Ritchie Engineering Company, Inc., manufacturer of YELLOW JACKET products, announced today the hiring of Chris Klope as director of operations.
Klope will be responsible for overseeing the daily fulfillment and distribution operations across the company’s two Bloomington, Minn. manufacturing facilities. “Chris comes to us with a broad history of impactful leadership performance in the manufacturing industry, with strong skills in operations, sales, marketing, distribution, product development and ERP/MRP systems,” said Tom Ritchie, President. “We welcome him to our organization and as a member of our leadership team and look forward to working with him as we continue to grow and develop our order fulfillment and distribution operations.”
Klope has more than 20 years of executive manufacturing operations experience, including leadership roles at successful manufacturing and industrial distribution companies. In all positions, he was a driving force behind countless highly successful change and improvement initiatives that delivered exceptional results while strengthening revenue, profit and market leadership. Chris earned an MBA from Washington University’s Olin Business School.
“I believe that an organization's people are its greatest asset,” said Klope. “I am excited to instill a corporate culture that empowers staff to reach their highest potential through collaboration, integrity, engagement, performance metrics and accountability.”