Chris Lauchner

Since graduation from university, Chris spent 30 years managing a dual career in the US Army Reserves and commercial business enterprises.  His first four years were spent on active duty with one year of schooling, including the US Army Field Artillery Officer Course and The Defense Language Institute (Italian) and then three years at a Field Artillery unit in northern Italy.  His remaining Army service was spent in various Army Reserve units and a 16-month activation to Iraq where over the one year in country he held various roles including lead trainer to the Iraqi Special Operations Brigade, Executive Officer for the Deputy Commanding General, MNSTC-I, lead advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense Plans & Policies Division and lead advisor to The Iraqi Special Operations Command.  Chris retired in 2011 as a full colonel.

 Chris’ civilian employment has included working in Procurement, Quality, Manufacturing and Distribution at the plant level then transitioning to ever increasing levels of responsibility above plant.  He has held increasingly broader roles as Regional Customer Service Leader, National Distribution Manager and Global Inventory and Logistics Lead for Scott Paper Co, Kimberly-Clark Corp and The Coca-Cola Company.  He transitioned to Chief Operating Officer for a small software development company designing, building, implementing and supporting demand and supply planning solutions for the beverage industry.  After returning from Iraq, Chris returned to the CPG world as a director for Coca-Cola Company and subsequently Kimberly-Clark Corp where he led global teams implementing solutions in the planning space.  This work saw him travel to over 50 countries and implement new organizations, processes, software and metrics for Integrated Business Planning, S&OP, Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Deployment Planning and Materials Planning.  His last role as global planning lead for Johnson Controls, Inc, saw him expand his background into industrial and engineering.

Chris’ primary areas of expertise are:

• Integrated Business Planning – bringing together planning from company strategy down through business GMs to Finance, Marketing & Sales, SC and HR.  How to ensure all are operating against a common plan.
• S&OP – the core set of processes that drive IBP on a weekly & monthly basis.
• Demand Planning – from Marketing through Sales to SC and Finance.
• Supply Planning – Production, Materials and Deployment – enabling supply side stability and predictability.