Hilco Performance Solutions promoted Susan Stanley from associate director to the new position of continuous improvement and lean manufacturing practice leader.

With nearly 30 years in operations, plant management, lean manufacturing and continuous improvement, corporate finance, and project management, Stanley began her career at Chrysler Corporation in the international operations group, later moving to Chrysler Mexico and the Mopar Parts group. After leaving Mopar, she spent 10 years in plant management roles focusing on the world class manufacturing (WCM) approach to lean manufacturing.

Highlights from her experience also include:

• Leading die build operations at an automotive tooling provider in North America as assistant plant manager. In this role, Stanley was tasked with all continuous improvement activities to increase revenue, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and employee retention. Stanley also established and trained teams and created data collection methods, KPIs and SOPs by functional area.
• Serving as operational excellence manager with responsibility for the corporate‐wide dissemination of an employee‐centric pillar‐based lean manufacturing culture across multiple countries at three tier one automotive suppliers. Stanley stablished a methodology to identify and prioritize plant losses, trained employees in problem solving and root cause analysis, and developed model areas for rolling out key improvements plant‐wide while achieving cost reductions of up to 130% of target.
• Managing the sales, marketing and product development of a $350 million global parts portfolio at Chrysler-Mopar while leading the low-cost country sourcing program, sourcing more than 60 product types and reducing material costs by an average of 20% across all products.
• Being responsible for $60 million in revenue as controller/treasurer of DaimlerChrysler Services in Mexico, managing debt with banking institutions and administering dealer credit lines. Stanley also implemented the Mexico post‐merger implementation plan, coordinating the harmonization of processes, systems and personnel during the merger of Chrysler Financial and Mercedes‐Benz Leasing.

“We are very excited to have Susan assume the leadership of our continuous improvement and lean manufacturing practice,” Steven Tanzi, president of Hilco Performance Solutions, said. “An ideal combination of an industry practitioner and advisor who is a highly effective hands-on client partner, she will be able to work across all HPS manufacturing clients. A well-rounded business leader with extensive experience in the manufacturing sector, Susan — together with the growing HPS team — will provide problem-solving and process improvement to help our clients execute more quickly, develop new skills in their organizations, and improve financial results.”