Stephen is a member of the Performance Improvement practice of AlixPartners and is a senior management consulting professional with extensive experience in operations improvement, product development, manufacturing, and supply chain management. He has worked with clients in the automotive industry, manufacturing, and food processing.

Selected consulting engagement experience includes:

• For a $500MM small engine manufacturer, led a global assessment of manufacturing operations that identified about $50MM in cost reduction through plant consolidation and productivity improvements.
• For a $6B automotive parts manufacturer, led a global assessment of operations, which identified over $300MM in cash flow improvement from plant consolidations/restructuring and operations improvements. Then led global implementation of a common production system/continuous improvement process across about 60 plants in less than 1 year, which improved EBIT by $50MM and reduced CapEx by $50MM in the first 12 months.
• For an $8B HVAC equipment manufacturer, defined a manufacturing strategy that closed over 20 plants and reduced the worldwide manufacturing footprint by more than 25% in 4 years. Then led the outsourcing of $100MM of sheet metal parts (over 20,000 part numbers), which enabled the plant consolidation strategy and saved over $15MM per year.
• Led manufacturing improvement for a $1.5B food manufacturer that resulted in more than a 25% increase in throughput across five plants, which allowed closure of two facilities and resulted in a cost reduction of over $30MM per year.
• For a major automotive OEM, identified specific improvements to the product development process to reduce the annual warranty expense by more than $600MM through problem prevention associated with new product launches.
• For a $1B mobile crane manufacturer, defined the product strategy and a new product development process, then implemented on three major products. Time-to-market was reduced from 30 months to less than 12 months, and total cost was reduced by 15-25% while improving both product performance and quality.
• Performed operational due diligence for three building product manufacturers (two acquired) with total revenue of over $350MM. Led the rationalization/updating of the product line across seven plants, which reduced the number of products by 65% without loss of sales and increased gross margin by more than 5%.

Prior to joining AlixPartners, Stephen was a principal with A.T. Kearney in Chicago, where he led the Innovation and Product Development practice for North America. He has also held positions with the consulting group George Group, Inc. and Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa. He also holds an MBA from The College of William and Mary.