Craig Espevik
Craig Espevik
Craig Espevik, Vice President of Operations for Yaskawa America, Inc., a $750M provider of automation solutions including Robotics, Servo motors and amplifiers, variable frequency AC inverters, and controllers in the Americas. Yaskawa America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yaskawa Electric Inc., a $5B global company with headquarters in Japan. Yaskawa products serve a broad range of markets including: Heath Care; Oil & Gas; Machine Tool; Agriculture; Textile; Plastics; Building Automation (HVAC, Elevators & Escalators); Semi-Conductor; and Renewable Energy.
Craig oversees all North American operations for the Drives and Motion Division of Yaskawa America, including supply chain activities, manufacturing and order engineering, local production, distribution, logistics, and quality. Local production includes variable frequency AC motor drives, servo motors, robotic controllers, industrial motion controllers and sophisticated electrical mechanical devises built in clean rooms.
The two local assembly factories (Buffalo Grove, IL & Oak Creek, WI) produce 65% of the product sold in the Americas, with the remainder imported from several global sources. The local factories operate under a lean manufacturing structure with assembly quality levels under 50 ppm. Implementation of lean and quick ship has been critical in changing the distribution model of products from stocking strategies to just in time drop shipments. The state of the art distribution center also in Buffalo Grove, IL ships 70% of orders received within 24 hours. The Supply Chain team has been rebuilt and organized to provide Yaskawa with strategic advantages that have been instrumental in successfully entering new industrial markets, expanding market share, and meeting margin targets. The execution of these value added strategies has allowed Yaskawa America to exceed its planned growth objectives for the past 6 out of 7 years and to expand local manufacturing activities over foreign outsourcing.
Craig has over 35 years of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain leadership. Craig is a member of the Loyola’s Supply and Value Chain Center Advisory Council. He is a University of Illinois BSME graduate. He also has an MBA with focus in Operations and international finance. Craig is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Illinois and has 3 patents.
Craig Espevik, Vice President of Operations for Yaskawa America, Inc., a $750M provider of automation solutions including Robotics, Servo motors and amplifiers, variable frequency AC inverters, and controllers in the Americas. Yaskawa America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yaskawa Electric Inc., a $5B global company with headquarters in Japan. Yaskawa products serve a broad range of markets including: Heath Care; Oil & Gas; Machine Tool; Agriculture; Textile; Plastics; Building Automation (HVAC, Elevators & Escalators); Semi-Conductor; and Renewable Energy.
Craig oversees all North American operations for the Drives and Motion Division of Yaskawa America, including supply chain activities, manufacturing and order engineering, local production, distribution, logistics, and quality. Local production includes variable frequency AC motor drives, servo motors, robotic controllers, industrial motion controllers and sophisticated electrical mechanical devises built in clean rooms.
The two local assembly factories (Buffalo Grove, IL & Oak Creek, WI) produce 65% of the product sold in the Americas, with the remainder imported from several global sources. The local factories operate under a lean manufacturing structure with assembly quality levels under 50 ppm. Implementation of lean and quick ship has been critical in changing the distribution model of products from stocking strategies to just in time drop shipments. The state of the art distribution center also in Buffalo Grove, IL ships 70% of orders received within 24 hours. The Supply Chain team has been rebuilt and organized to provide Yaskawa with strategic advantages that have been instrumental in successfully entering new industrial markets, expanding market share, and meeting margin targets. The execution of these value added strategies has allowed Yaskawa America to exceed its planned growth objectives for the past 6 out of 7 years and to expand local manufacturing activities over foreign outsourcing.
Craig has over 35 years of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain leadership. Craig is a member of the Loyola’s Supply and Value Chain Center Advisory Council. He is a University of Illinois BSME graduate. He also has an MBA with focus in Operations and international finance. Craig is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Illinois and has 3 patents.