A. Schulman names Agnew director of continuous improvement

RP news wires
Tags: continuous improvement, six sigma, lean manufacturing

A. Schulman Inc. announced December 16 that it has named Greg Agnew as director of continuous improvement for the Americas, effective January 1, 2011. Agnew will be responsible for leading A. Schulman's continuous improvement initiatives in the Americas, including focusing on leaner manufacturing operations, and stronger sales and operating planning processes. He will report to Gustavo Perez, general manager and chief operating officer of the Americas, and will be located in A. Schulman's Houston-based Americas office.

"Continuous improvement is one of our four key profit drivers at A. Schulman, along with new products, purchasing savings/smart pricing, and steady volume improvement," Perez said. "Greg has more than 20 years of experience in global operations, manufacturing, engineering and product development, and he is highly qualified to lead this important effort for our operations in the Americas."

Prior to joining A. Schulman, Agnew was director of operations for the Americas for Henkel/ICI. His other previous positions included director of facilities management operations and engineering for Pfizer, and manager of process/product development for Ingersoll-Rand.

Agnew received a master of business administration degree from Indiana University with a concentration in business and operations, a master's degree in chemical engineering from Wayne State University, and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University. He is certified as a Six Sigma black belt and has lean manufacturing training.

About A. Schulman Inc.
Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, A. Schulman is a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins. These materials are used in a variety of consumer, industrial, automotive and packaging applications. The company employs about 2,900 people and has 37 manufacturing facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.