F. Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr.
www.josephpfirrmann.com
jpfirrmann@msn.com
513.693.6200
Management Executive
Expertise in Aerospace and General Manufacturing
Executive Profile
Technology-oriented executive with more than 20 years of experience in high technology
manufacturing environments across diverse markets and working in international environments.
Willing to take on high risk challenges and high profile executive roles; to make high-stakes decisions
and overcome complex business challenges.
Restructuring and growth expert with a proven track record of successfully restructuring and
expanding organizational infrastructure, technologies and processes for optimal performance.
Curriculum Vitea
Strategic and creative thinker skilled at aligning technical efforts with business goals; adept at
identifying and developing innovative opportunities and teams.
Excellent problem solving and planning skills with experience spanning a wide variety of disciplines
and technologies.
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Areas of Expertise
Restructuring / Reorganization
 Cellular Manufacturing
Strategic / Tactical Planning
 Lean Manufacturing Setup & Operation
Project & Operations Management
 Team Member Development
Multi-Site International Transitions
 Design Optimization for Manufacturing
New Product Launch
 Process Optimization
Technology Acquisition & Integration
 Software Development & Management
Professional Experience
GKN Aerospace, Cincinnati, Ohio
07/14 – Present
Plant Manager
GKN Aerospace is a first tier supplier to the global aviation industry. A leader in the manufacture of highly complex
composite and metallic aero structures and engine products, our business is equally focused on military and civil
markets.
At GKN, I successfully manage a campus of 2 plants with a combined P&L portfolio exceeding $30M. Our operations
consist of two complete integrated product teams with a total of 112 team members across all business functions from
sales to shipping. In the time I have been at GKN, I have built group of people into a strong team that has been able to
recover production schedules, while increasing revenue by 17% through new customer acquisition and profit margins by
50% through lean, waste reduction initiatives.
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Built people and systems infrastructure to enable a successful business turn-around
Direct, manage and coach plant operations team consisting of Purchasing, Planning, production management and
supervisors, maintenance, quality, manufacturing and design engineering and shipping and receiving.
Full P&L responsibility for all plant product lines, with responsibility for revenue generation, cash flow, commercial
operations, plans and budgets.
Frederick Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr. ● Email: jpfirrmann@msn.com ● Web: www.josephpfirrmann.com ● Phone: 513.693.6200
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Changed the plant from a factory driven by ‘gut feel’ to a successful, metric-driven lean manufacturing organization
supported by fact through data collection, root cause analysis and corrective action.
Encourage and promote operating in a continuous improvement environment.
Developed a commercial strategy that translates into an operating plan.
Participate in the strategic planning process and execution of plans to enhance profitability, productivity, and
efficiency for the plant to meet short and long-term goals of the company.
Developed excellent relationships both internally and externally with key customers to ensure that effective
collaboration occurred in order to successfully meet assigned plant goals.
Coordinated plant activities through the planning with departmental managers to ensure the total manufacturing
objectives were accomplished in a timely and cost effective manner.
Remove waste and constraints from the production process to improve efficiencies and enhance productivity.
Conducted performance appraisals and provide coaching and guidance to all operations employees.
Analyze workforce requirements and coordinate the hiring and training of all plant personnel.
Work closely with the Environmental Health and Safety Manager to ensure all members of the manufacturing team
are aware of safety policies to provide a safe workplace for our employees.
Establish and monitor overall plant performance for production and quality standards.
Work closely with quality personnel to improve product consistency while monitoring scrap rates to determine
trends and areas of improvement.
Maintain existing plant facilities and equipment focused on meeting customer demand and growth objectives.
Implemented and maintained predictive and preventative maintenance programs.
Incorporates shop floor organization and plant cleanliness through a 5S system.
Frecon Technologies, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
10/09 – 04/14
Vice-President of Engineering
Frecon Technologies is a manufacturing company offering a full range of machining and fabrication services to
companies throughout the United States
At Frecon, I successfully managed a small family owed business with 17 employees in departments including shop floor
supervision, engineering, purchasing, finance and manufacturing. I have maintained production schedules while
increasing revenue by 287% and maintaining profit margins and cash flow from 2011 to 2014.
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Successfully developed shop floor supervision and lower level management from internally scouted talent
Managed all aspects of a small business: Business plans, Capital Acquisition, Development Projects, Manpower
Planning and Development, Staff Training, Mfg Scheduling, Quality Goals/Metrics, Purchasing and Engineering
Developed and wrote corporate wide manufacturing management system software.
Improvement of operational systems, processes and policies in support of organizations mission
Manage and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Support Services (Sales, IT, Finance, Engineering &
Manufacturing), through improvements to each function as well as coordination and communication between
support and business functions.
Play a significant role in long-term planning, including initiatives geared towards revenue growth and
operational excellence.
Oversee overall financial, manufacturing, sales, IT and engineering controls.
Regular meetings with Board of Directors focused on fiscal planning and results.
Supervise and coach office staff on a weekly basis.
Develop and manage annual budget
Oversee monthly and quarterly assessments and forecasts of organization's financial performance against bud get,
financial and operational goals. Oversee short and long-term financial and managerial reporting.
Managing day to day processing of accounts receivable and payable using Q uickBooks.
Reconciling monthly activity, generating year-end reports, and fulfilling tax related requirements.
Administering payroll and employee benefits and organizational insurance.
Prepare annual audit and be a liaison with all outside vendors.
Drive initiatives in the management team and organizationally that contribute to long -term operational
excellence.
Frederick Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr. ● Email: jpfirrmann@msn.com ● Web: www.josephpfirrmann.com ● Phone: 513.693.6200
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Williams International, LLC, Ogden, Utah
8/01 – 8/09
Cell Manager – Large Machining, Structures, Bypass Duct, Diffuser, Fan, Single Stage
Rotor, IP Rotor, IP Stator, Cutter Grind
Cell Leader – Large Machining, Structures, Bypass Duct, Semi-Solid Molding
Team Leader – Large Machining and Structures
Team Leader / Project Manager – Taurus and Tactical Tomahawk Missile Engines
Engineering Consultant
Williams International is the world leader in the development, manufacture and support of small gas turbine engines with
facilities in Utah, Michigan and Mexico. The facility located in Ogden, Utah, is the most modern and efficient gas
turbine design-to-production facility in the world.
At Williams, I successfully managed 9 manufacturing cells with over 270 support staff and cell team members. Coached
and developed up to 27 direct reports including shop floor supervision, engineers, purchasing and production control.
Maintained production schedules while doubling manufacturing output from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2006-2007. I
kept the bottom line in the black while managing over $30M in capital acquisitions and $10M annual operating budget.
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Successfully developed shop floor supervision and lower level management from internally scouted talent
Granted Material Review Board authority for all compression systems hardware
Managed all aspects of a small business unit: Business plans, Capital Acquisition, Development Projects, Manpower
Planning and Development, Staff Training, Mfg Scheduling, Quality Goals/Metrics, Purchasing and Engineering
Direct supervision of 4 team leaders for 9 manufacturing cells
Successful oversight of transition of production design engineering responsibilities to Ogden engineering groups
Oversight of transition of 2 production cells to a Guaymas, Mexico facility
Process improvement, process development and all budgets and expenditures associated with the operation of listed
cells. Reduced product defects overall by 64% for all 9 cells.
Lead process development efforts to bring engine programs from R&D and test flight to full production status.
As a project manager I lead a 12 member team to successfully meet our $1.4M 35K man-hour budget and 1 yr.
completion time frame commitments for a 2 new cruise missile product launches.
Developed and wrote corporate wide manpower management system software.
John Deere Commercial Products, Augusta, Georgia
9/99 – 8/01
Project Lead Engineer
Manufacturing Engineer
John Deere produces and markets North America's broadest line of lawn and garden tractors, mowers, golf course
equipment, and other outdoor power products. John Deere Landscapes provides irrigation equipment and nursery
supplies to landscape-service professionals across the United States.
I was initially responsible for developing and implementing a system of delivering assembly planning to the assembly
floor. This project was to last 1.5 years and covered the 4000 and 5000 series compact utility tractors. The system
included connection of the information flow from design to manufacturing and the conveyance of lean manufacturing
concepts to the plant floor.
My duties were soon expanded to management of a team of engineers responsible for creation and maintenance of the
assembly planning while designing and implementing a $1.6M PC based Manufacturing Execution System in an 18
month time frame. This system included:
 Custom hardware and software integration
 Collecting data from the floor for management evaluation
 Controlling quality of the manufacturing process through monitoring of key processes
 Facilitation of a true Kanban inventory system by feedback of production data to existing inventory systems.
 On-demand assembly instructions
 Real time production line product tracking
 This system is now being deployed to many John Deere factories around the world.
Frederick Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr. ● Email: jpfirrmann@msn.com ● Web: www.josephpfirrmann.com ● Phone: 513.693.6200
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MIT - Lincoln Laboratory, Lincoln, Massachusetts
4/99 – 8/99
Manufacturing Engineer / NC Programmer
MIT Lincoln Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology
to problems of national security. Research and development activities focus on long-term technology development as
well as rapid system prototyping and demonstration. These efforts are aligned within key mission areas. The Laboratory
works with industry to transition new concepts and technology for system development and deployment.
My primary responsibilities of this job were mentoring current staff in the uses of Pro/E as well as Programming 3, 4 &5
axis NC machine tools using Pro/Process for MFG and Pro/NC Advanced to assemble and build an advanced
communications satellite.
 Complex aerospace parts are created by the design group and passed to Pro/E via 3D IGES files.
 Our group imported the data, mending surface geometry as needed using Pro/Surface, and created processes and tool
paths to produce the parts required to manufacture the designed devices.
WNA Hopple Plastics, Inc., Florence, Kentucky
5/94 – 4/99
WNA Technical Services Director
Hopple Plastics Technical Services Manager
Design Engineer
Waddington North America was a multi-site corporation with product offerings from reusable, heavy thermoformed
plastic packaging for industrial transportation to injection molded products for the food service industry.
The primary objective of this job was the integration of technology into an engineering setting to produce the highest
quality work in the fastest time possible with the highest return on investment to the customer as well as our
organization. In this role, I setup a new prototyping department and developed and implemented rapid design to
manufacturing technologies to enable 24 hour turnaround of new product prototypes for food service customers. This
technology enables us to acquire and maintain many multi-million dollar accounts including: Fazoli’s, Boston Market
and Chili’s.
Rapid Prototyping:
 Used Pro/Manufacturing with Pro/Process to generate CAM data which was sent to CNC mills to machine molds.
 Web based customer design reviews with real-time design updates
My duties also included:
 Administration and maintenance of a network of 5 UNIX Based workstations running Pro/E software
 Email and web browsing services for the entire organization
 Development and maintenance of project tracking software for our corporation using Microsoft Access.
Art Technologies, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
9/92 - 5/94
Engineering Manager
Quality Manager
Art Technologies is a manufacturer of non-precision grade thrust bearings and garage door rollers.
At ATI, I was charged with design and development of formed metal products using concurrent engineering techniques while
ensuring a small staff of 2 additional engineers focused on the proper business needs. Our team also designed all automatic
assembly equipment to manufacture products quickly and cost effectively.
 All products and machinery were designed using AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer software.
Management responsibilities at ATI included strategic business planning, Just In Time system implementation and Co-op
student employment program. Quality Management responsibilities involved statistical process control, product testing and
Frederick Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr. ● Email: jpfirrmann@msn.com ● Web: www.josephpfirrmann.com ● Phone: 513.693.6200
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verification, and implementation of ISO9000 quality standards.
Education
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
9/86 – 6/90
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Major: Bio-Medical Engineering
o Major combines all core classes from Biology Major, Electrical Engineering
Major, Mechanical Engineering Major
Accomplishments & Interests
Southern Ohio Pro/Users Group, Inc., Dayton Ohio
9/94 – 4/99
Chairman of the Board / Founding Member
 This is a non-profit corporation created to establish and maintain a forum for the education and exchange of
information among and between the membership and Parametric Technologies Corporation in the Southern Ohio
area.
Board of Directors – Frecon Technologies, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
6/88 – Present
Professional Training
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Rand Technologies Detroit, Michigan
Pro/Engineer Training – Pro/Basic, Advanced Design, Surfacing & Manufacturing
More than 20,000 hrs. PRO/E Design and Manufacturing Experience
Communications Seminars – Weber State University
Management Seminars – Weber State University
Lean Manufacturing – University Of Kentucky
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Skills
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PLC programming
Lean manufacturing systems design and implementation
Computer hardware installation and integration, including network set-up and administration
Software programming in many languages including: Visual Basic, FORTRAN, Visual C++ and HTML.
Accomplishments
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Patents: US5915581, D392882, D383033 and WO9743183
Mt. Rainier Summit 8/01
SCUBA – Advanced Open Water, Nitrox
White Water Rafting Guide (including Basic Life Support certification): New River, West Virginia
Foreign Language Skills: German
Interests
 Snowboarding, SCUBA, Mountain Biking, R/C Vehicles, Computers
Frederick Joseph Pfirrmann, Jr. ● Email: jpfirrmann@msn.com ● Web: www.josephpfirrmann.com ● Phone: 513.693.6200
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