environment. ► Led deployment of Six Sigma DMAIC. ► Directed launch of 5s+1 (sort, set, shine, standardize and sustain plus safety) Lean techniques. ► Reduced molding rejects 64%, stamping rejects 55%, and die casting rejects 36%, by spearheading series of Kaizen events. ► Directed series of initiatives that proved key to driving 11% productivity improvement, while reducing manufacturing costs 15%. ► Fully directed expansion of 75,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and warehouse space. Partnered with construction manager to secure local and state government permits for expansion, including new waste streams.