ST. LOUIS — April 20, 2021 — BW Packaging Systems is pleased to announce that J Alexander Mitchell has joined as the Operational Excellence Director for its operations in North America. As a critical member of the BW Packaging Systems leadership team, Mitchell will drive site-level operational efficiency improvements to products, processes and practices for the Barry-Wehmiller packaging platform.
With a strong background in lean manufacturing methods (known as L3 at Barry-Wehmiller), Mitchell brings to his new role 20 years of experience working with teams to improve their performance. He has deep expertise in the implementation of lean business system concepts and tools, and has demonstrated operational excellence capabilities in an array of environments.
“I am confident that J will serve BW Packaging Systems in many ways to enhance both business results and L3 culture for our North American sites,” said Bruce Williams, Vice President of Operational Excellence, BW Packaging Systems. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to work with J to help our teams further their cultural journey.”
Mitchell began his career with Harley-Davidson in 2001, where he served in multiple roles in manufacturing, product development and supplier management. In 2014, he served as Director-Lean (Channel Support) for Sears Holdings Corporation, where he led a team that drove significant savings to the bottom line. Since then, Mitchell led the implementation of the Rexnord Business System (RBS) for VAG USA, a division of the Rexnord Corporation, where he was responsible for deploying the RBS operating philosophy and establishing a robust people-centric culture. Most recently, Mitchell served as the General Manager of VAG USA, where he led a turnaround of the business and delivered strong revenue growth, while setting the VAG business up for a successful sale to a third party.
In addition to driving operational excellence and optimizing business performance for BW Packaging Systems, Mitchell will be responsible for maintaining a site-wide performance culture that focuses team members on improving the business through people performance, product innovation and enhancement, and internal processes and practices, while continuing to build customer trust.
BW Packaging Systems provides a broad range of proven packaging solutions by bringing together some of the industry’s most trusted and innovative brands: Accraply, BW Flexible Systems, BW Integrated Systems, Pneumatic Scale Angelus and Synerlink. Collectively, BW Packaging Systems companies offer easy-to-use technology for primary packaging, material handling, secondary packaging, labeling and sleeving, and process and inspection, as well as complete packaging line integration.