Aaron Slater is a founding partner of Spectrum Management Solutions. Spectrum provides world-class consulting and interim staffing solutions to companies worldwide.

Prior to Spectrum, Aaron was a co-leader of Slater Lean Consulting since 2003. He has provided skilled leadership in implementing lean manufacturing systems focusing on Materials and Logistics Management in over 60 Companies and more than 250 Plants. Most of this direct experience has been with large Tier 1 auto suppliers, Tier 1 aerospace suppliers, and office furniture OEMs.

Before forming his own consulting company, Aaron held leadership roles in materials management and logistics at Donnelly Corporation, a large Tier 1 automotive supplier of exterior mirrors and door handles.

Aaron has developed a strong skill set that supports the implementation of the Toyota Production System tools. He has demonstrated a direct and rapid impact to the bottom line which has helped save companies millions of dollars. These skills have led to rapid inventory reduction, elimination of material shortages and expedites, increasing on-time delivery, inventory turns, and profit. His expertise focuses on materials management, beginning with FG sequencing, plant level loading, creation of pull systems for internal suppliers, creation of conveyance routes for the delivery of material, developing PFEP to store both FGs, WIP, and purchase components and sequencing supplier deliveries to achieve level loading.

He also has experience with Crisis Management, ERP implementation, Value Stream Mapping, and Developing/Leading diverse workgroups. He is well versed in various ERP and visual systems with both repetitive manufacturing and discreet manufacturing and has supported ERP recovery efforts required as a result of difficult launches.

Aaron is a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. Aaron and his brother are also owners and operators of one of the top 25 dairy farms in the state of Michigan.

Allen Slater is a founding partner of Spectrum Management Solutions. Spectrum provides world-class consulting and interim staffing solutions to companies worldwide.

Prior to Spectrum, Allen was a co-leader of Slater Lean Consulting since 2003. He has provided skilled leadership in implementing lean manufacturing systems focusing on Materials and Logistics Management in over 60 Companies and more than 250 Plants. Most of this direct experience has been with large Tier 1 auto suppliers, Tier 1 aerospace suppliers, and office furniture OEMs.

Prior to forming his own consulting company, Allen held leadership roles in materials management and logistics at Donnelly Corporation, a large Tier 1 automotive supplier of exterior mirrors and door handles.

Allen has developed a strong skill set that supports the implementation of the Toyota Production System tools. He has demonstrated a direct and rapid impact to the bottom line which has helped save companies millions of dollars. These skills have led to rapid inventory reduction, elimination of material shortages and expedites, increasing on-time delivery, inventory turns, and profit. His expertise focuses on materials management, beginning with FG sequencing, plant level loading, creation of pull systems for internal suppliers, creation of conveyance routes for the delivery of material, developing PFEP to store both FGs, WIP, and purchase components and sequencing supplier deliveries to achieve level loading.

He also has experience with Crisis Management, ERP implementation, Value Stream Mapping, and Developing/Leading diverse workgroups. He is well versed in various ERP and visual systems with both repetitive manufacturing and discreet manufacturing and has supported ERP recovery efforts required as a result of difficult launches.

Allen is a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. Allen and his brother are also owners and operators of one of the top 25 dairy farms in the state of Michigan.

Mark Stidham is a founding partner of Spectrum Management Solutions. Spectrum provides world-class consulting and interim staffing solutions to companies worldwide. Stidham is primarily responsible for business development.

Prior to Spectrum, Stidham was the President of Faurecia North America, with an oversight of $6B in total sales in the North American region. He joined Faurecia in 2003 as President of Exhaust Systems North America, which later became Faurecia Emissions Control Technologies (FECT). He led this division in growth from $250M in 2003 to $2B in 2015.
Before joining Faurecia, Stidham was Business Group Vice President at Donnelly Corporation, a global company that developed and manufactured automotive rear vision systems.

Stidham’s career includes increasingly significant positions in the Automotive Tier 1 supply base leading to more than 35 years of automotive leadership experience. He has served as president of the local chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers and was a member of the Purdue University Industrial Advisory Council and the Indiana Automotive Council.

Stidham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering technology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and is a “Purdue College of Technology Distinguished Alumni” recipient. He is a resident of Columbus, Indiana.

Kirk Cowell is a founding partner of Spectrum Management Solutions. Spectrum provides world-class consulting and interim staffing solutions to companies worldwide. Cowell is primarily responsible for manufacturing team leadership.

Prior to Spectrum, Cowell held VP of Operations roles at J.B. Poindexter, Android Industries, Morgan Corporation, Mercury Marine, and Faurecia Emission Control Technologies. In these roles, he had full operations responsibility for businesses with up to $1B annual revenue. His leadership in these roles led to significant operational improvements in safety, profitability, productivity, schedule attainment, and quality.

Kirk’s career took him on a path from Journeyman Toolmaker, to Front Line leadership, to Plant Management, to Executive Level Vice President of Operations. His skilled trades certification, combined with a B.S. in Business Administration, completion of the Global Leadership Program (GLP III) at INSEAD Business School (Fontainebleau, France), and various benchmark leadership programs (i.e. DuPont Safety, Toyota Supplier Support Center, Scanlon Plan) has equipped Kirk to provide leadership resulting in meaningfully improved performance results. Kirk’s successful background in lean transformations in diverse Operations/Processes validates the effectiveness of Lean Tools and Principles.

Kirk worked directly for a former Toyota executive and received deep exposure to a lean production system while at Donnelly Corp. in Michigan, USA. After Donnelly, these skills were fully utilized while leading lean transformation at several large manufacturing facilities. His multi-plant responsibility included oversight of 16 plant sites and 5,100 team members in his senior role at Faurecia.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Upper Iowa University. He is a resident of Morgantown, PA.