Walt Zenda

Walt Zenda's long career in operations has included management experience in large and small companies, with a variety of industries such as aerospace, electronics, chemical and food. Early in his career he actively employed SPC and the burgeoning techniques of Six Sigma such as design of experiments and multiple regression analysis. He created 5i, a design process that brings together the best of "Design for Six Sigma" and "Lean Engineering" into one cohesive platform.

He has held positions in R&D, Process Engineering, Project Management, Quality Management and Operations Management, including VP of Operations and COO. He was actively involved in mergers and acquisitions, turnarounds and company-wide employee training programs. He has written articles on SPC for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine and has been a featured speaker at the American Society of Quality and has taught JIT/Lean classes for American Production and Inventory Control Society.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and Master in Business Administration in Management and Economics from Virginia Commonwealth University. Currently he is a lecturer at Cal State University, Fullerton in the Department of Management where he teaches Quality Management and Improvement and at Cal State Long Beach in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department where he teaches Operations Management and Improvement.

Major Accomplishments
• — Spearheaded a turnaround of an aerospace supplier using Lean and Six Sigma techniques including a total revamp of design process cutting new product launch time from concept to delivery by 80%; reduced lead times by 85% with a 98% on-time delivery and increased labor productivity by 150%. Profitability improved from $350K loss on $19MM in sales to $6.5MM profit on $28MM in sales in three years with an outstanding $8.5MM in positive cash flow.
• — Mr. Zenda was brought in to a small electronics company as an independent consultant to help it set up a quality improvement program. After a few short weeks he was asked to join the company to direct both Quality and Engineering. In less than two years using team problem solving, SPC and DOE outgoing quality improved ten-fold, first pass process yields increased from 88% to 97% while outgoing quality was improved to the PPM range. The company was awarded quality prizes and large contracts from IBM and HP. Additionally he led a streamlining effort that moved this electronics manufacturing company from a $500K loss on $18MM in sales to earning over $1MM on $13MM in sales by restructuring and product rationalization in less than two years.
• — A division of an international packaging manufacturer contracted with Mr. Zenda to determine if this failing company could be made profitable. The unit went from corporate dog to star in less than 18 months. Most of this was accomplished through companywide training in SPC, Team Problem Solving and Lean Manufacturing concepts.