Kevin Phelan

Global Continuous Improvement Manager specialising in Enterprise Excellence, Operational Excellence, Lean Six Sigma and Change Management

Greater Dresden Area

About

I am an experienced Operational Excellence professional with over 30 years of experience in operations across diverse industries including Pharmaceutical, Medical, Automotive, Semiconductor and General Engineering. My focus is on how the purpose of an organisation can be delivered by great processes and engaged people; my passion is helping organisations improve these three elements. To do this I will use a mix of skills I have developed over the years and some old stories that I like to call experience. When I work, I am likely to use mapping techniques that will allow me to identify and eliminate waste, sometimes I will use statistical techniques that will help me to identify hard to spot differences and create prediction models. More importantly I will always use a people centred approach, switching between a coaching, training and mentoring approach that allows me to support the change agents in the organisation. .

Experience

  • Global Continuous Improvement Manager at Belimo
    Dec 2025 - Present · 8 mos

  • Senior Consultant at S A Partners
    Jun 2021 - Dec 2025 · 4 yrs 7 mos

    Companies and their employees are increasingly knowledgeable about how to implement change, topics such as Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, Change Management, Operational Excellence, Lean Production Systems etc are well known and possibly even well understood but the difference between knowledge and skill is vast. Successful change management requires that knowledge is transformed into skill. As an SA Partner I support clients in all industries to become skilful implementers of change. Along with my colleagues I work across all industries, but I have a experience and a special interest in the areas of Pharmaceutical, Medical, Automotive, Semiconductor and general engineering. Currently I am based in Germany and primarily support our German speaking clients.

  • GLOBALFOUNDRIES (6 yrs 11 mos)
    • Senior Manager / Deputy Director: Manufacturing engineering
      Jun 2020 - May 2021 · 1 yr

      Lead a team that delivered improvements in Maintenance effectiveness, Maintenance Cost performance, Indirect Material Cost performance, Process Control and Labour efficiency every quarter. In addition I lead several high profile projects within the Fab to address specific issues and using a Lean approach. Topics included the Organisation Structure of Operations and Engineering, Head count planning and Labour efficiency for both shift and day shift personnel.

    • Senior Manager / Deputy Director: Operational Excellence
      Jul 2014 - May 2020 · 5 yrs 11 mos

      Transformed the operational culture of Dresden site with over 3000 people by rolling out a new Operational Excellence Program. This resulted in significant and demonstrable dollar savings along with important quality and delivery gains. During this time I certified one Master Black Belt (MBB) many Black Belts (BBs) and hundreds of Green Belts (GBs) with a holistic approach to new project selection, governance, and training process. Relished working with the standard Lean and Six Sigma tools including JMP while also using KATA, Agile and Factory Physics. Enjoyed working with and supporting the teams in Singapore and New York sites at various points on their Operational Excellence journey .

  • Managing director at Clanmaurice Training Ltd
    Apr 2004 - Jul 2014 · 10 yrs 4 mos

    I designed and delivered Operational Excellence solutions, including project management, program management and training delivery for culture change delivering profitability and quality improvements for customers in the pharmaceutical, medical, and engineering sectors Europe wide. Projects were varied ranging from 2 days to 3 years but almost all included at least some senior management interaction and all were designed around available resources. Activities included: - Defining project objectives, project governance and KPI’s - Leading “Tiger Teams” to successful project delivery - Black Belt and Green Belt-Training for internal and external (ASQ & IQF) certification - Mentoring of young professionals During this time I really enhanced my knowledge of tools like DMAIC, Lean Techniques, Process and Value Stream Mapping, Statistical Analysis including Minitab, Kaizen and Process Control tools like SPC and FMEA. I also developed and refined my ability to train and learned to really enjoy it.

  • Senior Consultant at Lean Ireland
    Apr 2004 - Jul 2014 · 10 yrs 4 mos

    Lean Ireland was the major partner I worked with as an independent consultant