Recommendations...
"John provides a creative, dependable external view of your operations, with high quality recommendations as to process change, organization change, and tech utilization recommendations that had tremendous input and improvement to our retail Supply Chain operations. I would give John Hogg the highest recommendation."
John Metzger- Director, Supply Chain, Pennsylvania State Liquor Control Board
Straight-Forward Consulting did an eight-week Quick Scan of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s retail supply chain, with recommendations and assessments to dramatically improve overall operations.
"John's vast knowledge in supply chain and its specific relationship to operations and lean manufacturing techniques were outstanding and struck just the right balance. His personable approach with our associates enabled him to gain trust and buy-in which are critical factors in the successful implementation of any project. John's flexible work schedule allows him to align well with the resources we had available and enabled him to meet specific deadlines. I would highly recommend John to any company who is interested in any array of continuous improvement projects."
Gary Thompson Sr. Direct - Supply Chain- Cott Beverages
Straight-Forward Consulting conducted an extensive benchmarking and redesign of Cliffstar’s order to cash process, aligned with newly created supply chain performance attributes. Lead times have been reduced to target; as have finished goods.
"John Hogg came into my business and opened my eyes to a lot. Things that I have been looking at every day for 10 years with the same understanding have taken on new perspectives and made me think differently. He has helped me to understand the benefits of breaking down old barriers and habits and exploring new and better ways.
We have worked off and on with John over 3 years on a specific project basis. He has always made time for us when it is needed, but has never forced himself on us, when we were not ready. He has a great understanding of existing culture and how to motivate people to change from “the way we have always done it.” People are resistant to change by nature and John has helped convince them to change without pain.
John has a true concept of people. My employees look to John as a counselor, offering guidance and help and are not afraid to approach him for any reason. Any fear of John cutting positions was soon eliminated after spending time with him.
He is very results oriented and will not settle for anything less. He is a true professional and is willing to adapt his approach to the audience. I have no intention of looking for another source of lean training or education."
Scott Zgoda, President, Bison Bag
Straight-Forward Consulting redesigned Bison Bag’s outbound freight program in addition to implementing lean principles throughout the facility.
"John Hogg is a seasoned executive with broad supply chain experience in global manufacturing and distribution environments. John has a successful track record in strategy development, process transformation, systems implementation and organizational design in the consumer products industry. He has the unique ability to analyze key performance metrics, incorporate business complexities and propose complete solutions resulting in improved corporate performance. John is a resourceful decision-maker that combines strong leadership and organizational skills with the ability to direct strategic and tactical business affairs. Mr. Hogg also has experience in establishing business alliances and joint ventures in both accelerated growth and profit improvement business scenarios.”
Matt Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Rocky Brands, Inc.
“John and I worked together on an order to cash business process reengineering project and found him to be very knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with. He has that rare ability to make people want to work together and achieve greatness; a true change agent!”
Gary T. Long, Principal, A. T. Kearney
“I had the distinct pleasure of working with John Hogg on several difficult process and complete cultural changing business projects during my tenure with Rich Products Corporation. John has that amazing ability to provide the real truth about the cost of doing business under traditional paradigms and to develop cost savings by adopting new business practices, and minimizing customer impact. Some of the projects included a difficult product recall, SAP Sales Implementation, an order to cash redesign, and a company wide cost savings program. John always arrived armed with facts and a keen understanding of our sales channel. This knowledge could only be obtained through “nose to the grindstone” research”. Through careful analysis, John can detail the cost of current business practices and identify significant costs savings. The promises of cost savings are paired with careful attention to minimize the impact upon the customer base. John delivers!”
Chris Russ,, Director, Western Sales, Rigidized Metals; formerly Sales & Marketing, Rich Products
I have known John Hogg for close to twenty years. My understanding of John’s vast talents and capabilities crystallized when the two of us were on the SAP Implementation Team at Rich Products Corporation (Buffalo, NY / late 1990s). I led the sales function and John led the logistics function.
John took on a major leadership position within the team and played a critical role in the successful implementation of the order to cash process. He did a phenomenal job during the various phases of the project: Blue Print, Construction, Training, Implementation, and Go Live. He was extremely effective interfacing with senior management, breaking down silos, training our associates, and ultimately implementing the system.
John also played an integral role in streamlining Rich’s bakery production: closing a facility and preparing the remaining facilities to take on new volume due to consolidation. The overall effort was very successful as it was a seamless transition.
I strongly recommend John as a consultant for any organization. He is extremely well qualified and will prove to be a tremendous addition to any company’s team.
Daniel Plunkett, Land O Lakes
“John was a very data and metric driven manager. He was focused on process management and what told him.. not the emotions that surrounded the project. John was very personable and related well up and down the org structure.”
Doug Bley, Sr Consultant/Practice Leader, PRAGMATEK Consulting Group
“John has been a very key contributor to our Lean efforts at Rich Products. John's tactical contributions were impactful. He has a very good grasp of various Lean tools such as value stream mapping, 5S, SMED, kaizen, etc. and his inventory management and logistics skills helped us on projects related to finished goods and raw materials inventory reduction. In addition to tactical contributions, John contributed strategically as well by helping us set goals and shape our overall direction as we pursued Lean. John has a strong work ethic, good technical and administrative skills, and is an excellent communicator. John is a true professional.”
James Whalen, Sr. Director, Lean Manufacturing; Rich Products Corp.
“John is very capable and creative in challenging work processes and developing solutions that deliver improved results. John was a pleasure to work with and added significant value to the corporation through overall leadership and process improvement accomplishments.”
Scott Verost, Plant Manager, Rich Products Corporation, formerly Director, Customer Service
“John successfully spearheaded the introduction of a formalized forecasting and demand planning function at Rich Products. This involved selection and training of a team of demand planners, development, documentation and ongoing enhancements of a corporate-wide forecasting process and acting as the subject matter expert and chief advocate for this new way of doing business throughout the company. The introduction of a demand planning function--and the accountability associated with it--necessitated a great deal of internal education and encouragement in order to obtain buy-in from first-line sales personnel on up to the senior managers in each Division. John was a passionate leader, provided timely feedback to his team and to each division President and helped evolve the demand planning function to where it greatly increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the manufacturing and distribution efforts at Rich's.”
Mary St.Mary, Demand Planner, Rich Products Corporation
