Kevin Claxon
Managing Director | Leader of the Manufacturing & Distribution Client Advisory Services Practice, leveraging over 15 years of Operational Excellence and Supply Chain Management experience to deliver sustainable, quantifiable business solutions to clients across various industries.
Aprio, LLP
Aprio Advisory Group, LLC
Who I work with
I partner with C-suite, Private Equity and other senior leaders in the mid-market manufacturing and distribution industries looking to optimize their operations and supply chains.
My specialty
For more than 15 years, I have been helping clients achieve sustainable, quantifiable business results that drive value at both the strategic and operational level. As a trusted advisor, I’ve led teams and personally delivered costs savings, end-to-end process improvements, best practices and complex M&A integrations.
My specialties include:
- Operational Excellence
- Supply Chain Management
- Business Transformation
- Operational Due Diligence & Post Acquisition Integration
- Lean/Six Sigma
- Project & Program Management
Results I have delivered
I recently led an aggressive 6-month presale engagement with a rapidly growing startup across 5 US-based meal production facilities, over 500 team members and about $225M in revenue. Through extensive Lean coaching, training and implementation my team created a simplified, standardized and sustainable system to manage meal production operations of over 500 SKUs, ultimately leading to improvements in throughput, labor efficiencies and bottom-line results. With strict FYE targets set by new shareholders, we exceeded target by 130% and yielded $4M in annual savings.
Following a 6-week operational due diligence, my team was brought on by private equity investor to lead the operational merger activities of 2 nutraceutical and sports nutrition contract manufacturers ($250M+). I spent 2 years managing and delivering multiple improvement projects including strategic procurement ($4M annualized savings through competitive RFP’s, vendor negotiations and strategic partnerships), Sales and Operations Planning (optimizing supply/demand) and manufacturing line-balancing (reducing unnecessary direct labor by $2M annually).
Unique things about me
- I started my career with Toyota Supply Chain and moved to Mississippi a year before the start of operations at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, standing up the new logistics operations team.
- I have advised clients in numerous industries like oil gas, mining, chemicals, nutraceutical and med device; traveling the world in places like Australia, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Hong Kong, Korea.
- I supported a Property & Casualty Insurance company in creating an internal Operational Excellence team delivering continuous improvement projects with activity analysis, robotic process automation and automated workflow tools.
- I’ve delivered over $100M in annualized cost savings in my career through strategic procurement, supply chain optimization and labor efficiencies.
When I am not at work
When I’m not working, I’m spending as much time as I can with my amazing wife and two young daughters. I also love golfing, going to sporting events and taking my family on trips to the beach.
I’m also an avid griller, and you’ll often find me trying out new recipes on my Big Green Egg on weekends.
People say I am
A driven, pragmatic, goal-oriented leader with strong attention to detail.
Affiliations
I earned dual Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Kentucky in both Decision Sciences & Information Systems and Business Management. I earned my Lean Six Sigma Black Belt-certification from Villanova University, and I’m a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).