John J. Civerolo
John R. Dougherty
Donald Rice
Chris Gray

John J. Civerolo

John Civerolo is president of J. J. Civerolo, Inc. and is a Senior Partner at Partners for Excellence, a firm specializing in consulting and education for Manufacturing Excellence and Value/Supply Chain Management & Logistics implementations while integrating the Lean Manufacturing, Visual Factory, and People Involvement & Empowerment philosophies. John has helped a variety of manufacturing companies throughout the United States, Europe, North America, Asia, and South America. He has been an active user, educator, and consultant for over thirty years. 

John was Director of Management Information Services, Internal Mfg. Consultant, and Materials Manager at Sunbell Corporation in New Mexico. John holds a Bachelors degree in mathematics from the University of New Mexico. He is a frequent speaker at professional society dinner meetings, APICS conferences, and universities. He has been V. P. of Education for the Albuquerque APICS chapter, and was a committee member for the APICS Basic Supply Chain CPIM module.

John is the author of many widely read articles including: 

   *  "Sales & Operations Planning Handbook" - coauthor 
   *  "People Empowerment - How to Guarantee Success"
   *  "On-Time New Product Development - Fact or Fiction?" 
   *  "Does Your Company Need a Sales & Operations Planning Tune Up?"
   *  "Beware! Cycle Counting can be Hazardous to Inventory Record Accuracy"
   *  "Unloading the Overloaded Master Production Schedule" 
   *  "MRP II & JIT Make a Tough, Competitive Combination" - coauthor
   *  "Demand Pull: What are the Prerequisites for Success?"
   *  "Listening - A Tough Competitive Weapon"
   *  "Reengineering Your Business Management System"
   *  "Does Your MRP II System Need to be Reengineered?"
   *  "Agile Manufacturing - Is It Just Another Buzzword?"
   *  "Finite or Infinite Capacity Planning - Who Cares?"
   *  "Making More with Less is Lean Manufacturing" - coauthor
   *  "Are Your Ready for Lean Manufacturing?"

John has helped many companies achieve Value/Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Excellence, World Class, and Lean Manufacturing success. John is known as an industry leader in his field working with companies from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 500 companies such as Mark IV, Belden Wire & Cable, Dayco/Anchor Swan, Eastman Kodak, Eli Lilly, General Signal, Trane, Interbake Foods, Borg Warner, and Reynolds Metals. 

 

John R. Dougherty

John has, since 1977, provided direction for manufacturers seeking to improve their management controls and productivity levels. John, with the Partners for Excellence, instructs private, company-focused education sessions on many topics, including: Logistics, Value/Supply Chain Management and Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) for senior, functional and project management; Sales and Operations Planning; Sales Planning / Forecasting and Demand Management; Distribution Resource Planning; Master Production Scheduling; Inventory Record Accuracy; Supplier Management; and Plant Scheduling.

John has guided companies to successful improvements in their Logistics, Resource Management and Planning and Control systems and approaches through a Process Management approach and the use of state-of-the-art software tools, including ERP systems. Many of them have reached the coveted "Class A" or "World Class" level of achievement. His experience spans the electronics, medical products, construction equipment, consumer goods, capital goods, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Areas of expertise and emphasis include:

John, since 1977, has taught and consulted to companies pursuing excellence in Logistics. For five years he provided and managed consulting for two major software vendors. For nine years he was a Principal of The Oliver Wight Associates. Prior to that, the positions he held included: MRP II Project Manager, Materials Manager, Production and Inventory Control Manager and Corporate Planner/Master Scheduler.

John holds an MBA (Summa Cum Laude) from the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology and a BS in Business Management from the University of Dayton (OH).

John is certified at the fellow level (CFPIM) by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). He is a frequent speaker at international, regional and chapter meetings of many professional and industrial groups and has published numerous papers and articles concerning Management Improvement and Control. John was co-editor of the Sixth Edition of the APICS Dictionary. He was a six-year member of the Master Planning Committee of the APICS Curricula & Certification Council.

Christopher D. Gray

Chris Gray has been at the forefront of applying Value Chain and Resource Planning concepts for 25 years. Since 1979, he has helped more companies resolve ERP software issues than anyone else in the field. He has authored 3 books, over 30 Software Evaluations, and 20 published articles on ERP software and computers in manufacturing. Besides being a recognized authority on the software available for manufacturing and distribution applications, he counsels management teams implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), DRP (Distribution Resource Planning), and Value Chain Management improvements. His international consulting practice includes a number of Class A  manufacturing companies.

In 1987, he authored his first book: The Right Choice, A Complete Guide to Evaluating, Selecting, and Installing MRP II Software, the definitive work on evaluating and selecting MRP II software. His books, The MRP II Standard System, A Handbook for Manufacturing Software Survival and The MRP II Standard System Workbook, were published in 1989 and are generally accepted as defining the standards for resource planning software. He also authored definitive analyses of most of the popular MRP II and ERP software packages.

Chris is associated with Partners For Excellence, a group that offers consulting and education on the concepts and methods of Value Chain/Supply Chain Management. Partners For Excellence is a joint venture of Chris, John Civerolo, John Dougherty, and Don Rice.  Partners For Excellence offers counseling and public and private seminars and workshops for executives and managers trying to make the changes needed for improved performance.

Chris founded and is President of three additional businesses: Gray Research, Gray Media, Inc. and Monochrome Press, Inc. Gray Research publishes comprehensive evaluations of ERP software packages and supports both the technical and the behavior change aspects of implementing ERP and Value Chain Planning. The Gray Research library of Software Evaluations includes many of the more popular packages available for mainframe and midrange computers, Open Systems, and PC's. Gray Media markets and supports specialty books and courseware for improving manufacturing and distribution operations. Monochrome Press publishes books and educational material.

Prior to his current position, Chris was president of Oliver Wight Software Research, Inc. He also developed and taught the MRP II Software Survival Course, a class covering software evaluation and selection, software trends, and the role of systems people in implementing effective systems. Earlier, he held consulting and teaching positions with Software International Corporation, working with companies implementing MRP II. Prior to that, he was Manufacturing Systems Analyst at Ohaus Scale Corporation, a Class A company. During his consulting career, he has been associated with both R. D. Garwood, Inc. and The Oliver Wight Companies.

Chris has a Bachelors degree in mathematics from Washington and Jefferson College and a Masters degree in mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a past president of the North Shore chapter of APICS and is certified by APICS as a Fellow. He has spoken at numerous APICS International Conferences and Info Software Conferences. He is listed in five different volumes of Who's Who: Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in America's Emerging Leaders, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in the World.

 

Donald R. Rice

Don Rice is a management consultant and educator with over 20 years of experience in manufacturing. Don is president of D. R. Rice Company and a senior partner of Partners for Excellence. He specializes in consulting and education for Value/Supply Chain Management and Logistics implementations while integrating the Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II), Total Quality Management (TQM), Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP), Continuous Improvements (CI), Just-In-Time (JIT), and People Involvement and Empowerment philosophies. He holds an A.S. degree in Industrial Engineering Technology from Nashville Tech and is certified (CPIM) by the American Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS) and is a frequent speaker for APICS and other professional organizations.

Previously, Don was associated with R. D. Garwood, Inc. for over eight years, where he provided consulting and education for a wide variety of companies both abroad and in North America. He has developed and taught courses to managers and executives and has published numerous articles. Some of his clients have included Bristol-Meyers Squibb, BASF, Ingersoll-Rand, O-Cedar Brands, Torrington, Pandrol-Jackson, Crescent Hosiery, Maxfli, Ethel M Chocolates, Mizuno Air Products & Chemicals, and Simon Ladder Towers.

Before becoming assiociated with R. D. Garwood, Inc., Don was Manufacturing Administrator for APCOM, Inc. where his responsibilities included Purchasing, Production Control, Data Processing, Internal Management Consulting. He designed and developed company wide systems to support sales planning and forecasting, cycle counting, point-of-use inventory control, back-flushing, engineering changes, vendor scheduling, flow production processes, and capacity requirements management.

Don was full-time Project Leader during APCOM’s successful MRP II implementation. He took a stalled implementation project, restarted it, and reached "Class A" status and recognition. After reaching "Class A" status, he focused the management team on pursuing additional applications of Just-In-Time manufacturing principals.

Don is the author of several widely read articles including:

 

 

 

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