Manufacturing Consultants: 7

Summary

Stephen (Steve) T. Hopper, P.E., is Founder and Principal of Inviscid Consulting. Over four decades serving the supply chain industry, Steve has helped his clients plan and streamline their warehousing, fulfillment, distribution, and logistics operations by driving down costs, boosting capacity, improving service levels, mitigating risk, implementing effective supply chain solutions, emphasizing safety, and enhancing the performance of their supply chain resources: people, processes, inventory, facilities, equipment, material handling and storage systems, automation, transportation assets, and supply chain information technology (IT). Steve has advised 200+ clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations. He has also served as an expert witness on dozens of cases involving supply chain operations in the US, Canada, and Australia and has advised private equity and venture capital investors.

Industry Experience

• 3PL / Outsourced warehousing, fulfillment, distribution, and logistics
• Apparel / Footwear
• Building materials
• Consumer goods
• Direct-to-consumer / Ecommerce / Catalog
• Food / Beverage / Grocery
• Furniture
• High-tech / Electronics
• Industrial / Automotive / Aerospace
• Mining / Drilling
• Pharmaceutical / Health and life sciences
• Rentals
• Retail
• Reverse logistics / Returns
• Wholesale / General distribution

Supply Chain Solutions Expertise

• Warehouse management systems (WMS)
• Warehouse control systems (WCS)
• Warehouse execution systems (WES)
• Slotting and order picking systems
• Transportation management systems (TMS)
• Labor management systems (LMS)
• Order management systems (OMS)
• Voice and automatic identification systems
• Equipment, automation, robotics, and software used for handling, packaging, storing, and transporting materials
• Logistics network design tools
• Other supply chain solutions, automation, equipment, and related tools

Education and Certifications

• Bachelor of Industrial Engineering (BIE), The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
• Licensed, registered Professional Engineer (P.E.)

Rudolph Johnson, PhD, is a Chemical Toxicologist who brings over 25 years of experience bridging scientific leadership, program management, and strategic advisory work across government, industry, and international organizations. Early in his career at BASF Corporation, he managed the end-to-end development of high-margin industrial and pharmaceutical products, led competitive analysis and product lifecycle planning, and directed the scale-up of laboratory innovations into large-scale production — gaining hands-on experience bridging R&D, manufacturing, and market strategy across sites in Michigan, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.

Dr. Johnson has built a track record of high-level strategic and operational leadership, directing multimillion-dollar programs and budgets at the CDC, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. He has developed laboratory facilities, operations, and laboratory networks. His international advisory experience includes work with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the United Nations. 

Domestically, he has advised the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on multiple topics, the National Academy of Sciences, and the FBI, and has briefed senior government leadership including the President's National Security Council. This blend of private-sector business acumen and large-scale public and international program leadership positions him to advise organizations on strategy, regulatory navigation, and operational scale-up in complex, high-stagnant-stakes environments.

Consulting Services - Dr. Johnson's clients are those setting up technical operations or manufacturing a new product that requires chemical or toxicological support.

Consulting Expertise:

Finity Engineering, LLC comprises highly-accomplished engineers and industrial practitioners that work alongside leading researchers to provide design, analysis, consulting, and litigation support services. Associates are subject-matter experts in the areas of Automation, Mechatronics, Robotics, and Consumer Products.

Finity Engineering professionals have served scores of industry-leading companies and research institutes, and have developed and provided technical oversight for the implementation of hundreds of robotic, automation, and controls systems deployed within the facilities of high-profile end users. Collectively, Finity Engineering professionals are named inventors on over 60 patents and have founded dozens of successful entrepreneurial ventures, demonstrating pragmatic and marketable engineering innovation.

Clients Include: Alcoa, Apple, BMW, Boeing, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chernobyl, Cummins, Ford Motors, Fukushima, General Motors, Gestamp, Google, Honda, Hundai, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Controls, Kia Motors, Lockheed Martin, and many more.

Design, Analysis & Business Consulting Specialties:

 Founder, Khalid Sorensen, PhD, is a highly accomplished technology leader in Automation, Mechatronics, Motion Control, Manufacturing, Machine Vision, and Human-Machine Interaction. He has over 20 years of experience developing and deploying world class, mechatronic, motion control, and automation solutions.

Dr. Sorensen has directed the development and implementation of 100s of complex, multi-disciplinary mechatronic systems for high-profile industry leaders including Toyota, Ford, Alcoa, Caterpillar, Boeing, NuScale, and many others, and high-profile facilities including Fukushima and Chernobyl.

Previously, Dr. Sorensen Founded a technology company where he invented and was the Chief Architect of Expertoperator^TM, Safemove^TM, Automove^TM, and Cranevision^TM – technology known within the primary metals, automotive, and heavy-equipment sectors for enhancing crane safety, productivity, and ease-of-use; Developed state-of-the-art, on-line, time-optimal trajectory synthesis software for Cartesian machines - key drivers in the acquisition of his company 5 years after inception by a global leader in automation.

View Dr. Khalid Sorensen's Expert Witness Profile.

JOHN A. WILLIAMS, PhD, PE, ASA, MBA, CFEI, AIChE Fellow

Dr. Williams is an International Engineering and Energy Technology Expert in the engineering analysis and financial appraisals of energy, power, and manufacturing technologies, related intellectual property (patents, trade secrets, trademarks), licensing, royalty structures, market analysis, infringement, contract breach, fraud, compensatory, taxation, and lost profit damages. Dr. Williams provides engineering analysis, forensics, financial appraisals, and quantification of economic damages for oil & gas production, solar, wind, manufacturing, oil refining, chemicals, power generation, electrical distribution, steam, RNG biogas, biomass, ethanol, biodiesel, bioprocessing, food ingredients, geothermal, coal, nuclear, steelmaking, glassmaking, storage, pipelines, water treatment, and waste-to-energy technologies, equipment, construction, and facilities.

With over 40 years of industry experience in operations, R&D, cost estimating, finance, and construction (EPC, EPCM), Dr. Williams offers a unique synergy of engineering expertise and business acumen. His exceptional ability to analyze complex technical and financial matters and express them in understandable terms has made him a sought-after expert witness in litigation risk and exposure, dispute resolution and high-stakes litigation.

Dr. Williams has led EPS, a full-service engineering firm, since 1995. Since 1996, he has been recognized by AIChE, ASME, and ASA for developing and instructing courses in technology development, project management, cost engineering, financial evaluation methods, and financial appraisals of technologies and intellectual property. His credentials include:

• Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) by the American Society of Appraisers in Machinery & Technical Specialties: Energy, Environmental, and Manufacturing Technologies.
• Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) by the National Association of Fire Investigators.
• Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
• PhD in Chemical and Fuels Engineering from the University of Utah
• MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago
• BS in Chemistry from the University of Delaware
• Licensed Professional Engineer in over 20 states

Dr. Box Consulting, Inc. has advised Fortune 1000 corporations and four national governments — the United States, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and the Country of Georgia — on packaging, procurement, manufacturing and distribution since 2010.

Results, not theory. Randy Phares, President and CEO, has saved clients over $10 million as a Packaging and Procurement Subject Matter Expert for SGS-Maine Pointe, ranked the #1 supply chain consulting firm by Consulting.us. He was part of a $100 million savings initiative for a Fortune 500 company. As General Manager at Temple-Inland, a Fortune 1000 corporation, he delivered a 91% ROI improvement — one of the top financial turnarounds in that company's history — and won the Best Achievement of Organizational Business Improvement in Manufacturing Award from the Global Six Sigma and Business Improvement Awards. At Gaylord Container he won Best Performing Plant four consecutive years out of 26 plants.

He rose from general laborer to the youngest and highest-paid General Manager at a Fortune 1000 corporation, holding almost every job in packaging operations along the way — manufacturing, distribution, sales, design, safety, transportation, and running multinational business units. He holds U.S. Patent #5,672,412 for a recyclable corrugated pallet, cited in 36 subsequent patents.

SERVICES

Packaging Procurement and Cost Reduction — Supplier negotiation, spend analysis, specification optimization, and total-cost modeling. A global leader in packaging procurement results.

Business and Operational Improvement — Waste reduction, quality improvement, safety improvement, lean manufacturing, machine productivity, overtime reduction, and on-time delivery.

Packaging Design and Optimization — Assess packaging lines, improve efficiency, reduce material cost, and design packaging that protects and displays products at lower cost.

Branding and Structural Design — Color, logo placement, product naming and packaging layout for cosmetics, food, household goods and consumer products.

Packaging Market Research — Feasibility assessments for new plants, including economic analysis, trend analysis, competitor strengths and weaknesses, market pricing, and customer identification.

Training — DOT HAZMAT packaging certification for paper, rigid and flexible packaging. Leadership, lean manufacturing, sales, machinery, supervisor and safety training.

Mr. Phares has served on the Consulting Council of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI), as Vice Chair of the Packaging Consultants Council for the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), and as President of the South Texas Manufacturers Association. He leads a packaging industry community of more than 58,000 professionals across 30 countries, and has keynoted local, national and international conferences.

View Randy Phares' Expert Witness Profile.

Blue Silk Consulting specializes in Global Supply Chain Processes and Technology Enablement. We are a consulting firm, with 80+ clients and over 35 years of consulting experience in Supply Chain Management, Project Management, Systems Consulting, and Expert Witness Services. With global and domestic clients, Rosemary Coates has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing to China, and in global manufacturing strategies such as reshoring production. Rosemary Coates' experience spans a broad range of industries including:

Rosemary Coates, President of Blue Silk Consulting and the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute. She is a seasoned executive with an MBA and 25+ years of experience in Chinese Sourcing and Manufacturing, Global Supply Chain Management, Reshoring, Procurement, Manufacturing and ERP Systems Consulting. Background Experience. 

Prior to BSC, Ms. Coates was a Senior Director at SAP, the Supply Chain Practice Leader at KPMG Peat Marwick and at Answerthink, and a Regional Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Ms. Coates has consulted with global and domestic clients, VCs, and PE firms on operations systems and processes. She has considerable international experience and has worked for extended periods in Asia and Europe. 

Ms. Coates' experience spans a broad range of industries including High Technology, Software, Chemicals, Health Care, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Food Distribution, Transportation, Publishing, Retail, and Oil and Gas. She has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe, and the US. She has written five Amazon.com books including Best Seller 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, and Legal Blacksmith: How to Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes, and  42 Rules for Superior Field Service, and Negotiation Blueprint for Buyers, and The Reshoring Guidebook. 

Ms. Coates is also the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute and a member of the Board of Directors at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute, and a Member of the Board at Kinectic River. She teaches Global Supply Chain Strategy at UC Berkeley. She is a Licensed U.S. Customs Broker. She earned a BS in Business at Arizona State University and an MBA at the University of San Diego. She resides in Silicon Valley.

Rosemary Coates: Supply Chain Management Overview

Areas of Expertise:

View Rosemary Coates' Expert Witness Profile.