Introduction
Dennis Berry has been the Chief Executive Officer at Van-Rob/Kirchhoff since September 2011. He is an enterprising and forward-thinking senior executive with comprehensive expertise in the following areas: business development, operations management, strategic planning, production scheduling, sourcing, product development, lean manufacturing, material planning, inventory control, technology transfer, Kaizan, and continuous improvement. Prior to joining Van-Rob, Mr. Berry was President and CEO for the North American operations of Eberspaecher from 2006 through September 2011. With operations in over 20 countries, Eberspaecher is one of the world's leading manufacturer and developer of automotive exhaust systems for the OEM industry. Based in Novi, Michigan, Mr. Berry restructured the North American operations to better support product launches and reaffirmed customer confidence by instilling a customer centric attitude through the organization. As the chief sales negotiator, he instituted pricing initiatives that resulted in a $40 million improvement in EBIT over a four-years as well as a better diversification of products and customers. By 2012 the North American unit had grown to the level of $1 billion of sales revenues. During his tenure with Eberspaecher, he oversaw the opening of three new greenfield production facilities, closed a CAW organized plant without business interruption and negotiated the company through the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler without financial erosion.
"he organically grew revenue from $142 million to $340 million"
From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Berry was the President of SKD AUTOMOTIVE GROUP based in Troy, Michigan. While at SKD, he organically grew revenue from $142 million to $340 million and achieved a 62% boost in new customers. He diversified the customer base by reducing dependency on Daimler/Chrysler account by 50% while adding Toyota, Honda Automotive, Mercedes, and Volkswagen as new customers. Through the expansion, SKD also reducing external PPM from 75 to 18 for its three largest clients, including 52% reduction at Honda and 38% reduction of internal PPM. Mr. Berry also oversaw the building and development of a tooling operation in mainland China capable of producing dies for Honda and General Motors China facilities and North American customers. He also oversaw the creation of a new stamping facility in Mexico City delivering completion on-time and on-budget.
Early Career
From 1995 to 1998, he managed manufacturing for Siemens Energy & Automation’s operations located in Cincinnati, Ohio. By leading continuous improvement throughout the operations, he improved product delivery from 65% to 95%, reduced product lead-time by 20%, and decreased lead-time from 11 to eight weeks on 500-frame motors and reduced supply chain costs by 10%. Between 1990 and 1995, Mr. Berry earned advancement through successively more senior positions while employed with Westinghouse/Sundstrand Aerospace. He graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management and Pennsylvania State University with an MBA.
