ABOUT ME

I’m John Branch, a retired global Quality Professional with more than 30 years of experience strengthening manufacturing performance across the U.S., China, Mexico, India, and Europe. I specialize in customer quality issues, stabilizing processes, eliminating recurring failures, rebuilding quality systems, and leading multi‑site organizations through measurable, sustained improvement.

My career spans automotive, food grade, medical device, industrial, consumer products, and high/low‑volume global manufacturing — including leadership roles at Manitowoc Ice, SLPT Global Pumps, H&T Sparks (Tesla Gigafactory), Chassix, Johnson Electric, Federal‑Mogul, Emerson Electric, and multiple China‑based operations.

Across these environments, I’ve delivered major reductions in PPM, scrap, COPQ, warranty cost, and customer complaints — often transforming struggling sites into stable, high‑performing operations.

My Background

Manitowoc Ice — Global Quality Manager

lead global quality across the U.S., Mexico, and China, delivering major improvements:

• Reduced warranty spends 25% (from $12M to $9M)

• Cut scrap & rework by 50% over 3 years

• Lowered Dead‑On‑Install incidents 30%

SLPT Global Pumps — Senior Quality & Improvement Manager

Major customers FCA, Ford, BorgWarner, and Jaguar Land Rover:

• Cut customer PPM from 900 to 0

  Sustained multiple months of zero QRs

H&T Sparks — Director of Quality (Tesla Gigafactory)

Manufactured Batter Cans for Panasonic inside Tesla’s Gigafactory

• Cut customer defect rate from 7,000 to single digits

• Reduced camera line rejects from 750 to double digits

Chassix — Quality Manager

Supporting Nissan, ZF, Mercedes, Benteler, and BMW

• “Cut customer issues 50%…”

• “Reduced customer PPM to single digits…”

Johnson Electric — Director of Quality (China, India)

A massive global operation:

• Responsible for quality program for 5 Business Units over 32,000 labor employees with 550 quality department 18 direct reports

• Cut customer complaints 43% over three years

• Lowered in‑line PPM from 12,000 to 500

Federal‑Mogul — Global Quality Director

Led quality across 28 global manufacturing sites and 15 distribution centers

• Drove group PPM from 34 → 25 → 17, with many plants at zero

• Cut customer complaints 46%

Emerson Electric — Corporate Senior Quality Engineer/Quality Manager

Delivered major cost savings and system integration

• Saved $500K by consolidating best‑practice programs

• Stabilized division PPM from 1,106 to <190

Earlier Leadership Roles

You also held significant roles at:

• Textron Automotive

• Parker Hannifin

• QSQ (consulting)

• Chongqing Le‑Mark

• Qingdao P&B

• Tru‑Fit Screw Products

• U.S. Army (Combat Engineer)

Major Accomplishments

Global Quality Transformation

Rebuilt quality systems across multiple countries, including ISO 9001, ISO 13485, TS/IATF 16949, CMDCAS, and FDA 21 CFR compliance.

Massive PPM Reductions

• 12,000 → 500

• 7,000 → double digits

• 900 → 0

• 3,032 → 373 → <200

• 34 → 17

• 1,106 → <190

Scrap, COPQ, and Warranty Reduction

You repeatedly delivered:

• 25% warranty reduction

• 50% scrap reduction

• 30% DOI reduction

• 86% noise reject reduction

Supplier Development & Recovery

You’ve restored supplier performance across automotive, industrial, and consumer product supply chains.

High‑Risk NPI Leadership

You’ve led APQP, PFMEA, PPAP, and launch readiness for global programs including automotive, medical device, and battery manufacturing.

Large‑Scale Team Leadership

You’ve led:

• 32,000 direct labor employees (Johnson Electric)

• 28 global plants (Federal‑Mogul)

• 15 distribution centers

• Multi‑site quality teams across three continents

My Philosophy

Most organizations treat symptoms — scrap, downtime, complaints, rework, operator workarounds. But symptoms are only the tree. The real cause is underground.

My work focuses on uncovering the hidden mechanisms, system weaknesses, and variation drivers that create those symptoms. When you fix the root, the problem disappears permanently.

Why Companies Work With Me

• I stabilize plants that have struggled for years.

• I rebuild quality systems that have drifted or fragmented.

• I eliminate recurring failures through disciplined root‑cause work.

• I improve supplier performance and incoming quality.

• I strengthen NPI readiness and launch stability.

• I deliver results that hold — not temporary fixes.