James Obrien
Buckeye
Summary
- Dynamic Operations and Engineering leader who has successfully driven operational excellence and strategic planning across various business units.
- Achieved a remarkable revenue growth from $25M to over $115M while enhancing customer satisfaction through continuous improvement initiatives.
- Skilled in operational and engineering management resulting in the implementation, key production indicators, and process controls that saved over $2M.
- Experienced operations manager with responsibilities across multiple sites covering >400 employees.
- Successfully, improved operations and growth objectives to increase revenue and profits consistently for the past 10 years.
- Improved safety and quality performance across the various business units.
- Extensive management of controlled manufacturing processes across various medical and technical industrial product lines.
- Excellent understanding of product and process quality and regulatory requirements across ISO standards 13485 & 9001.
Overview
2025
2025
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Sr. Director of Operations
The Secant Group
07.2013 - 01.2025
- Led change management efforts to successfully implement new technologies and manage operations across the organization. The organization expanded from one business unit (Secant Group) to 3 separate companies (Charter Medical & Polyzen) all of which I managed during my tenure at the Secant Group.
- Successfully managed the consolidation and relocation of 8 different production teams/lines involving >80 pieces of equipment. 5 working manufacturing sites were consolidated to 2 and all was done with focus on efficient installation/re-qualification to ensure process repeatability to all regulated needs under ISO 9001 & 13485. All of this was completed on time and without missing one customer delivery.
- Facilitated operational standardization, engineering control procedures, and staff training programs to ensure employees were focused on the industry regulated trends, best practices, and tools required for their roles in both medical and industrial technical products manufacture.
- Mentored team members, fostering a culture of professional growth and development across all core functional teams via a collaborative 'hands-on" approach. Closely managed these cross-functional teams across each business unit for maximum efficiency across the entire enterprise.
- Developed and executed operational plans to achieve organizational goals and consistent core growth. This involved leading the organization from one business unit at $25M per year revenue to 3 cross functionally working business units with an overall yearly revenue of >$115M per year.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction by focusing on continuous improvement of products and services. Spent time learning customer needs and technical specific performance requirements via face-to-face customer interactions and translation to each business unit.
- Improved overall productivity by identifying areas for improvement and implementing necessary changes. Implemented key production indicators around operational efficiencies, technical performance, quality parameters, and on time delivery.
- Monitored budget and utilized operational resources. Oversaw day-to-day production activities in accordance with business objectives and drove key operational changes to transform each business unit via focused improve product output, service, and quality.
- Utilized Engineering background, Six Sigma training, and operational experience to drive continuous improvements across product lines. This resulted in several key product line improvements with better controls resulting in savings of over $2M.
Quality and Engineering Manager
Cooley Group
03.2009 - 07.2013
- Led cross-functional teams for successful product development, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to specifications. Grew product output by 20% to support business growth.
- Enhanced overall team productivity with continuous training and mentoring of line operators, engineers, and quality technicians to ensure product technical and quality requirements were being met. .
- Reviewed technical documentation for accuracy, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations. Translated these needs to operations and quality for increased output and an improvement of 1st quality yields by >50%
- Fostered a culture of innovation and continuous improvement by encouraging the sharing of ideas, leading to increased creativity and problem-solving capabilities within the team. Taught teams how to lean on key SME's across the business to incorporate "learned" knowledge base within the SC plant.
- Optimized resource allocation, effectively managing budgets and manpower for multiple simultaneous projects. Successfully, increased plants performance from a significant loss to profitability in just 2 years by focus on productivity, quality, and operational efficiency metrics.
Director of Quality and Engineering
Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills
02.2005 - 03.2009
- Established key performance indicators to monitor quality metrics, driving data-driven decision-making and process improvements.
- Oversaw supplier qualification processes to ensure adherence to strict quality control measures, mitigating risks associated with potential supply chain disruptions.
- Implemented root cause analysis methodologies to identify and resolve recurring issues, enhancing overall product performance.
- Championed a customer-focused approach to engineering design, incorporating end-user feedback into product enhancements and ensuring high levels of satisfaction with delivered products.
Textile Engineering Manager
Quaker Fabrics
Technical Sales Manager
Keisling Hess
Quality Assurance Manager
American Silk Mills Corporation
Textile Engineer
Gentex Corporation
Education
Bachelor of Science - Textile Engineering
Philadelphia University
Philadelphia, PA05-1982
Skills
- Operational excellence
- Logistics management
- Workforce planning
- Cross-functional coordination
- Hands-on Management
- Strategic planning and execution
- Quality assurance
- Operational efficiency
- Process improvements
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Staff management
- Continuous improvement
Certification
Six Sigma GreenBelt Certification
Timeline
Sr. Director of Operations
The Secant Group
07.2013 - 01.2025
Quality and Engineering Manager
Cooley Group
03.2009 - 07.2013
Director of Quality and Engineering
Wearbest Sil-Tex Mills
02.2005 - 03.2009
Textile Engineering Manager
Quaker Fabrics
Technical Sales Manager
Keisling Hess
Quality Assurance Manager
American Silk Mills Corporation
Textile Engineer
Gentex Corporation
Bachelor of Science - Textile Engineering
Philadelphia University
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