JOHN WARREN
Mobile:
E-mail:
Web Site :
LinkedIn:
07736 811684
john.warren@DirectingChange.co.uk
http://www.directingchange.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/john-warren/20/429/590
8 Benford Road
Hoddesdon, Herts.
EN11 8LW
SC Security Cleared. A Lean, Six Sigma qualified (Black Belt), International, Transformational Change Manager with
substantial experience as a Board Level Operations Director, VP of Operations, Programme Director and as a SAP
Implementation Programme Director, in both shrinking and growing business environments for 9 major, global, Blue
Chip Companies: British Aerospace, Siemens, Raytheon, BAESystems, SELEX GALILEO (Finmeccanica), Meggitt,
Lockheed Martin, Curtiss-Wright and e2v. Delivering programmes to tight schedules. Capable of motivating and
harnessing both people and teams to generate significant improvements in productivity and business performance.
Now working successfully as an Interim Manager / Consultant / Contractor for 5 companies (8 contracts) since July
2010.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
KEY SKILLS AND RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS

A Board Level Director / Change Manager / Manager of major programmes: Managed the execution of major, multi-site, production programmes for various products including Aircraft,
Armoured Fighting Vehicles, Radars and a range of Electronics for the European Fighter Aircraft, Helicopters,
Ships and Space Vehicles.
 Managed SAP Implementation programmes for Meggitt, BAESystems and e2v across 13 global sites.
 Sponsored three separate implementations of MRP systems in Raytheon and Siemens.
 Managed the construction and equipping of a new, £51m facility to accommodate 1100 people for
BAESystems.
 Managed the preparation and re-location of 1100 people from their spacious, three ex GEC Marconi sites
with considerable storage, to the single, world class, modern, lean environment in just 4 weekends
 Involved with sales and bids to win major £multi-million contracts within the Aerospace and Defence Sector
and managing tenders / selections for IT contracts; facilities management and general manufacturing
contracts.
 An experienced negotiator of multi million pound contracts (recently saving Lockheed Martin £10.2M) An
experienced manager of multi-site, multi-national programmes for 9 Blue Chip Organisations.

A proven Operations / General Business / Change Manager: Restructured and simplified UK wide supply chains.
 Redesigned and rearranged numerous factory layouts, increasing throughput, simplifying production flow,
reducing lead-times, costs and inventory
 Transitioned new designs and accelerated them into volume manufacture.
 Line managed departments associated with Operations, Procurement, Manufacturing and Test from the Bid
stage to After Sales Support.
 Manufacturing experience across a range of disciplines including Press Shop, Foundry, Fitting Shop, Paint
Shop, Major Assembly, Hybrid & Wafer Manufacture, Printed Circuit Board Assembly, Electronics Assembly,
Test and Environmental Stress Screening
 Managed as UK Business Continuity Director, the rapid business recovery from various incidents such as fire,
flood, air conditioning failure and computer failure, whilst recovering £multi-million claims through the
insurance companies.

A recognized leader respected and trusted by the company, unions and people alike, fulfilling roles as part of the
senior cross-site management team such as VP of Operations; Operations Director; Manufacturing Executive; ERP
and Shared Services Director; UK Business Continuity Director; Y2K Manager; Desk Top Re-life Manager; Ethics
Officer; Union Negotiator and the Head of Workplace & Environmental Safety.

A certified Lean, Six Sigma Black Belt

A Corporate and Executive Coach

An Aeronautical Engineering Graduate and a British Aerospace Apprentice, with a postgraduate Diploma in
Operational & Industrial Management

SC Security Cleared till 15th October 2017 (subject to aftercare and sponsorship) - recently renewed 15th Oct 2012.
EXPERIENCE
July 14 – 30 Jun 15 Interim Management Role:> Vice President of Operations, Space Imaging
e2v - High Performance Imaging Solutions for Space Vehicles and Ground Based Observatories
English Company
Requested to return to implement the radical changes that I had suggested to transform the site from its scientific
origins and current Model Shop approach to become a world-class Engineering and Manufacturing company, capable of
managing a ten–fold increase in volume throughput. In the first year, revenue has increased from £23M to £29M and
we are on target for £45M this financial year.
Alongside increasing manufacture; a redundancy; pay rises;
implementing lean, six sigma and preparing for the implementation of Critical Chain, I sponsored and programme
managed a wider deployment of SAP including the implementation of two new modules (ME and Mii) into e2v’s existing
landscape; to spread the usage of SAP throughout their manufacturing areas and to greatly increase their usage of SAP
on their growing portfolio of projects (currently 70 in number). Initially, a further six month Interim contract followed
by a further six months until the end of June: two permanent replacements have now been found.
Nov 13 – June 14
Interim Management Role:> Senior Programme Manager
e2v - High Performance Imaging Solutions for Space Vehicles and Ground Based Observatories
English Company
A six month contract to fill a shortfall of Senior Programme Managers, managing two International programmes at this
high tech, 800 strong, HQ site in Chelmsford: one was to bid for a game changing contract that would require a ten-fold
increase in volume throughput, whereas the other had just been won and needed to be kick started.
Indeed, It soon became apparent that the start-up programme was likely to deliver a year and a half late to the
customer requirement. In addition to kick starting and driving the programme through design and manufacture, I
applied concurrent engineering methods and other innovative ways to accelerate the programme: within 6 months, I
had reduced the lateness to less than six months and had fabricated wafers ready to be tested.
Sep 13 – Nov 13
Interim Management Role:> Manufacturing Consultant, Corporate & Executive Coach
Curtiss Wright – Airborne Surveillance Equipment
American Parent Company
Working as a Consultant and a Coach in a medium sized SME with a head count of approximately 60 people. My role
was to help the MD and to coach a newly appointed Manufacturing and Planning Manager along with her people. In 10
short weeks, I trained the staff in 5s; introduced the concept of product families; planned a factory re-layout to create a
visual flow in those product families and a “pull” rather “push” production; identified shortfalls in the planning
processes, management systems and proper use of the SAP system; planned and implemented cycle counting;
examined opportunities to remove excess, surplus and redundant stock; identified the shortfalls of the Kanban Control
system and the opportunity to implement Vendor Managed Inventory.
Apr 12 – Sep 13
Interim Management Role: > Virtual, (part time) Operations Director / Consultant
RIGCOM GROUP – Rope and UAV Access to high structures and mines.
Australian Pty Company
This Australian company is growing rapidly and has just achieved a turnover of one million Australian dollars. My role
was to discuss and develop their strategy; help them perform due diligence on a potential company acquisition and to
prepare a prospectus for the investment market to secure a $1.6M investment to accelerate their acquisitions and fund
their organic growth. Their aim is to a billion dollar company within ten years.
Sep 12 – Apr 13
2 Interim Management Roles: > Sub-Contract Programme Manager (Trouble-shooter)
Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK) - Armoured Fighting Vehicles (Tanks) & Naval Information Systems
American Parent Company
LMUK in Ampthill were successful in winning two major integration contracts, comprising of a complex array of sub
contract design and manufactured parts that are integrated to form “state of art” systems in the very confined space of
an Armoured Fighting Vehicle (Tank). To deliver both contracts simultaneously, the workforce has expanded
exponentially, creating the inevitable growing pains.
I was tasked on various cross-functional issues, guiding, coaching and helping people at various levels in both the LMUK
organisation and between them and their major blue chip subcontractors in Switzerland, Germany, USA and the UK,
resolving issues such as:
Negotiating a sub contract valued at over £36M, resulting in a saving of 28% or £10.2M on the proposal price (£2M
on the budgeted price)





Creating Microsoft Project Programmes for the subcontract programmes, clarifying the route to get the major
subcontractors under contract and the programmes into production
Rewriting and negotiating “Statement of Works” and complex Defence “Terms and Conditions”, combining two
major programmes into one by emphasising commonality between the two vehicles and saving £M’s for the whole
supply chain through to the Customer
Initialising the loading of MRP to force the pace of transitioning the development programme into production
Facilitating meetings on Product Reliability Growth Testing between 4 major subcontractors and the in house team
of UK Experts, gaining contractual agreement to meet the most demanding reliability requirements seen for
Armoured Vehicles for the MoD
Resolving a relationship management issue with a major subcontractor
As a result of this success, at the end of the six month contract, I was requested to assist another LMUK site to prepare
the tenders to win two major contracts.
Jan 11 – Apr 12


Interim SAP Programme Director
£16.1M budget to implement SAP into 7 sites in the UK, France, Switzerland and California
Meggitt (MSS Division) - Global Aerospace Industry, Swiss & English Management Team
Recovered the programme that was 4 months late (to a recently revised programme) and over budget, saving
£750k in consultants fees plus the “in house” costs of a delayed programme, deploying
 2 UK sites 1 month late with no interruption to Production.
 1 major Swiss site (1000+ employees) on time, having rationalised the set of products they will support
 2 French sites 6 months early, to coincide with the Swiss, but with the French Language module introduced
Recommended and implemented further cost savings for the 2 Californian sites, creating and transitioning the
programme to an American team, increasing on site productivity by 30%.
The programme included the alignment and configuration of the solution; data mapping, cleansing and migration;
creating the training material (now adopted as the Global material); SIM testing (now part of the global solution); cut
over management into a live Global system and a yearly regression test cycle to upgrade the solution.
Apr 06 – Aug 10
UK SAP Programme Director (previously ERP and Shared Services Director)
£21.4M budget to implement SAP across the UK sites
SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems now SELEXGALILEO (Finmeccanica)
Global Defence Industry; Electronics; Italian Parent Company








Scoped, configured and implemented (below budget) the replacement of diverse existing systems by a single,
modern, integrated SAP business system, covering all 5 UK sites.
Effectively 7 projects: a “design and build” followed by 5 implementations with 5 local management teams (each
deploying from a different starting point) and finally an upgrade programme
Developed a site by site, “big bang” deployment approach, reducing implementation costs
Negotiated contracts with SAP and (saving £1M on a £10M proposal) with an implementation partner
Created and managed a team of 120 people
Managed the people, organisational change issues and training associated with changing nearly every business
process and the impact on 4000 people.
Implemented the latest upgrades (Service Stacks & Enhancement Packs) using SAP Solution Manager
Set up and transferred the “business-as-usual” process to manage SAP in the future
The system was based on MySAP2005, fully integrated with PS (Project Systems), APO (Advanced Planner & Optimizer)
and the more traditional ECC6 and SCM for both conventional production orders and service orders. The fifth and final
site used standard costing and a purchase / make to stock configuration, to suit their business.
Prior to a company restructure, as ERP & Shared Services Director, I also managed the UK Estate Portfolio, Leases,
Insurances, Business Continuity, Environmental, Health & Safety and liaison with the Italian parent company.
Jul 02 – Apr 06
Operations Director
BAESystems (changed to SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems)
Site Role; >£52M budget (for new building); Global Defence Industry; Electronics
Approached and selected for this new, multi-site role to perform the three business critical and urgent tasks to:



Transition simultaneously 3 major products for BAESystems from design into volume manufacturing at 4 target
factories throughout the UK, managing and changing target factories through leadership, rather than direct control
which was more difficult as they were sister companies;
Manage the design and build of a new £51m green field facility at Capability Green in Luton and
Relocate the 1100 strong team from Stanmore and two other sites, into new premises 20 miles away in Luton,
which was achieved over 4 weekends with no interruption to the business and less than 1% attrition.
I also restructured and simplified the UK target factory supply chain for the EFA EW programme, reducing lead-times
and simplifying the production flow. This included developing a £1.5m world class, Assembly, Integration and Test
facility close to the Engineers
May 00 – Jul 02
Raytheon Systems Limited, UK
Raytheon Lean Six Sigma Expert (Black Belt)
Group wide role; Air Traffic & Defence Industry; Electronics; American Parent Company
Selected for a two year secondment, as one of a small team of dedicated Six Sigma Expert, change agents in a Global
change initiative applying knowledge based processes, transforming the culture to maximize customer value and grow
the business.




Conducted 2 major baselines, 5 business assessments, 6 Kaizen events
Implemented 19 projects over 27 months ranging from site consolidations and “lean manufacturing line designs”
through programme management related initiatives and the creation of statistical Delivery Metrics, to facilities
management initiatives such as increasing space utilization and building planning.
Led numerous, multi-discipline, multi-site teams across international boundaries in the UK, USA and Canada
Transferred knowledge, organised and trained 6 waves of multi-disciplined, multi-site Specialists (100 employees
plus customers and suppliers). I also trained 45 Hatfield University students.
Oct 93 – May 00






Raytheon Systems Limited, Harlow
Manufacturing Executive
Site Role; Air Traffic & Defence Industry; Electronics; American Parent Company
Managed 250 staff and mainstream departments associated with Operations and Procurement from Estimating to
after-sales support
Instrumental in winning major contracts from both commercial customers and internally within Raytheon.
Reduced site floor space by 66%, selling two buildings and leasing a third.
Lowered overhead costs / rates from 175% to 140% during a difficult downsizing period for which I was a prime
negotiator.
Developed and implemented cellular manufacturing and IPT organisational changes within manufacturing that
were subsequently developed into Six Sigma value streams.
Re-designed value streams increasing production from 50 per yr to 75 per month and on another capital goods
project, from 12 per yr to 50 per yr.
Sep 90 – Oct 93
Manufacturing Executive
Siemens, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Site Role; Global Electronics Industry; German Parent Company
Head hunted having successfully pioneered the introduction of cellular Manufacturing at British Aerospace. Against
tight timescales and whilst managing a 450 strong Manufacturing and Facilities Management organisation for the 52acre site, created and implemented a change initiative delivering £2M inventory reduction, 35% lead times reductions
and 30% storage space reduction whilst improving delivery performance.
Previously
British Aerospace, Hatfield, Herts.
Several roles from Apprentice through to Product Centre 4 Manager
Site Role; Civil Aircraft BA146 Manufacturer
Progressed rapidly through a 4½-year undergraduate apprenticeship and the Quality Control Organisation to become
the first graduate in Production with responsibility for the largest Product Centre comprising of a 250 strong multidisciplined workforce across 5 production shops.
Selected to lead the first Pilot Cell and Manufacturing Centre to develop the necessary cultural changes and new ways
of working. Once developed, these delivered a site-wide inventory reduction of £100m (in £300M) and reduced the
aircraft final assembly lead time from 48 weeks to 10.
Personally delivered a lot of the presentations that explained the new way of working to the 4500 strong workforce and
externally to (paying) seminars attracting a lot of positive media coverage for British Aerospace.
EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS
2000 - 2002
Certified Raytheon Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Raytheon
1987 – 1990
Post Graduate Diploma in Operations and Industrial Management
Cornwall College
1976 - 1980
BSc (Hons 2:1) in Aeronautical Engineering
Hatfield Polytechnic
Further

courses:
In computing, The Coaching Academy's Certificate in Personal Coaching, Theory of Constraints,
Industrial Relations, Team Building, Safety (including CDM, Risk Management and Fire), General
Management and Personal Development with Cranfield, Ashridge and the RAF.

Studying

Corporate and Executive Coaching Programme and a Diploma in Personal Performance Coaching

Practiced

Change
Management:
Business Assessment, Baselining, Operations Analysis, Policy Deployment Matrix, Goal Directed
Programme Management, Kaizen, PQ Analysis, Root Cause Analysis, Reality Trees, Critical Chain
and other Goldratt tools, Facilitation, SPC, DOE, Interrelationship, Coaching & Mentoring, Line
Design & Visual Management Techniques, 6 cycle analysis, 5S and numerous others.

PC Skills:

Fully conversant with SAP and the typical range of Microsoft tools, Auto sketch & Visio.
Professional

Bodies:

Member of the Interim Management Association Institute. (Membership No 10813)
Ex Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Ex Associate Member of the Institute of Industrial Management.

Personal

Summary:


Married with 3 young adults who have “flown the nest”. Enjoy gardening and narrow boating.
Flt. Lt. RAFVR(T) Retired having commanded 2 ATC Squadrons for 28 years.
Time expired Private Pilot’s & Gliding Licences.