1. Karl Norton
Ryedale House, Water Lane, Hemingbrough. Y08 6QL
Telephone: 07814962253; Email: karlnorton109@gmail.com
Professional/ Personal Profile and Attributes
A dedicated and results-driven individual with a highly successful track record in the integration of Lean into transforming
day-to-day business activities and processes through detailed strategic planning, leadership, people/ change
management and engagement, project management and on-the-ground tactical implementation to achieve tangible,
sustainable and progressive bottom-line results and KPI/ metric improvement. Experienced at working with all levels of
management within automotive, manufacturing, logistics and service industries to exceed customer expectations,
generate capacity for tangible business development and growth, champion sustainable improvements, and optimise
business processes, whilst ensuring continuity of operations. Possesses excellent interpersonal, communication and
negotiation skills and the ability to develop and maintain internal and external relationships. Excels in being part of and
managing, motivating, training, coaching and supporting a successful team, and thrives in challenging and highly
pressurised working environments.
Career Summary, Experience, Strengths & Significant Achievements
Nov 15 to present Allied Glass Containers Limited, Leeds
Process Improvement and Operational Excellence Manager (SM)
As part of the senior management team, accountabilities include:
• Driving lean transformation across all sites
• The creation of AOE (Allied Operational Excellence) architecture and governance, ensuring that the management teams are fully
engaged in the implementation process, against agreed objectives and to plan
• Manage relationship development and stakeholder engagement
• Manage the transformation, ensuring ‘One Best Way’ is implemented across the business
• Transfer knowledge at all levels of the business, especially at senior levels, to develop the team’s AOE capability. This will include
mentoring and training employees in how to introduce and embed relevant techniques, as well as ongoing coaching for the
management levels in how to lead and sustain change
• Champion core Lean tools (Visual Management, 5S, OEE, Problem Solving, Value Stream Mapping, SMED, TPM etc…)
• Coach colleagues and the team at all levels to understand how lean tools and techniques fit together and support each other in
support of excellence
• Assist the business to see the benefits of AOE in the context of their own situation
• Support training programmes at all levels to ensure they are completed successfully to plan
• Ensure day-to-day delivery to plan
• Mentor and support board members
• Manage any risks and issues and the escalation process
• Implement and continual adapt and improve the AOE offering
• Communicate regularly, and work to support the business at all levels
• Support the board in formulating delivering the strategy, underpinned by agreed value sets
• Lead and support the creation of a central dashboard to monitor and measure the progress and management of the success of
the utilisation of AOE across the business
• Introduce robust processes to capture and measure the benefit realisation throughout
• Monitor and measure appropriately to ensure key deliverables are met
• Reporting and communication of project and key deliverable progress
• Ensure that lessons learned from projects are shared and incorporated across the business
Jan 14 to Nov 15 Unipart Group (Unipart Aftermarket Logistics)
Area Practitioner, North West Region (Consulting - external client)
• Key member in forging a long-term partnership between Unipart and the client to implement a unique way of working geared
around operational excellence
• Engaged with the Client to developed strong, trusting and honest relationships at all levels
• Confidently teach, coach, mentor and influence Client teams (all levels, from engineering/ logistics personnel up to board exec
level) to develop their understanding of lean in order to successfully and sustainably deploy
• Completed an in-depth current state engineering/logistics process diagnostics and solution implementation proposal
• Contribute to the development of business process architecture, working with the others in order to share best practice and design
a ‘world class’ operational excellence solution that delights the client
• Coach/ manage a pool of up to twelve practitioners to successfully implement the solution methodology across all levels of the
operational branches supported by the partnership
• Ensure adherence to standard solution and manage the sharing of best practice across the branches within the region
• Complete regular reviews with team members using the PDR format in order to support their continuous training and development
• Drive sustainment in engineering and logistics (interfacing with engineering and Logistics leadership) *my region currently sits in
first place (engineering) and second place (logistics in terms of deployment and benefit)

2. • Support the Client in delivery and completion of problem solving activities across all branches (Engineering & Logistics) to achieve
tangible business benefits
• Management and communication of risks, issues and escalations accordingly
• Develop/ implement bespoke (evolving) solutions as part of the clients journey
April 13 – Aug 13 Cameron. Leeds
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Business Leader
• Achieved in excess of $1.5m in tangible product cost reduction savings (includes generic manufacturing savings)
• Reduced value stream lead time by 58% (approx. $2m stock reduction)/ increased throughput by >10%
• Proactively lead, manage, mentor, guiding and engage teams in delivering sustainable business improvement
• Deploy and implement lean six sigma tools across manufacturing and office processes, supporting Corporate strategies
• Provide lean/sigma support, coaching, guidance and mentoring to departmental and intra-business teams
• Manage Six Sigma program - people development, training, coaching and deployment
• Manage short-term interventions to solve escalated critical supplier and manufacturing issues
• Lead process improvement projects, workshops and value stream initiatives
• Act as a change agent to embed a culture of lean sigma across the business, from director to manufacturing team level
• Coach and mentor green belts across within the business (performance, personal development and personal objectives)
Sept 12 – Jan 13 Portastor, Shepherd Group. York
Production Manager (fixed term Consultancy contract)
• Responsible for leadership of all operations relating to Portastor building production processes
• Managing the team (5 team leaders/ 5 supervisors and 100+ strong workforce), including mentoring, guidance and engagement
• Lead day-to-day operations of a 4,400 sq/m steel fabrication and welding facility
• Define and implement a production capacity planning model
• Achieving Customer projects on-time, to the desired quality and cost (including KPI formulation and deployment)
• Value Stream management, control and continuous improvement
• Creating additional capacity to enable business growth (potential to grow three-fold)
• Utilising various lean tools and techniques including; value stream mapping, 5S, level loading/ capacity management, KPI/ Metrics
and focused 'hot spot' management, flow, stakeholder engagement, change management and visual management.
• Integration of functions into "one team" mentality
Oct 11 – May 12 HARSCO Infrastructure
Continuous Improvement Manager (fixed term Consultancy contract)
• Played a pivotal role in achieving a successful contract renewal for Harsco Infrastructure (worth £6.5m)
• Successfully developed and deployed a Continuous Improvement strategy (performance improvement plan) for TOTAL UKs
maintenance contract on Lindsey Oil Refinery, North Killingholme
• Demonstrate the necessary leadership skills in engaging a focused improvement team (includes coaching and mentoring)
• Project managed various elements of the performance improvement plan
• Led the Integration of operations with the Customers planning & scheduling processes
• Successfully instigated key performance measures, based around business strategy and Customer values
• Actively involved in developing and promoting ‘partnerships’ with the Customer(s)
Jun 11 – Sept 11 Siemens Turbochargers
Value Stream Lean Engineer (fixed term Consultancy contract)
• Successfully managed integrated process flow systems within the turbocharger refurbishment value stream (reducing leadtime by
55%, increasing productivity by >30%, and eliminating various wastes)
• Actively involved in layout and process flow planning for a new greenfield facility
• Project managed various elements of the value stream improvement plan
• Engaged all personnel within the value stream with respect to ownership and accountability, providing support as necessary
Nov 06 – May 11 Corus/ Tata Steel Europe
Oct 09 – May 11 Continuous Improvement Manager, Supply Chain
• Responsible for the formulation and deployment of a Continuous Improvement strategy across the Divisions supply chain and its
associated workstreams
• Provide appropriate leadership and associated change management/ stakeholder engagement techniques to achieve business
objectives
• Contributed to the implementation of a singular steel planning system (savings circa £3m pa)
• Directly responsible for all integrated supply chain communications
• Coordination (training, deployment, alignment and support) of business strategy up to Group level
• Utilised Prince2 project management across all workstreams
• Business Excellence assessor: Internal supply chain and external assessment of a Tata group of companies in Kolkata, India
• Responsible for driving stakeholder engagement and cultural change to support CI deployment and integration across the supply
chain
• Providing the necessary training, education, mentoring and support of individuals and teams with respect to sustainable
improvement focus
• Key member of focus group to implement visual management across the site (circa 4,500 people)

3. May 09 – Oct 09 Senior Operations Manager (secondment)
• Responsible for Transactional Buying (18 team members), and SAP implementation (6 team members)
Nov 06 – May 09 Continuous Improvement Manager, Logistics
• Responsible Lean implementation within transport/ shipping, planning and scheduling and Environmental services (ISO 14000)
Jan 99 – Nov 06 Parker Hannifin PLC
Oct 02 – Nov 06 Divisional Lean Enterprise Manager
• Senior leadership, guidance and mentoring for circa 450 employees in delivering sustainable manufacturing improvements through
on-the-ground support via focused KPIs (Safety, Quality, Cost and Delivery) across the Division
• Championed the strategic and tactical deployment of lean strategies across seven locations in five European Countries: Sweden,
France, Italy, Germany & UK
• Successfully conducted over 200 focused kaizen events (various sustainable savings achieved, including customer service
improvement, inventory reduction, productivity and leadtime improvements, business growth and capacity generation)
• Identified and achieved >$1m of tangible bottom-line savings
• Guided lean deployment based on the Toyota Production System (TPS)
• Led stakeholder engagement and cultural change across the division
• Responsible for coordination and alignment of strategy deployment across the division
• Developed and deployed a lean roadmap and journey (maturity) assessment across the division
Jan 99 – Oct 02 Lean, Automotive (QS9000) and Project Management
• Received commendation from a major OEM (DaimlerChrysler) and Parker Hannifin for my efforts in the programme management
of a major business project, achieved through co-ordinated leadership and team working
• Achieved major cost reductions circa $443k in 2000 for the introduction of new single piece automotive tier1 flow cells (<6 month
payback)
• Planned and managed Kaizen teams with major results in terms of; freeing over 3 hours of productivity time in any 24 hours, a
75% reduction in machine set-up time, freed over 150sq feet in production area, introduced line-side Kanban, and working with
suppliers to reduce raw material inventory costs from $175k to $10k. (total $savings of >$500k)
Professional Development/ Qualifications
Finance for Non-Financial Managers Problem Solving
Senior Leadership Essentials Material Flow
Change Management/ Stakeholder Engagement Prince2 Practitioner
Mixed Model Value Streams Foundations of Leadership
Green Belt & Black Belt trained (includes mentoring) Strategy/ Policy Deployment (Train the Trainer)
Business Excellence (Silver Star awarded): Internal/ External Assessor Lean Office (Train the Trainer)
Lean / Continuous Improvement/ Sigma (various) Toyota Production Systems
Educational Qualifications and Memberships
2001: First Class BA (Honours) Business Studies
1997: NEBS Management
NEBOSH Safety Management
1991 Higher National Certificate, Engineering (4 distinctions & 5 merits)
Membership: Lean Enterprise Institute
Lean Enterprise Academy
Lean Enterprise Research Centre (Cardiff University Business School)
Various global/ UK Lean Organisations (via LinkedIn)
Key Skills
Lean consulting/ external client Prince2 Project Management
Lean Manufacturing, Engineering & Office Automotive QS9000/ TD 16949
Lean Tools (various standard and bespoke) Quality ISO9000
Six Sigma (Green & Black Belt) Environmental ISO14000
Coaching and Leading for Engagement Global & European Operations Management
Strategy Deployment & Leadership Microsoft Office, Internet and Email (Lotus & Microsoft)
Communications (planning and deployment) Cultural change & Engagement
Languages: French, Italian & German
References Are Available On Request