The Clorox Company [NYSE: CLX]

Khari Wilder

Khari is an executive at The Clorox Company. He has been in his current role for 5 months. His team is responsible for the morale, safety, quality, availability, cost, and growth metrics for the Atlanta main site. This site produces the majority of the cleaning volume for the company. Khari has been with The Clorox Company for 11 years. Prior to his current role, he was the Global Manufacturing Excellence Leader for the company. His team was responsible for the implementation of Manufacturing Excellence globally. This included 12 business units and 34 manufacturing facilities. Prior to Clorox, he worked for Graham Packaging for 5 years as a site TPM leader and then as a plant manager. Before Graham Packaging, Khari worked at Procter & Gamble for 9 years. At Procter & Gamble, he had roles as a process engineer, quality manager, department manager, and material supply manager. This allowed him exposure to too many TPM pillars, including Autonomous Maintenance, Focused Improvement, Progressive Maintenance, Early Equipment Management, and Supply Chain. Khari graduated from Tuskegee University in 1997 with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. He also received his MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009.

The Journey to the Clorox Company and Key Milestones along the Way

I have been a part of Consumer Products Organizations my entire career. 20 Years in manufacturing management. 10 years in corporate roles supporting the end-to-end supply chain. All of my corporate roles were at The Clorox Company. Most of my time in these corporate roles was spent implementing continuous improvement methodologies in manufacturing and other functions within the supply chain. 6 months ago, I became the Plant Director at one of Clorox’s largest plants. This role allows me to implement the methodology we chose as a company.

“Once this foundation is in place, anything is possible.  That is when the “sexy work” becomes enjoyable because you have the time to do it while delivering excellent results.”

Balance Employee Protection with Productivity

Safety is not a metric at The Clorox Company. Safety is a value. We truly care about the safety, security, and health of our employees and our consumers. That means we are willing to take the time to do the right thing, even if it costs us money, lowers our throughput, or takes more time to get something done. Going in with that mindset drives the decisions we make each and every day.

Industry 4.0 Concepts Transforming Clorox Plant

The company has recently announced our large investment in technology and we are in the middle of that. Everything from our ERP system to our planning systems and our Manufacturing Execution System (MES). This will enable the use of tablets and other things as we become more digital with real time information at our fingertips.

Uphold Safety, Environmental, and Quality Standards in Operations

We utilize our manufacturing excellence digital tool, TRACC that guides us through our Lean/ TPM/Six Sigma methodology. This enables us to better understand our process maturity while tracking the day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month data to know if we are winning or losing. It is like having a “consultant in your back pocket.”

Trends like Nearshoring and Digitalization Shaping Plant Strategy

The focus of our plant operations is all about raising the bar on our people capability and equipment capability using the manufacturing excellence methodology we have adopted. That will drive us to look for the best digital solutions to increase our throughput while driving our people capability to sustain it. As we free up capacity, we want to be agile enough as a team to be able to quickly respond to and supply chain trends that come our way.

Key Lessons Aspiring Professionals can learn to make an Impact in Manufacturing

Don’t forget the basics. Having a Daily Management System, Leaders Standard Work, Process Health Checks and Layered Leadership Audits are critical to making the complex simple. Once this foundation is in place, anything is possible. That is when the “sexy work” becomes enjoyable because you have the time to do it while delivering excellent results.