Art was raised on the family’s dairy farm in Wisconsin and earned his BSME from Marquette University. Throughout his engineering career, he has worked in diverse manufacturing environments and several industries.

Early in his career, Art worked for an automotive frame supplier and was assigned to two major General Motors programs. Rick, who was Art’s manager during that time, shares his thoughts about Art:

Rick Torn, Corporate Project Director 

 

“I have known Art for over 35 years. Art is innovative, dependable, trustworthy, a good listener, a calculated risk taker, and a true friend. He brings out the best in people while working to achieve stretch goals. Art is a fighter in both his professional and personal life, willing to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty.

I was fortunate to have Art working for me when we bid on two very large truck/SUV frame projects that would generate over $.75B of revenue over the two programs' life from 1992 to 1999. Without Art, I am certain we would not have won either contract.

I believe the greater the challenge presented to Art, the more he shines. He wants to produce results that far exceed expectations. No one understands the potential to make significant changes on the shop floor to improve throughput and reduce costs better than Art. He walks the talk!”                                                                                        

Art also invested with several individuals in the purchase of a plastic molding and mold-building manufacturer. From that experience, he knows first-hand the importance of maximizing earnings and winning new sales. Everything Art does in production supports the sales process.

Another career highlight was Art’s employment at Freudenberg, a corporation heralded internationally as an innovator and implementer of the finest continuous improvement processes for the manufacture of rubber products. Art greatly expanded his knowledge and strategies and saw the undeniable success of daily improvement practices.

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In 2009, Art began A. Stout & Associates. A client, Lew, hired Art for several projects and shares his thoughts about his experiences:

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Lew Schildkraut, CEO, Mfg. Co. 

 

“As an executive with over 25 years of experience in multiple manufacturing environments, I strongly recommend Art Stout to any company that has opportunities for profit expansion through Continuous Improvement, process improvement, and problem-solving.

Art is the best manufacturing problem solver that I have worked with in my career. Art can observe the production flow, identify the obstacles, and expeditiously upgrade the process in order to improve setup time, productivity, automation, quality, safety, and costs in order to favorably impact the outcome of the business. Art has improved productivity in every business opportunity we presented to him. 

He possesses the ability to quickly identify the goal and develop a plan and process to achieve a positive outcome promptly. He is resourceful and knowledgeable about a variety of processes and their capabilities including automation utilizing robotic solutions. He excels in creating impactful solutions where others have not been successful before. 

Art is unique in that he has a strong business acumen including cost accounting, and developing relationships with management, employees, vendors, and customers.  

Art is also outstanding in his ability to engage, train, and improve employees at all levels of the organization to complement his exceptional manufacturing and engineering background and overall versatility on the shop floor. Art’s can-do leadership skills and methods inspired employees to participate in problem-solving with a new enthusiasm and level of engagement.

In addition to Art’s skills documented above, he is just an excellent person who favorably impacts a business with his honesty, dedication, enthusiasm, and positive influence on a business, its environment, and profitability.

Today, Art advises me before we add more space or machines.”

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Industry Manufacturing Experience: 

 

• Food Processing

• Fabrics, Cut-N-Sew Finished Products

• Lumber & Wood products- machining and assembly

• Furniture and Fixtures- machining and assembly

• Rubber and Plastic, Compression, Injection, Rotational molding, Over molding,

• Machining

• Automotive

• Electrical-electronics

• Military

• Medical

• Fabricated Metal Products

  • Fabricated structural metal 

  • Machining 

  • Automotive Stamping 

  • Welding-MIG, TIG, Resistance, Spot

  • Assembly - Manual, Semi-Automatic & Automatic

• Industrial and commercial machinery, Water pumping systems, Industrial ovens

 
Specialty Skills

• Toyota Production System - Continuous improvement 

  • Single Piece Flow Cell

  • Standardizing non-Standard Work

  • Ergonomics

  • Visual Scheduling

  • Managing Daily Improvement

  • Kaizen

  • Set-up Reduction

  • Value Stream Mapping

  • 3P-Production Preparation Process

  • Production Smoothing and Kanbans

  • SPC and Poka-Yoke Error Proofing

  • TPM Total Productive Maintenance 

• Six Sigma Black belt

• GD&T, datuming

• Tool, Fixturing, and Machine design

• Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering

• Cost Accounting

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