Testimonials

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Kind words from clients and colleagues

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"We use Kevin like an ATM...when we need money, we call him to look at our packaging, manufacturing processes, material handling, and perhaps most importantly, our supply chain, to find cost saving opportunities.  Kevin's ideas have resulted in the largest packaging savings projects we've ever had.  Though we have several degreed packaging engineers on staff, Kevin's insights added greatly to our abilities."

                          --Senior Packaging Engineer and Project Manager, Fortune 500 company, Consumer Products 

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"If there was a Nobel Prize for Packaging, I would nominate Kevin Howard!"

                         --Manufacturing Engineer, Fortune 500 company, Computer Products

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 "We had attempted to replicate Kevin's success with postponement packaging for our products, but we then hired him to assess whether or not there were more opportunities for reducing costs.  Much to our surprise, we had really mis-understood how best to utilize packaging postponement.  Kevin came up with a very different design than we had implemented and it resulted in tremendous savings for both shipping and material costs.  Beyond that, Kevin discovered our test methods didn't allow us to correctly assess the amount of packaging protection on our products, resulting in excessive materials and package size.  Kevin saved us a great amount of money."

                         --Senior Packaging Engineer, Fortune 500 company, Computer Products

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"I worked at HP with Kevin for a number of years where we were colleagues. I did not work directly with Kevin but as Finance Manager over Manufacturing and Supply Chain for DeskJet printers I was able to see the contributions that Kevin was making and the savings that were flowing to the bottom line.

When I joined ACCO Brands, I was able to bring in Kevin as a consultant to look at packaging. The brief work that he did resulted in a very well written and impactful report that ended up being circulated amongst the Supply Chain leadership. There were a number of very specific areas that were listed as opportunities and in tandem some very specific recommendations for improvement. It was felt that the modest investment to hire Kevin yielded great returns and there are still plenty of opportunities for Kevin to contribute. I would very highly recommend Kevin to anyone looking for a packaging and distribution expert with a broad experience base across a number of companies."

                                            December 12, 2008
                                            Bruce Starcher
                                            Global Business Model Strategist
                                            ACCO Brands

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From 2003 through 2005, Kevin Howard was one of only two packaging engineers at Hewlett-Packard Co. to be declared a Master Engineer.  A very small percentage of the 150,000 employees at HP are elevated to this level, recognized as the top rung of the technical ladder for engineers. Kevin’s innovative thinking influenced this Fortune 50 company to modify how it went about designing products and packages, how to test these items, how to handle these items in distribution, how to specify packaging materials, and how to achieve the lowest possible landed costs for new products.  Following are recommendations from HP Managers...

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"Kevin and I worked together closely at HP for over 15 years in a variety of roles. Kevin was clearly the thought leader and the resident expert for packaging and distribution systems for HP's consumer products during that time. He has a combination of solid theoretical understanding, pragmatic approach, and dogged determination to see his efforts succeed that allow him to implement excellent solutions where others cannot. Kevin is one of the best at going from theory to innovation to solid implementation that I have ever worked with. His efforts resulted in many millions of dollars in cost savings for HP and significantly improved product quality. And Kevin is a great guy to work with." 

                                                                           Mark Mahan, past Hewlett-Packard manager of Packaging
                                                                           7 January 2007

“Kevin's deep understanding of supply chain and logistics combined with creative application of new packaging methods saved our firm millions of dollars in shipping and waranty costs, and improved customer satisfaction. He was successful in visualizing new ways of doing things, and then leading the organization to succesfully implement them.” November 30, 2007 

Paul Speer , VP & General Manager , Hewlett Packard
managed Kevin indirectly at Hewlett-Packard Co.

 Following are excerpts taken from annual evaluations at Hewlett-Packard:
 

2003: “As an engineer at the Master Level, Kevin is responsible for applying a unique mastery of packaging engineering and package testing, including technologies, theories, and techniques. Kevin is considered the foremost HP expert in the areas of packaging design and testing. Individuals throughout HP and the packaging industry routinely seek out his input and guidance when faced with a complex packaging problem. Kevin has a solid team approach and his colleagues offered the following remarks:
 

   • Kevin possesses the problem solving skills to resolve even the toughest packaging problems.
   • Solid team player.
   • Kevin communicates with passion. He is an effective public speaker and writes detailed complete memos.
   • Kevin has a very good work ethic.”
 

1998: “Kevin demonstrates an exceptional commitment to quality and excellence. As one supplier put it: ‘Perfection! Kevin’s quality is perfect!’ Kevin has been commended for the effectiveness of his written and verbal communication and is ‘one of the most respected packaging professionals at HP and within the packaging industry.’ As one HP program manager stated, ‘Kevin is one of the few people at HP who is considered an expert in packaging. He is an asset to the company and proven himself time and time again what value a packaging engineer can be to a company.’ Throughout the year, Kevin impressed his peers, partners and customers with his application of unparalleled technical breadth and depth, team-oriented approach, remarkable initiative and inspired creativity.”
 

1997: “As one engineer put it: ‘Kevin is the guru of packaging.’ Kevin is widely held by his teammates, partners, customers and packaging industry as a technical authority on packaging design, product fragility and the distribution environment. His purchasing partners have noted that packaging suppliers are astounded by Kevin’s breadth of knowledge and suppliers themselves have requested access to Kevin to share his knowledge and creative ideas. As one highly regarded thermoform supplier put it: ‘Kevin’s knowledge of this industry is unique to the group, the division and the company.’ Another supplier commented that Kevin pushes the limits of design and production processes, but his technical knowledge allows him to do it in a responsible way.”