Logan Dillard is a Principal with FTE Performance Consulting, located in Chicago Illinois.  Logan has 11 years of high-density experience in various technical and operations leadership roles in automotive manufacturing, including time in both vehicle and powertrain.  During this time, Logan gained direct exposure to planning and execution in key areas including operations analysis and strategy development, quality systems development, CapEx planning and investment analysis, assembly automation and test process development, and technical problem solving.

Notable experience and accomplishments:

• Led launch and production support team for startup hybrid electric vehicle supporting Material, Quality, and Process Improvement workstreams. Key project outputs included a 20% reduction in non-value added material handling activity and the identification of process optimization initiatives estimated at a 25% reduction in post launch cycle times.
• Specified, sourced, and procured assembly error proofing and controls solution for brownfield vehicle assembly line. The $3.5M system provided process control for 120 assembly stations, resulting in a 600% quality improvement over baseline process controls.
• Led team of quality professionals to develop and compile custom PPAP package for industrial engine manufacturer to secure customer PPAP approval 13 weeks ahead of previous schedule.
• Responsible for overall manufacturing process readiness for over a dozen product launches executing all aspects of APQP including tooling and equipment qualification, PFMEA, process control plans, error proofing implementation and verification.
• Worked with client stakeholders to define requirements and procure flexible assembly error proofing solution for rapid deployment in brownfield vehicle assembly process.
• Led a team of 15 industrial engineers in a plant-wide labor optimization effort at unionized assembly plant in the U.S. The systematic analysis and optimization of 261 assembly operations in seven departments, resulted in the elimination of hundreds of hours of overtime annually with an additional labor footprint reduction of 12 full time equivalent employees.
• Developed custom manufacturing strategies and associated CapEx requirements to support proposed joint venture, contract manufacturing, and component insourcing opportunities.

Prior to joining our FTE core team, Logan’s most recent assignment was as a Senior Manufacturing Engineering Manager at a leading manufacturer of trucks, buses, and engines for both commercial and defense customers.  In this role, Logan lead a team of engineers and project managers in the planning and execution of dozens of projects supporting major strategic and tactical initiatives across seven powertrain/vehicle assembly plants throughout the U.S. and Mexico.

Logan Dillard holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.