JEFF MILLS DARRACOTT

No. 2/551B PDN Salai, Chinna Neelankarai

Chennai, India 600041
U.S.A: 813.435.5555 / India H: +91 442 449 5676
India Mobile: +91 917 601 1284
jdd00e3c@westpost.net
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- Professional Experience -
ZF Lemforder - Chassis Components, Oct. 2008 to present
Currently on a 3 year expatriate contract in Chennai, India
with the Sona Somic Lemforder Components Ltd. joint venture
to start up a green field chassis components operation
supplying to Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Mahindra.
The main product is ball joints for steering and suspension
- both machining and assembly.
General Manager, Operations, Oct. 2008 to present
Responsibilities include general over-sight of manufacturing,
quality and PPC functions; reporting direct to Vice President,
Asia Pacific Region. Serve as Liaison with ZF Lemforder
Technical, Design and Corporate Quality Groups to implement
ZF Lemforder Production System (LPS), ZF Lemforder
Manufacturing Standards (LMN), and ZF Lemforder Quality
Policies at the new green field operation through mentoring
and training of functional department heads.
- Direct reports include two department managers (Quality
Manager and Manufacturing Manager) and one Specialist,
handling production planning and control (PPC).
- Related job experience in power DC motors, p/s pumps; R&P
steering gears; Hydraulic and Electric Power Assist Steering
Systems; Steering Columns; machining and assembly of ball
joints.
- Supported the completion of the plant as a green field site
including a fully functional Quality Lab, Machining and
Assembly Line Layout, implementation of 5S and 3C concepts
through-out plant.
- Built up team from 47 employees to 97 trained employees to
support start of second shift with plan to increase to 150
employees during first qtr. 2011 to meet projected customer
requirements.
- Implemented actions to reduce cycle time in bottle neck
operations to increase capacity for new projects.
- Guided dept. managers to set basic standards to address
training needs (e.g. - safety critical operations, handling
dropped parts, safety, environmental,etc.) of operators,
quality inspectors, and logistics personnel.
- Established suggestion system to capitalize on employee
creativity for problem solving & continual improvement.
- Successfully led the team toward receipt of approval from
Nissan to start production by achieving targets associated
with the multiple exhaustive Nissan Pre-SOP audits - e.g. -
ASES, MONOZUKURI, PSW, T2000, etc.
- Implemented daily structured production meeting to review
production and shipping requirements against machine problems,
quality and / or logistical issues.
- When required, go to problem suppliers to develop and
implement improvement plans with suppliers.
- Implemented daily line reject and quality gate reviews to
prevent shipment of defects to customer by containing issues
in-house and driving the feed-back loop to correct issues in
the process using PDCA & 8D methodology.
- Implemented SPC for all critical characteristics, with
minimum requirement of 1.67 Cpk, to monitor and reduce common
cause variation.
- Daily interaction with key ZF Lemforder corporate groups
to drive implementation of the LPS, LMN and corporate quality
policies; with secondary target of developing strong ties
between SSL Chennai and ZF Lemforder groups.
- Implemented supplier change / localization monitoring tool to
prevent changes to supply base prior to receiving in-put from
key ZF Lemforder groups.
- Mentored project engineers in the use of project management
tools & principles such as LOP list and time line (WBS), weekly
team meetings with the goal of proactively managing APQP
activities to prevent major issues.
- Completed the launch of Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota and
in-process of launching Mahindra - all in 2010
- Facilitate a weekly machine down-time review to eliminate
machine, material (Quality and Supply) and man power related
issues to increase OEE.
- Implemented Kaizen Request process to eliminate
non-value-adding waste (MUDA) - e.g. defects, unnecessary
process movements, over processing, etc.
- Completed joint training of operators, with Nissan, to
develop and improve standardized work instructions.
- Improved the storage, organization, layout and flow of raw
material stores.
- Implemented "Milk Run" between the raw material super-market
and manufacturing lines using a pull system from manufacturing
to super-market to reduce line down time due to out of stock
condition.
- Implemented product traceability system per Nissan
requirements.
- Future targets are TS 16949 certification by end of 2010 &
implement MRP system by Oct. 2010
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ZF Steering Systems, LLC, Jun. 2000 to Sep. 2008
Tier one automotive supplier to BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM and VW
of steering systems and / or components including p/s pumps;
columns and r&p steering gears with annual sales of $200
Million and 350 employees.
Quality Assurance Manager, Florence, KY, Mar. 2006 to Sep. 2008
Responsibilities included implementation and maintenance of an
effective quality management system based on ISO_TS 16949;
development and implementation of a comprehensive quality plan
to achieve company quality targets.
- Three direct report supervisors covering Quality Systems;
Quality Engineering; Supplier Quality; IMDS and Lab with
twenty-four total employees.
- Relocated steering gear operation from Oakwood, GA to
Hebron, KY (Cincinnati, OH) in March 2006
- Assumed Quality Manager position over both column and gear
business units at time of transfer (column was already based
in Hebron)
- Developed Quality Plan based on overall company objectives,
deploying goals and objectives down to the individual employee
level
- Achieved TS16949 certification for the relocated steering gear
business field under the certification umbrella of the existing
column business field
- Supported 9 new program launches for BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM,
while maintaining a plant wide 0 mile PPM < 75 PPM.
- Achieved a 2006 Warranty cost of $500K against a target of
$1.2 Million
- Utilized part tear down data from rejects to reduce scrap and
increase FTT.
- Implemented daily cross-functional operational review called
"Fast Response" to review new quality issues, reasons for major
down-time and customer delivery issues and to expedite the
corrective action process.
- Implemented company wide Layered Process Audit to identify
and correct process related non-conformities negatively
effecting quality and productivity
Quality Assurance Manager, Oakwood, GA, Oct. 2004 to Mar. 2006
Seven direct reports: Two Quality Engineers, Five Quality
Technicians. Dotted line to the supplier quality group, which
included two Supplier Quality
Engineers and one Supplier Quality Technician.
- Utilized GAP analysis to eliminate potential negative
consequences due to company restructure
- Championed an overall Quality Plan with targets focused
on reducing both internal and external quality issues resulting
in a reduction of 0-Mile PPM from 1,000 in 2004 to 80 in 2005.
- Assigned Kaizen teams focused on reducing scrap, rework and
increasing First Time Through (FTT)
- Established team to transition from QS 9000 to ISO_TS 16949
achieving certification in 6 months
- Improved the effectiveness of corrective action process,
resulting in 90% reduction of open customer concerns.
- Established team to reduce contamination on in-coming material,
which resulted in a $100K cost savings by replacing expendable
packaging with returnable dunage.
- Championed the reduction of incoming inspection by 40% by
developing a certified supplier process.
- Implemented supplier development process to improve the
quality of suppliers that do not meet the certified supplier
criteria.
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ZUA Autoparts, Inc.
(A Joint Venture between ZF Lenksysteme and Unisia of Japan
manufacturer of p/s pumps and r&p steering gears)
Sales and Engineering Manager, Oakwood, GA, Oct. 2003 to Oct. 2004
Eight direct reports: Two Program Managers; One Sales Engineer;
Three Resident Engineers; Sales Coordinator and Design
Coordinator Responsible for eight customers (including Ford,
GM, Mercedes, BMW, Nissan, SIA, VW, Mitsubishi) and $220 million
in annual sales.
- Over-all responsibility for the short-term sales plan and
long term forecast used for budgeting and planning.
- Successfully led the Sales and Design organization through
a company restructure.

Sr. Program Manager, Oct. 2002 to Oct. 2003

Two direct report employees: Sales Coordinator and Sales
Engineer.
- Led cross-functional team to develop and implement an
effective Engineering Change Management System.
- Launched Ford Escape program on time and within
budget with annual sales of $13 million.

Program Manager, Mar. 2001 to Oct. 2002

- Launched three high profile Lincoln programs on time and
within budget with annual sales of $30 million. - Improved
overall program IRR from 22% to 33% through effectively
managing design changes.

Sales Engineer, Jun. 2000 to Mar. 2001

Account Management of major customer accounts including BMW,
Mercedes, Ford, and Subaru-Isuzu
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Siemens Automotive, Feb. 1995 to Jun. 2000
Tier 2 manufacturer of power DC motors for the automotive
industry.
Sales Account Manager, Gainesville, GA, Sep. 1999 to Jun. 2000
Managed Sales and Marketing activities for customer accounts
DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and GM totaling yearly revenue of
$64 million. Responsibilities included improving customer
satisfaction, contract negotiation, development of new and
existing customer accounts, planning and forecasting.

Customer Quality Engineer, May 1996 to Sep. 1999

Managed seven automotive customer accounts located in Canada,
Eastern US, and Mexico.

Manufacturing Team Leader, Feb. 1995 to May 1996

Supervised 25 employees in a highly automated manufacturing
environment
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Education
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Masters of Business Administration in Management,May, 1999
Columbia International University, Columbia, SC
Bachelors of Arts in Theology, December, 1993
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Training / Certification
- JUMP (ZF International Junior Management Trainee Program,
August 2005 to August 2006)
- Various GM Training Workshops: QSB (Quality Systems Basics);
GP 9 Run @ Rate Process; Drill Deep and Wide APQP, DFMEA / PFMEA,
Project Management
- Global 8D (Disciplined Problem Solving Approach)
- ISO / TS16949 Internal Auditor
- Lean Manufacturing Overview, Georgia Institute of Technology

(References Available upon Request)