Since 1977 John has helped manufacturers and distributors to improve their management controls and productivity levels, through hands-on consulting and company-focused education sessions on: logistics, supply chain management, ERP and manufacturing resource planning (MRPII); S&OP; sales planning, forecasting and demand management; distribution resource planning (DRP); and master production scheduling (MPS). John has guided companies to successful improvements in their processes and systems through a process management approach. Many of them have reached the coveted "Class A" or "World Class" level of achievement. His experience spans the electronics, consumer goods, food, medical products, capital goods, construction equipment, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. John was a co-founder of Partners for Excellence in 1991. For nine years he was a Principal of The Oliver Wight Associates. For five years he provided and managed consulting for two major software vendors. Prior to that, the positions he held included: MRPII Project Manager, Materials Manager, Production and Inventory Control Manager and Corporate Planner/Master Scheduler. John holds an MBA (Summa Cum Laude) from the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology and a BS in Business Management from the University of Dayton (OH). John is certified at the fellow level (CFPIM) by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). He is a frequent speaker at international, regional and chapter meetings of many professional and industrial groups and has published numerous papers and articles concerning Management Improvement and Control. He was co-editor of the Sixth Edition of the APICS Dictionary, and a six-year member of the Master Planning Committee of the APICS Curricula and Certification Council. Chris Gray has been at the forefront of applying proven manufacturing management methods and concepts for three decades. Since 1979, he has helped more companies resolve resource planning software issues than anyone else in the field. Chris has authored 3 other books: The Right Choice, A Complete Guide to Evaluating, Selecting, and Installing MRPII Software, the definitive work on evaluating and selecting MRPII software; The MRPII Standard System, A Handbook for Manufacturing Software Survival and The MRPII Standard System Workbook (the last 2 co-authored with Darryl Landvater) Chris is President of Gray Research and one of the founders of Partners for Excellence, offering consulting and education to executives and managers on the concepts and methods of world class performance, resource planning and lean execution. Chris has a BA in mathematics from Washington and Jefferson College and a MS in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a past president of the North Shore chapter of APICS and is certified by APICS as a Fellow. He has spoken at numerous international conferences on manufacturing systems and methods. He is listed in six different volumes of Who's Who: Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in America's Emerging Leaders, Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in the World.