BARRY L. MAHAL | Product Development + Engineering Executive

B I O G R A P H Y

BARRY MAHAL

[Systems Engineer, Teledyne Brown Engineering] In 1982 Barry joined the Refurbishment Engineering Operation at Teledyne as the firm sought to become a leader in developing military countermeasure enhancements and updating US and allied land attack equipment. He provided engineering evaluation and analysis expertise and managed technical resources in support of this new direction. The work required extensive travel to the Middle East and secret clearance.

[Project Manager, Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering] Barry was recruited to Shaw-Walker to manage capital infrastructure projects. The work involved a high degree of interface with local government officials and commissions, a logical role based on his prior experience as Systems Engineer with defense contractor Teledyne. Shaw-Walker was in a high growth mode and needed his expertise to address its manufacturing facility expansion.

[Program Manager – New Product Design and Development] Barry was recruited to Herman Miller in 1989 as Program Manager for the seating division. In this position, he led product research, design and development for the upgrade and replacement of current products as well as the introduction of new solutions to the market. A major accomplishment during this period was the introduction of the now-famous Aeron Chair, an ergonomic seating product that revolutionized the office seating industry and reestablished Herman Miller as the market leader in this category. The product has contributed over $750 million in incremental sales to date and garnered the Design of the Decade Award from Business Week magazine.

[Director, Research & Design / Development-Europe] Barry’s success in the firm led to his selection to reorganize all of the research and development resources located throughout Europe into one cohesive and collaborative group, and direct all international development needs for the firm. When he arrived, Barry discovered an R&D process that was fragmented and focused on individual countries, resulting in products that were not compatible with each other and did not always represent the best of Herman Miller’s style and approach. Barry developed a new organizational structure and implemented practices and methodologies to create new products and update current ones to support broader application across Europe. He consolidated the firm’s resources throughout the continent and focused them on the broader market. The Herman Miller product line saw a 10% increase in sales in the first year of the new design program.

[Director, Custom Product Development & Engineering] Barry was promoted to the Director, Custom Product Development & Engineering-Tailored Product Solutions where he held general management responsibility for Herman Miller’s customer centric operations and the strategic direction of research, design and development. He led the efforts to design sophisticated products and services and built relationships with clients to serve their work environment needs. This represented a shift for the firm, focusing on new issues arising in high growth industries and growth environments and creating solutions before major work environment issues arose. He moved Herman Miller from being solely a mass producer to one where individual platforms were created or tailored to meet the specific needs of key clients – and then transformed for mass production. He created the business model and infrastructure to operationalize the new direction. The new approach resulted in over 350 global client engagements and more than 45 new product concepts created for clients like Disney and Wells Fargo. By being closely involved in clients’ long-term business strategies and aspirations, Herman Miller developed strong, lasting business partnerships, repeat business and a reputation unmatched in the industry.

[Vice President, Product Development & Engineering-Meridian Division] The Meridian Division is a $700 million unit of the $2.2 billion Herman Miller firm. Barry held full P&L responsibility for all operations and reported directly to the Division President. He managed a $6 million operating budget and his staff of as many as 125. He served as a member of the Product / Marketing Steering Team, the Product Development Leadership Team and the Executive Management Team of the Meridian Products Division. Barry was instrumental in reestablishing Herman Miller as the industry leader in design innovations. The firm had multiple divisions, primarily from acquisitions, and lacked a company-wide collaborative R&D program. Barry’s charge was to develop a more cohesive and innovation-driven organization, emulating the parent company’s approach to engineering and development. The first task was to design and implement an organizational structure that eliminated the old “departmentalized” approach and replaced it with a team-based structure. His new operational practices emphasized concurrent research, design and engineering methods. Both product development and tooling activities were accelerated, reducing product development cycle times and manufacturing integration issues. Direct material savings of $4.3 million were achieved, with a cost of goods savings of $12 million in the second year of implementation.

[Strategic Program Director, Advanced Product Development] HON Industries is a $2.1 million leader in the contract office furniture segment, sold through big box office supply outlets such as Office Depot and Staples. The HON Company had dominated the price / quality segment of office furniture based upon their operational efficiency and ability to produce products of exceptional quality at a low cost point. Aggressively recruited by HON as the Strategic Program Director, Advanced Product Development, Barry was charged to develop and execute a strategic shift that would enable HON to move from being a "fast low cost follower" in the market to a company recognized for innovation and product design leadership in the $10 billion / year contract office furniture industry. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, he managed a team of 20 and a budget of $6 million. Barry directed lean product development teams across three business units. He led industrial design and engineering in the development of over sixty-five new and innovative product concepts. The new products are on-plan and on-target to deliver in excess of $30 million in gross profit in the first two years. He immediately developed and implemented an advanced research and development process. From 2002 to 2004 Barry directed market research and ethnographic research teams in the identification and understanding of emerging trends and unmet consumer needs for product and service solutions.

[Executive Director, Portfolio Management] Sea Ray is the world's largest manufacturer of superior quality pleasure boats, producing more than 40 models ranging from 18 to 68 feet. As the cornerstone unit of The Brunswick Boat Group, Sea Ray Division generates $1.1 billion revenue for Brunswick Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. Barry joined Sea Ray as Executive Director-Portfolio Management to develop and manage the strategic direction of the product portfolio. Reporting to the President, Barry led a staff of 20 and a budget of $6 million. He was responsible for strategic planning, consumer research, competitive research, new product engineering, current product program management, systems engineering and portfolio management. Commissioned by the President, he determined that product and program development were sales driven and lacked a vision for future offerings. There was no formal product lifecycle management plan. Competitive product evaluations were reactionary and consumer research was rarely commissioned, as the firm had relied on input from sales and dealer management. One of his first initiatives was to create and implement a Systems Engineering Capability that established a consistent, repeatable and measurable process approach to translate customer needs into measurable requirements and product specifications. With the consumer driven strategy in place, Barry integrated it into a High Performance Product Development process that increased product development consistency and reduced the time required to launch product improvements and enhancements by 40%. Additionally, he designed and implemented an advanced sourcing and technology integration process, which improved the involvement and collaboration of suppliers with the Sea Ray product development capability. As a result, Sea Ray’s sales increased by 35% and is now able to rapidly introduce product enhancements and new technologies such as biometrics into its products and gain competitive advantages.

[Vice President, Research/Design/Development and Quality] Britax Child Safety Inc. is the leader in innovative child safety restraint systems with global influence in the development of internationally acclaimed products. As the market leader in Australia, Germany and a significant player in the balance of Europe, the United States based Britax Child Safety branch of the corporation is supporting the rapid growth of the company for North America. Since 2006 Barry has led the division in the effort to create and expand the research and development capabilities for meeting the aggressive growth needs of the organization. Joining the $70 million Corporation, Barry leveraged the strong brand recognition that Britax had developed over the years in building a key capability to address the specific needs of the North American market. Again, experiencing no clear strategy for product management or new product development, he quickly recruited the key talent necessary to drive the company’s market expansion plans and was a key leader in the company realizing an increase in growth in excess of $30 million in the first year. This result is now combined with key innovations that are leading the industry with their recent commercialization and driving the company into its next tier of growth.