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Stephen Peskar
Profile
Steve Peskar knew he wanted to be an engineer when he entered WVU, but wasn’t sure what type. He wasn’t aware of Industrial Engineering until he heard the IE presentation during his freshman year. He liked the focus of manufacturing that IE offered.
Steve admits that his first two years at WVU were not a success. He decided to join the military to help pay for college. The military gave him the discipline to be a success when he returned to WVU. During Steve’s senior year, he was activated to serve in the Desert Storm war. “I’m thankful that the IE department helped me serve my country and still complete my degree,” Steve says.
When Steve graduated, he pursued an MBA at East Carolina. “I’m proud to say that I had a 3.8 GPA in my MBA program. Honestly, the MBA courses were much easier than my IE courses.”
When Steve finished his MBA degree, he went to work for Georgia-Pacific as a safety director. Shortly into his time at G-P, he got involved in operations. After some initial successes in operations, Steve felt that he should be given a promotion, but his boss didn’t feel he had “paid his dues.” Steve left G-P to work for Bell and Howell doing classic Industrial Engineering work. After being at Bell and Howell for only 9 months, Steve’s former boss recruited him back to G-P to be a Plant Manager. “I guess I paid my dues in that 9 months,” Steve says.
Steve’s career at G-P continued to advance with increasing responsibility, and he eventually became the area manager for five plants in Virginia and North Carolina.
Steve left G-P to become the Vice Present of SWISSKRONO, the largest flooring producer in the world. “SWISSKRONO is a family run business. What makes it unique is that the family members are very competitive with each other and that creates a very challenging culture,” Steve says.
Steve returned to G-P for one final time as the lead executive for North and South Carolina operations. “I had full P&L responsibility for $150 million in business,” Steve comments. G-P became a different corporation when the Koch family bought the business.
Steve left G-P for a senior executive position at West Fraser, the largest lumber producer in North America. “The culture at West Fraser is very different from that of G-P, and I find that very satisfying,” Steve says.
I never planned my career,” Steve says. “But I don’t know if I would have done anything differently. I have had positions where I could make a real impact. I have an MBA. I’m a six sigma black belt. For most of my career, I’ve worked for a product that I never even thought about as a student. My advice to students is to keep an open mind about career opportunities.”
Bio
Stephen Peskar
General Manager of the Augusta Division at West Fraser
Summary
A proven and passionate Senior Manufacturing Professional with a strong customer focus. Proficient in being the change agent improving existing processes to ultimately achieve World Class Performance by never accepting the status quo. Achieve and maintain the goals of the business using such tools as Lean Manufacturing techniques, Six Sigma, Materials Management Principals with the enthusiastic management of people using KPI’s (setting goals) and holding people accountable for performance.
Experience
General Manager Augusta Division at West Fraser
November 2017 – Present
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability for the Augusta Division; oversee all aspects of the operations as well as procurement of raw materials and sales/customers of the products. Implement all safety/ environmental rules and regulations set forth by West Fraser. Ensure and maintain compliance with all corporate policies and procedures.
Regional/Plant Operations Manager at Georgia-Pacific LLC
August 2014 – November 2017 (3 years 4 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability for three manufacturing locations; oversee all aspects of the plant operations as well as interacting with procurement of raw materials and sales/customers of the products the mill will generate. Implement all safety/ environmental rules and regulations set forth by Georgia-Pacific. Ensure and maintain compliance with all corporate policies and procedures.
• Full P&L responsibility for area production of more than $150 million dollars in Sales Revenue (manufacturing approximately 350 million MBF of dimension southern yellow pine lumber), kiln drying, and shipments, and facility interaction with customers.
• Re-Organized structure of Facilities Management Staff evaluating personnel for retention or non-retention at locations.
• Process Improvement efforts with Capital Equipment upgrades and justifications. (IRR, NPV, Pro-Forma Development) with budgeting for current and future capital projects.
• Full accountability for mill/sales/customer interface, ensuring that customer expectations are understood and met.
• Continuously analyzing production flows and leading others to never accept the (“Status Quo”).
• Focus on evoking change management through implementation of OPEX Methodology to optimize/reduce costs.
Vice President of Operations at SWISSKRONO (formerly Kronotex USA)
September 2007 – August 2014 (7 years)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability for all Manufacturing Operations, Logistics and Warehousing (Internal and External), coordination of procurement activities for all raw materials required for production of over 200 SKU’s. Interface with Sales/Customers of the products the factory generated. Developed and implemented safety/environmental rules and regulations set forth by Kronotex USA LLC. Developed, ensured and maintained compliance with all corporate policies and procedures.
• Full P&L responsibility with total Sales Volume more than $180 million (20 – 24 million M2 of laminate flooring).
• Full Operational responsibility for all Manufacturing activities and all support functions (more than 200 SKU’s).
• Full accountability for factory/sales/customer interface, ensuring that customer expectations are met achieving a .5% of sales to claims rate.
• Achieved ISO 9000 certification in addition to Green Guard Certification.
• Continuously analyzed production flows and led others to continuously improve processes increasing capacity 38%. This process improvement was through Six Sigma application and Never accepting “Status Quo”.
• Capital Improvements included specification, purchasing, staffing, and starting up of one Homag Laminate Flooring line (8.5 M Euros), Wemhoner Quick Cycle press system (5.5 M Euros), and two VITs Paper impregnation lines (29.5 M Euros).
• Drove change through consistent and concise leadership, championing the role of “Change Agent”.
• Implemented of programs 5-S, MP2, Preventative Maintenance, and SOP Training.
• Re-Organized structure of Facilities Management Staff evaluating personnel for retention.
• Drove the budgeting and goal setting process for Manufacturing Operations, achieving record cost reductions.
• Development of Lean Six Sigma approach to Quality control and development of culture accordingly.
Northern Area Manager at Georgia-Pacific LLC
January 2006 – August 2007 (1 year 8 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability for five manufacturing locations; oversee all aspects of the plant operations as well as interacting with Procurement of raw materials and Sales/Customers of the products the mill will generate. Implement all safety/environmental rules and regulations set forth by Georgia-Pacific. Ensure and maintain compliance with all corporate policies and procedures.
Full P&L responsibility for Area production in excess of $750 million (manufacturing approximately 300 million MBF of dimension southern yellow pine lumber), kiln drying, and shipments), interaction with customersRe-Organized structure of Facilities Management Staff evaluating personnel for retention or non retention at three locations. Process Improvement efforts with Capital Equipment upgrades and justifications.(IRR, NPV, Pro-Forma Development)Full accountability for mill/sales/customer interface, ensuring that customer expectations are understood and met. Continuously analyzing production flows and leading others to continuously improve process. (Never accepting “Status Quo”)
Plant Manager at Georgia-Pacific LLC
March 2005 – January 2006 (11 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability; oversee all aspects of the plant operations as well as interacting with Procurement of raw materials and Sales/Customers of the products the mill will generate. Implement all safety/environmental rules and regulations set forth by Georgia-Pacific. Ensure and maintain compliance with all corporate policies and procedures. Turn around situation evoking change management. Implementation of 5S, OPEX Methodology.Full P&L responsibility for plant production in excess of $32 million (manufacturing approx. 90 million MBF SYP)Re-Organized structure of Facilities Management Staff evaluating personnel for selection & deselection. Improved production levels by 38% with existing equipment and personnel with in first six months.Instituted QC/SPC methodology yielding in excess of $900,000 worth of improvements in Manufacturing Efficiencies.
Plant Manager at Georgia-Pacific LLC
October 1997 – March 2005 (7 years 6 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Full general management responsibilities/accountability; oversee all aspects of the plant operations as well as interacting with Procurement of raw materials and Sales/Customers of the products the mill will generate. Implement all safety/environmental rules and regulations set forth by Georgia-Pacific. Ensure and maintain compliance with all corporate policies and procedures. Full P&L responsibility for plant production in excess of $21 million (manufacturing (approximately 30 million MBF), kiln drying, and shipments), interaction with customers. (Note: One of the Largest Hardwood Sawmills installations on the East Coast)Developed in excess of 20 new product offerings from existing raw materials, all based on prospective customer needs and coordinated through territory sales people.
Moved Market Segmentation matrix form being weighted heavily to just one segment to an even percentage across the board to reduce mill vulnerability.Managed all planning/scheduling/execution exercises for upcoming production runs and product mixes. Managed Capital projects ranging from $1.8 Million to $10,000, these projects focused on the installation of new production equipment and revising of existing facilities. (Dry Kilns, Additional Decks, Rolling Stock, Etc.) Performed process analysis to discern optimal yields and production variable combinations based on raw material characteristics and market place dynamics. Institution of LEAN Manufacturing methodology where applicable in operation, achieving increases in through put . Creation of a Quality Control program encompassing all aspects of the manufacturing process. Program utilizes a real-time Lumber-measuring portion, which has achieved product variance reductions and increases in raw material utilization.Installation of a Real-Time Lumber SPC program totally networked and integrated with Wonderware.
Senior Industrial Engineer / Process Improvement Manager
February 1997 – October 1997 (9 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Provide the plant with Industrial Engineering expertise focussing on capital project management, process improvement, and facility reengineering. Investigate and document all business processes and identifying areas for elimination of non-value added functions. Re-engineer system integration processes focussing on production efficiencies and materials management. Redesign the present facility and provide a plan focussing on space utilization. Manage the process improvement Department and Return Material Organization and attain a 50% reduction in cost.
Industrial Engineer / Safety Director at Georgia-Pacific LLC
April 1994 – February 1997 (2 years 11 months)
Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Provide the mill with a sound engineering expertise and resource. Implement all safety rules and regulations set forth by Georgia-Pacific. Ensure and maintain compliance with OSHA regulations. Interact with employees to help eliminate the risk of injuries. Investigate all injuries with employee participation. Correlate and coordinate activities between injured employees, attending physicians, and plant management. Ensure all Workers Compensation related activities are supervised and completed. Create, Facilitate, Direct, and maintain Teams promoting Employee Involvement. Performed facility engineering on various portions of the plant and provided re-engineering expertise to existing processes that presented a safety/production concern. Managed and Co-Managed several capital projects, representing investments from $1.8 Million to $100,000, these projects focused on the installation of new production equipment and revising of facilities. Provided guidance and management of the safety program, resulting in achieving OSHA VPP Entry Application status in less than two years.Cross Trained as a Production supervisor in order to fill in for various supervisors when needed.Wrote several MS Access applications that have been put into use at the mill level and currently revising to implement corporate wide.Reduced OSHA Incidence Rate 55% since April 1994.100% of all injured employees have returned to work, with no further litigation.
IT Technician
August 1993 – December 1993 (5 months)
Manufacturing Systems Department, CO-Operative Education Program. Responsibilities/Accomplishments: Performed network administration of an Ethernet connected, 250+ user Local Area Network/Wide Area Network operating under LAN manager & U. Bass Net Director/OS/2. Provided user level support for both various software packages and hardware configuration. Investigated and solved hardware and software conflicts.
Petty Officer Third Class, Rating Storekeeper at United States Navy Reserve
April 1986 – April 1992 (6 years 1 month)
Supervised work groups of 5 to 15 members, dealt with supply related paper work. Earned Ammunition and Basic Cargo Handling certifications, completed Hold Boss requirements and served as Hold Boss of a Hatch Team with Reserve Cargo Handling Battalion Nine during OPERATION DESERT STORM in the Mediterranean theater. (Presently in the Inactive Ready Reserve, non-drilling status
Education
West Virginia University
BS, Industrial Engineering, 1984 – 1991
Activities and Societies: Institute of Industrial Engineers
East Carolina University
Masters, Business Administration, 1991 – 1993
Activities and Societies: Beta Gamma SIgma Club
