Bill Atherton

Experience

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  Unisys

  May 1985 - Jul 1988

  Field Engineer

  Worked as the primary customer contact on the Naval Integrated Storage, Tracking & Retrieval Systems at the Naval Supply Centers in San Diego & Oakland, California.

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  White Storage & Retrieval Systems, Inc.

  Jul 1988 - Feb 1994

  Project Manager

  Reporting directly to the company’s Executive Vice President, was the senior project manager for large, multi-site customers like United Stationers and Kmart.

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  Welch Equipment Company

  Mar 1994 - Feb 1997

  Sales Engineer & Project Manager

  Directed the successful sale, design, and construction of automated material handling systems in manufacturing and distribution centers both within Colorado and across North America for such customers as Apple Computer, Columbia House, Coors, Corporate Express and Quantum.

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  Rite Aid

  Feb 1997 - Jun 2011

  Senior Engineer, Supply Chain

  Served as the team leader of all facilities engineering and project management functions for the West Coast distribution network, working directly for the Vice President of West Coast Operations. Key Achievements:- From 2003 created and successfully executed all four facilities’ capital improvement budgets which totaled $12 million over 82 projects in 2007, including the replacement of all the packaging systems in the Thrifty Ice Cream plant to update their packaging styles.- Completed major overhauls of the sortation, conveying, and pick to light control systems in our two older distribution centers on time, within budget, and with zero down time for operations. - Created cross-dock strategies which continue to save the company tens of thousands of dollars per year. - Along with our team of industrial engineers, implemented productivity standards in all three distribution facilities.- From 2001 to 2003 was the Outbound Production Operations Manager for the Lancaster, CA facility with 5 department managers and 20 assistant managers as direct reports.- Started with the company as the Senior Facilities & Engineering Manager for the “Greenfield” construction of the one million square foot Perryman, MD Distribution Center. This was an on-site Senior Operations Team position. After a successful project in Maryland, was asked to repeat the process for the Lancaster, CA Distribution Center start-up. Show less

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  Amazon.com

  Jun 2011 - Oct 2013

  Senior Manager Operations Engineering

  Served as the hands-on regional operations engineering manager for of all process change and material handling implementations for five (5) Amazon Fulfillment Centers (FC’s) and three (3) greenfield build-outs from Northern California to British Columbia. Being based in Seattle I also managed quite a bit of fulfillment center design for our corporate in-house design group.Key Achievements:- Designed, and personally implemented, a low cost sortation solution to combine both pick routing and pack routing into one physical sorter. This design supported Amazon’s robotic small item R&D fulfillment center pilot in Washington. - Led the design and simulation team of the Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking and turret truck systems for the 2013 robotic fulfillment large item FC’s.- Designed an automated empty pallet removal system for our Kiva robotic pallet pods.- Project managed the build out the Vancouver, BC, Canada FC from lease signing to first receive in 6 weeks for peak 2012 and over doubled the capacity and improved the product flow while in full operation with a second build out in 2013- Co-Led the four person design team on large item FC design for all 2012 build outs (three 1.2 million ft² buildings) creating key improvements in our large item product flow such as the consolidation of all problem solving activities to a single area.- Analyzed the North American customer returns process flow and redesigned the material handling systems for our two (2) small item North American Customer Returns Centers (CRC’s). Designed a unique ergonomic “folding” workstation which is in use today in our Las Vegas CRC. Consulted on the design of our new Eastern EU CRC.- Project managed the automation of the Reno, NV FC small item “Prep” (preparation for stow) process- Managed the time study and data analysis for the material handling systems design supporting Amazon’s prototype packaging systems for large, odd sized products. Show less

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  Rite Aid

  Nov 2013 - Apr 2016

  Engineering Projects Manager

  Controlled all the facility engineering, process improvement, and project management functions for Rite Aid’s West Coast distribution network which included three (3) Distribution Centers and an Ice Cream Manufacturing Plant.. Working directly for the Corporate Director of Engineering, we constantly analyzed our business to create, define, and refine sound facility and productivity enhancement ideas into reality. Key Achievements:- Was the primary engineering manager on the Manhattan Warehouse Management System (WMOS) implementation team, the Warehouse Control Systems integration team, as well as the Operations Command and Control team for the start-up of our new Spartanburg, SC DC opened in early 2016. - Managed the re-implementation of time study production standards in our Wilsonville, OR DC projected to save over $200K dollars in direct labor in it's first year.- Primary facilitator for Rite Aid's LEAN Six Sigma Kaizen Program for the West Coast DC's projected to save the company over $250K per year after just the first five events.- Successfully closed out all four facilities’ capital improvement projects for Fiscal 2014 & 2015 including my 2011 design of a $3.3 million expansion of the Woodland, CA prescription product picking area.- Developed and implemented sortation controls upgrade options that allowed the Lancaster facility to defer approximately $1 million in immediate upgrade requirements for a minimum of two years. Designed and implemented a $715K refrigerated Chocolate Room pick module for the Lancaster, CA DC.- Completed $700K worth of pick to light and conveyor system expansions in both the Lancaster, CA and Wilsonville, OR DC's which have increased picking productivity by over 50%. Show less

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  Fortna, Inc.

  Apr 2016 - May 2018

  Director Solution Design

  As a Solution Design Engineering Director I concepted and designed process flow, material handling, and automation solutions to meet and exceed our Clients business and operational requirements.

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  FORTNA

  May 2018 - now

  Leading FORTNA's efforts to standardize the human machine interfaces of our automated material handling systems. Bringing together the best in ergonomics, process flow, material movement, software and controls to maximize automation productivity while making the operator's day as comfortable and efficient as possible. "Make it a place you want your boss's daughter to work in every day."Currently leading the Workstations Workstream for a DC with 500+ automated workstations in EMEA. As Solution Architect I led our Operation Design Teams through Fortna's Solution Design Methodology of data reduction and analysis to lead us to innovative process flow and material handling solutions based on our Client's Business and Operational requirements. As Senior Director Solution Design I managed the Solution Design Engineering Department with eight direct reports while also designing and implementing multi-million dollar material handling solutions. Then moved and grew our team under the Engineering umbrella.

  • Sr. Director Integrated Product Development

    Feb 2022 - now

  • Senior Director Solution Design, Solution Architect

    Feb 2020 - Feb 2022

  • Senior Director Solution Design Engineering

    May 2018 - Feb 2020