Management Team

Chad Kymal is an international trainer and consultant whose broad experience includes TQM, setup reduction, technology assessment and inventory analysis, statistical process control, and quality function deployment. After graduating from the General Motors Institute Chad spent a number of years working at General Motors and KPMG before founding Omnex Inc. in 1986. Over Chad's successful career, he has served on the Malcolm Baldrige Board of Examiners and has received numerous quality achievement awards, including the Quality Professional of the Year award by the American Society of Quality Automotive Division in 2005 . In addition to Chad's Bachelor's degree from GMI, Chad holds both a master's degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Chad is instrumental in determining the strategic direction of the consulting and training organizations, as well as the product strategy for the software company - Omnex Systems. Chad personally led the Omnex team that helped Ford Motor Co. rewrite the QOS methodology. He assisted Ford Motor staff write the QS-9000 requirements and he conducted the first worldwide witness audit for the same. Under Chad's direction, Omnex has worked with Lucent Technologies, Philips Semiconductors, Magna, and most of the Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Omnex provides more than 50 training courses in subject areas ranging from APQP to Six Sigma and has 15 offices worldwide.

In addition to founding both Omnex and Omnex Systems, Chad is also the founder of AQSR, one of the top five rated quality system registrars in the United States as rated by Quality Digest. AQSR specializes in providing auditing services in ISO 9001, QS-9000, TE Supplement, ISO/TS 16949, VDA 6*, AS9000, and the ISO 14001 series of international standards. He can be reached at ckymal@omnex.com.

Executive Vice President and Director of International Operations for Omnex, Inc., Dave Watkins has a wide range of experience encompassing full profit and loss responsibility in General Management, as well as manufacturing, production, Human Resources and distribution management in a variety of industries. Dave has had responsibilities at all levels of manufacturing, from production shift supervisor to President, and has led total process re-engineering efforts in several plants, involving a number of different process and product technologies.

Dave's focus is on employing approaches that enhance the client's ability to create value for customers and stockholders; as a result he is particularly adept at the integration of quality and business management systems to enhance overall performance and competitive capability.

He has developed and delivered training and consulting services domestically and in all major international markets, primarily to senior and executive management groups, in the strategic implementation of integrated management systems incorporating QS/ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TS 16949:2009, QOS/BOS, Product Development & Launch (NPD), Supplier Development & Supply Chain Management, and lean enterprise systems in rational, profit oriented solutions.

Having pioneered the application of these approaches in non-manufacturing companies, Dave has authored or co-authored most of Omnex's seminars for service companies, including ISO 9001:2008 for Service, Advance Quality Planning (AQP) for Service, and QOS/BOS for Service. He has worked with clients in industries as diverse as banking; local, regional and global multi-modal transportation; product development & engineering; software development; logistics; contract professional services; construction; and project management.

His extraordinarily broad industry experience ranges from automotive and semiconductor design and manufacturing, to the design, development and bottling of package solutions for the liquor industry, production of aerosol cans, gear sets for oil rigs, magnets for electric motors and printing production processes for standardized testing. He has worked with chemical companies, R&D Groups, seating assembly plants and complex electronic component and assembly companies.

Dave has delivered papers on a variety of topics in the U.S., India, Bahrain, Thailand and China and has published articles in a variety of periodicals.

His education includes a BA from Widener University and numerous professional courses. Dave has served on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, as a Trustee for the IMA's Education Foundation, and as a Trustee for Northeastern Illinois University Foundation. He can be reached at dwatkins@omnex.com.

Mr. Gruska, a Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), is presently the COO of Omnex Systems and a principal consultant in performance excellence and Six Sigma Master Blackbelt for Omnex Engineering and Management, Inc.

Mr. Gruska had been associated with Dr. W. E. Deming and has assisted in the Transformation of Management since 1981. He has personally assisted large and small companies in North America and Europe in this transformation including the development and implementation of strategy, benchmarking, process control planning, and customer satisfaction. Further, he has worked with companies in the preparation of internal or external assessment utilizing criteria such as QS-9000, ISO/TS 16949, Total Quality Excellence, and MBNQA and has helped organizations using Six Sigma performance improvement strategies.

He directed and was the primary resource for the development and initial implementations of Comprehensive Process Control Planning ((CP)2). This approach provides a structure for the logical determination and implementation of process controls within an environment of continuous improvement. Following the precepts taught by Dr W. E. Deming, (CP)2 enables an organization to establish what is needed to control its processes and then integrate these plans within the normal operations. The Ford Motor Company, Transmission and Chassis Division, pioneered its use with the launch of the transaxle used in the Taurus/Sable vehicles. This structure enabled the plant to achieve Best-In-Class status for this transmission within the first year of production and subsequently to continue to improve its quality and productivity.

Prior to joining Omnex, Mr. Gruska managed the Quality Engineering Activity at Chevrolet. This group provided benchmarking, quality engineering and statistical support to all divisional and corporate activities and their suppliers. Besides the application of statistics within the design, manufacturing, and support environments, this group was active in the development of new technologies and training in these areas. Mr. Gruska additional served as a Divisional and Corporate consultant in Statistical Engineering and Management. He has traveled extensively in assisting engineering, financial, and support staffs and manufacturing plants in the investigation and solution of problems affecting quality and customer satisfaction.

Mr. Gruska has been involved in the development of theory and software and authored many papers in the areas of non-normal and multivariate sampling and data analysis, quality management, measurement systems analysis, inspector effectiveness and statistical process control. He is the author of Theory D which discusses the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and is the editor and principal author of Comprehensive Process Control Planning - (CP)2. He is also the co-author of The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: The Yardstick for Quality Growth, available through Addison-Wesley. Mr. Gruska is also an active/writing member of the QS-MSA and QS-SPC Manual subcommittees of the American Automotive industry's Supplier Quality Requirements Task Force which is part of the international task force governing TS-16949.

Mr. Gruska is an adjunct professor at Madonna University. He has advanced degrees in mathematics and engineering from the University of Detroit, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. He was the Deming Memorial Lecturer at the Sheffield Hallam University for the year 2000.

Mr. Gruska is a charter member of the Greater Detroit Deming Study Group and the W. E. Deming Institute. He is a ASQ certified Quality Engineer, a licensed Professional Engineer (CA - Quality) and a member of the Board of Examiners of and Judge for the Michigan Quality Leadership Award (1994-2005). He can be reached at ggruska@omnex.com.

Vice President of Omnex' Asia Operations, Mr. Kumar has been with Omnex in various management positions for over 8 years. He has immense experience in business consulting and quality systems implementation/training for the automotive and related industries. He was primarily responsible for starting up Omnex' operations in India and other parts of Asia.

His career objective is to assist companies in achieving significant improvements in their competitive positions, both operational as well as technology oriented through the introduction of professionally managed quality/business systems, Integrated Six Sigma deployment and TQM philosophies. A certified Lead Auditor, he manages and leads a dedicated team of more than 60 professionals who take care of the needs of the India, UAE and the S. E. Asia market. His education includes a degree in Computer Science Engineering and other professional courses. He can be reached at akumar@omnex.com.