Lead Consultant Bios
Ray Klim
A lead senior consultant for this practice is Raymond T Klim, an expert in Supply Chain high performance business processes and practices. As a former manufacturing executive with the Xerox Corporation he is experienced in all aspects of supply operations, materials management, purchasing, production planning, inventory management, new product development, logistics, applied business systems and integrated business process management. He has demonstrated leadership and innovation with the application of IT and redesigned business processes. He received national recognition for his computer modeling applications, was instrumental in installing the first ERP and initialized Internet applications for global inventory management. He led in the establishment of the materials management function, strategic supplier management, supply logistics, lean manufacturing, return processes and adoption of integrated supply chain business process in manufacturing. With his extensive experience and successful track record he also served as an internal consultant to other Xerox operations. Raymond went on to launch his own SCM consulting practice and is co-founder of Summit Concept, an executive supply chain resource. He has consulted in the logistics, consumer goods, business equipment, electronics, healthcare and aerospace/defense industries. He is skilled in Business Process Engineering, Business Transformation Management, Business Systems Applications and Project Management. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute Of Technology. Is Certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) by APICS, a member of the “expert panel” for a national healthcare supply chain reform initiative and a contributor to the development of the CSCMP’s Supply Chain Management Process Standards.
John Fragale
A lead senior consultant for this practice is John Fragale, Supply Chain and Logistics Professional specializing in cost reduction and process improvements. His areas of expertise include logistics & transportation, negotiations, operations management, project management, budget planning, best practices, industry benchmarking, inventory control & purchasing. John has assisted many companies in realizing substantial savings during his 18-year career. For Montgomery Ward, he was responsible for a $120 million transportation budget and provided innovative ways to save the company in excess of 15%. For a $600 million pharmaceutical company, he assessed and analyzed the current distribution network, which included functionality/shipping patterns/order size/facility size and facility location. His recommendations for redesign provided optimal locations, size and number of facilities required with projected savings at $3 million annually. These are just a few samples of client success stories. John has worked in retail, food distribution, manufacturing, health care and 3rd party logistics including management of a dedicated fleet of trucks. He is a graduate of the University of Evansville.
Chris Graham
A lead senior consultant for this practice is Christopher J. Graham a Supply Chain and Logistics professional with over twenty years of US and international operational, managerial and consulting experience. His industrial expertise covers a wide range of functions including strategic analysis, import/export operations, transportation and logistics, warehousing, customer relationship management, packaging optimization, benchmarking and business systems analysis. Chris built a strong foundation of industrial experience at two Fortune 500 companies (Eastman Kodak and Johnson & Johnson). At Kodak, he held positions of increasing responsibility in many key Supply Chain functions, including information systems, inbound logistics, import operations, international transportation, distribution operations, international operations and financial planning. He spent several years in Southeast Asia as Regional Operations Manager for J&J’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics division, where he created, launch and managed a Singapore Distribution Center. Upon his return to the States he served as Manager of International Order Fulfillment. Chris also served as a Regional Manager for GEOLOGISTICS, a multinational logistics provider, responsible for their global freight forwarding sales and operations. In 2000 he founded Graham Global Logistics, which has built a solid record of significant cost and operational improvements for his global consulting clients. This comprehensive experience allows him to bring to Supply Chain Optimizers an extraordinary focus and diverse skills to consulting clients. Chris is very active in Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals at both the local and national levels, has designed and delivered executive development courses in supply chain and logistics for CSCMP and for Niagara University, and frequently lectures at Syracuse University. Chris is on the Advisory Boards of the Syracuse University’s Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management, BIOPACIFIC, INC. and RAS Associates International, Inc.
Senior Consultant Bios
Ken Jamie
A senior consultant for this practice is Kenneth Jamie, an expert in helping clients achieve best-in-class status from both a strategic and operational perspective for their supply chain. Ken has thirty years of both operations and consulting experience with companies of all sizes in a broad range of industry segments including consumer goods, industrial manufacturing, electronic equipment, airline parts and materials, motor vehicles and parts, and wholesale distributors. He has worked with clients throughout North, Central, and South America including several units of General Electric, United Airlines, and Volkswagen of America in improving integrated logistics/supply chain operations. Focus areas include network design, inventory management, transportation optimization, stakeholder and the integration of business processes. Through his analytical capabilities and knowledge of best practices in logistics operations, clients have received significant benefits including; a 20 to 30 percent reduction in freight cost, a 50 percent reduction in inventory investment, increased resource productivity, reduction in capital assets through facility consolidation, shorter cycle times from order to delivery, improved effectiveness of functional business processes from the integration of suppliers, logistics service providers, manufacturing, and marketing. This resulted in stronger financial performance by reducing working capital days, increasing inventory turnover, increasing return on assets, reducing cost of goods sold, and increasing earnings before interest and taxes. Ken earned an Associate degree in Industrial Engineering Technology and BS in Industrial Supervision from Purdue University and MBA from the Ohio State University. He is an active member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), and past President of the CSCMP Kentuckiana Roundtable.
Paul Liguori
A senior consultant for this practice is Paul A Liguori, with an extensive background in operations, supply chain, logistics, demand planning and materials management. Prior to beginning his consulting career, Paul was Vice President, Operations and Logistics at several leading international consumer products companies, such as LN International, Gitano and Crystal Brands. In this capacity, he has helped to develop and implement strategic and tactical plans that called for the complete re-alignment of the supply chain and related business processes to better support the overall objectives of the company.
Paul recently implemented an integrated demand planning, inventory management and purchasing system featuring i2’s Demand Planner to replace a “seat of the pants” forecasting and purchasing system. The result was an increase in inventory turns, improved customer fill rates and reduction in staffing. On several occasions Paul has lead the re-alignment of his companies distribution network, including changing the locations, size and types of facilities utilized. He is able to locate, right size and design the new facilities and achieve operating efficiencies through implementation of the right systems, procedures and metrics. For three separate companies he led the development and implementation of a direct labor productivity management system for warehouse workers resulting in productivity gains exceeding 50%.
He has executed very successful transportation cost reduction projects. In his most recent position he was able to reduce freight to customers from 4% to 2.1% of sales thru a combination of activities including carrier rate negotiation, shipping and carrier selection procedures and re-aligning service areas to maximize service and minimize cost. He is very proficient in ocean freight cost control, having negotiated numerous ocean freight contracts direct with steamship lines and freight forwarders. He has also implemented booking procedures to optimize ocean container utilization, resulting in a 10% increase in the average ocean container utilization.
His focus on operational excellence and disciplined execution has enabled him to bring about significant operating gains. Paul has always been able to establish the appropriate metrics to control supply chain activities and quickly identify when cost and performance are not what they should be. He has evaluated and corrected process flaws and believes work should add value. Any steps in the process that do not add value should be questioned, corrected or eliminated if possible.
Paul has also gained considerable offshore outsourcing experience over the last 10 years, particularly in China where he helped build a very successful supply chain network.
Paul has a BS degree in Business Administration from Syracuse University and an MBA in Business Logistics from The Pennsylvania State University.
Ranny Welton
A senior consultant for this practice is Ranny Welton, an operations executive with extensive experience in developing and implementing operational initiatives. With over 35 years experience, these efforts have resulted in significant savings and process improvements in the areas of:
- Distribution center layout & design
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- Direct-to-customer distribution & logistics, supporting catalog & internet
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- Retail store distribution & logistics, department stores & specialty chains
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Mr. Welton has served in director and VP assignments for distribution, logistics, supply chain and operations. He has also served in internal consulting assignments and has established an industrial engineering operation for a major retailer.
Selected accomplishments include:
- In first three months of distribution operations assignment, implemented stringent cost reporting and controls, resulting in improvement of overtime by 61% and improvement in overall percent to sales by 38%.
- Developed and implemented design to double the size of a 180,000 square foot distribution center, resulting in project completed on time and within budget without missing one day of shipping to customers.
- Developed and implemented layout improvements and productivity processes which resulted in an increase of 23% over previous year.
- Led small package negotiations resulting in contract savings of $3 million.
- For company with $500 million sales, developed and implemented import processes resulting in annual savings of $600,000.
- Leveraged third party operations for big-ticket deliveries with annual savings of $350,000 and improvement in customer delivery times of 2-3 days.
Mr. Welton earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research from Virginia Tech and his MBA, with concentration in labor relations, from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a member of Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and has served on the advisory board for the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment.
