Gary W.
Vest
102 W. Pleasant Ave. Syracuse, NY 13205
315-373-7947 315-373-7739
Certificates:
ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE-2007)
ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA-2010)
ASQ Certified Quality Inspector (CQI-2010)
RABQSA-Certified ISO 9001:2000 Lead Auditor Training Certification (2005)
ISO/TS 16949:2002 Supplier Auditor Certification (2005
Job Skills:
5-Why, 8-D, APQP, Continuous Improvement, Casting, Control Plans, Culture Change
, Cycle-Time Reduction, Design of Experiments (DOE), ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, Kai
zen, Lean Manufacturing, Metal Forming, Metallurgy, MiniTab, PFMEA, PPAP, Proces
s Modeling, Project Management, Quality Assurance, Quality Auditing, Quality Con
trol, Reengineering Project Leader, SAP, Six Sigma Black Belt, SPC, TQM, Value S
tream Mapping
Experience:
Pyrotek Refractory Systems
January 2010 - Present
Quality Manager
Cast Refractory shape and systems supplier
* Document and prepare an ISO 9001:2008 compatible Quality Management System for
implementation when the company moves from Canastota to Cortland.
* Provide quality support for all activities.
Marquardt Switches
June 2007 - May 2009
Process and Systems Manager
Tier-1 parts supplier to Chrysler, Black & Decker, Whirlpool and others.
* Implemented Kanban System and supporting systems which allowed a 75% reduction
in molded parts.
* Implemented Kanban systems which reduced Printed Circuit Board inventory by 85
%.
* Value stream mapped (as-is & to-be) multiple value chains then facilitated imp
lementation of system improvements.
* Identified specific cost improvement target areas and provided daily monitorin
g and support.
Behr Heat Transfer System
August 2005 - June 2007
Quality Systems Engineer
Tier-1 parts supplier to GM, Ford, BMW, Freightliner, Volvo Trucks and PACCAR.
* Led company in receiving zero non-conformances in first TS16949 Surveillance A
udit.
* Developed and implemented an ISO/TS 16949 compliant Quality Management System
in accordance with the Behr Management System which passed both Stage I & II ext
ernal Audits.
* Created and trained an internal audit team and implemented an internal audit p
rogram.
Performance Friction Brakes
May 2004 - June 2005
Quality Manager (Rotors/Calipers) Company lost large brake pad contract and laid
-off 300 employees.
Tier-1 parts supplier to Ford Motor Company, NASCAR and aftermarkets.
* Rewrote existing Quality Policies for Successful Initial TS 16949 QMS Audit.
* Led Supplier Development efforts resulting in completed PPAP's and reduced rej
ections.
* Managed In-house Quality, Receiving Inspection and Continuous Improvement Acti
vities.
Expert Automotive Technologies
January 2003 - April 2004
Quality Manager Replaced by a vice-president from the parent company in Germany.
Greenfield start-up tier-1 parts supplier to General Motors (Plastic Injection M
olding & Assembly).
* Wrote and implemented a TS 16949 Quality Management System.
* Received full PPAP approvals on 4 parts before any other supplier of the 2004
model year parts.
* Part of a group of three that set up plant flow, Kanbans, parts marketplace, p
oke-yokes and procedures.
Hayes-Lemmerz
June 2002 - September 2002
Aluminum Casting Consultant Temporary contract work.
Tier-1 parts supplier to Ford Motor Company.
* When I started, the plant had lost $4 million in the prior month. When I left,
the plant was making money.
* Participated in 2 Kaizan-blitz and 1 5_S project.
* Identified systems problems that were causing an inability to correctly monito
r production.
* Identified primary personnel and maintenance change factors to improve casting
yields.
IIT Research Institute
June 1999 - April 2001
Science Advisor/Project Manager US Army contract didn't get refunded and group d
issolved.
Instrumented Factory for Gears (INFAC) - helicopter gear manufacturing methods i
mprovement
* Reformatted entire monthly reporting scheme for all projects to match customer
needs and reduce, by 50%, the time necessary to produce required reporting.
* Managed and assisted in the design and metallurgy of near-net shape forged and
hardened precision steel gear study with Boeing and Pressrite.
* Generated, sold, planned and then conducted manufacturing technology projects
with our partners in the precision gear industry. Proposal acceptance 100%.
* Managed the operation of the (INFAC) machining and metrology center including
$10 million in inventory and $500K annual budget.
Lockheed-Martin Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant
March 1980 - June 1999
Piece part production and assembly of Nuclear Weapon components for the Departme
nt of Energy (DOE).
4/96-6/99 Pre-Production Programs Manager/Chief Metallurgist Enriched Urani
um Operations
* Led overall planning and implementation of production activities resulting in
first units being delivered on time even though facilities were restarted four m
onths late.
* Negotiated evaluation criteria and managed engineering evaluation program with
the Design Agency/DOE Quality resulting in passing all requirements on the firs
t review. This was the only area to pass on first review saving the $5 million c
ost of an additional review.
* Identified processing alternative that resulted in $2.5 million cost avoidance
.
* Received President's award for the Continuous Improvement of a casting process
.
* Reduced waste at each operation, standardized work, trained operators and impl
emented a single part flow in the casting shop which allowed a pull system to wo
rk and minimized lead time for castings.
* Developed detailed Value Stream maps and Takt time calculations to write, and
then defended with DOE auditors, detailed budgets and Basis of Estimates (BOE) o
n production activities for the 160 employee department.
* Mentored 50+ Engineers and Managers.
5/94-4/96 Capital Line Item Program Manager Business Management
Organization
* Improved cost performance by 18% of a $24.5 million per year total program.
* Managed the justification/validation process for all proposed line item projec
ts resulting in acquiring an additional $4 million in project funding.
* Managed the generation of systems requirement's documents and feasibility stud
ies.
* Member of the Plant baseline change proposal Board.
* Independent auditor for the Plant non-nuclear restart program.
* Mentored eight project managers and supervised two employees.
8/90-5/94 Business Systems Analyst Quality & Productivity Improv
ement Programs
* Received Operations & Support Award for developing a new plant-wide business p
lanning methodology that, for the first time, directly linked costs and activiti
es and allowed effective budgetary/work planning.
* Generated a functional plant reorganization plan with plant manager.
* Negotiated agreements between the plant's finance and engineering organization
s allowing both organizations to use the same definitions for expenses.
8/87-8/90 Manufacturing Systems Analyst Quality & Productivity I
mprovement Programs
* Authored the production planning and control projects' Business Area Analysis
that resulted in my receiving a Nuclear Weapons Program Award of Excellence and
a Special Achievement Award.
* Value streamed As-Is and To-Be material and information flows across the plant
and trained other.
3/80-8/87 Development Engineer Development Division
* Received Nuclear Weapons Program Award of Excellence and an Operational Perfor
mance Award for providing $5.8 million in cost avoidance. Patentee in field.
* Led production Kill Team. Performed failure analysis, root-cause analyses and
fixed problems.
* Developed Value Stream maps of material and information flows in production wh
ich were used to eliminate waste and bottlenecks.
Education:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, Masters in Business Administration (top
5 in class)
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Master of Science in Metallurgical Engine
ering
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engi
neering