Within one year of joining Franklin Brazing and Metal Treating, Stacy Kreklau was promoted to director of Production Operations. In less than two years at Franklin Brazing, Stacy has utilized her engineering technical expertise, leadership, and business acumen to transform Franklin Brazing's internal production operations, provide significant value to clients, and set a new standard for running a brazing and heat treating facility.

Stacy has gained over 16 years of experience in manufacturing, working in manufacturing and quality engineering, production, and multiple manufacturing leadership positions. Her industry expertise includes brazing, heat treating, chemical production, raw materials manufacturing, and automotive industry vehicle component production. Holding a bachelor of science degree in Engineering from The Ohio State University, Stacy has furthered her expertise with extensive training and certifications in Six Sigma, root cause analysis, frontline leadership, and quality engineering principles.

At Franklin Brazing, Stacy is respected for her leadership, process simplification and proactive attitude. She leads a team of 30 people, including engineering, maintenance, and production staff. Known for leading by example, Stacy often arrives early, stays late, and actively engages in the production floor's activities. She regularly works side by side with customers, engineering, and production to optimize processes and solve problems. As a leader, she sets clear goals for her team, providing necessary support and mentoring while holding team members accountable for meeting their commitments. Showing wisdom through challenges, Stacy seeks to understand problems and asks questions, without criticizing, to find the best solution and coaches her team leaders such that they can better lead within their departments. Her sense of urgency is unmatched by her peers, consistently demonstrating and setting the expectation to always prioritize client needs, take immediate action, and address issues promptly.

While Stacy's leadership track record is impressive, her abilities allowed her to be promoted to director of Production Operations within just one year of joining Franklin Brazing and Metal Treating. She has implemented 86 lean manufacturing projects, resulting in a 51% reduction in variable production expenses and significant process simplification. Additionally, Stacy has led the production team to onboard fifteen new clients, introduced a new company KPI scorecard, and implemented a new company-wide ERP software package. Her contributions to the brazing and the heat treating industry include optimizing assembly and brazing processes for clients and experimenting with the selective use of hydrogen in continuous belt controlled atmosphere braze furnaces to precisely control the flow of braze filler material. Stacy has adjusted Franklin Brazing and Metal Treating’s production labor schedule to improve delivery lead times to clients as well as improve the work-life balance of team members.

Currently, Stacy’s pursuit of excellence extends throughout all operations. For example, she is implementing automation at Franklin Brazing that will change the standard for how components are processed and inspected in the brazing industry. Secondly, her team is setting a very high standard for excellent communication, the highest quality, and very short lead times for clients. Additionally, Stacy maintains the cleanliness of the facility that is well above industry standards. And finally, she regularly takes on responsibilities outside of her role, seeking to understand the sales aspect of the business and developing close relationships with clients. With the humility to regularly seek input from Franklin Brazing’s board of directors to learn how to better lead within the business, Franklin Brazing and Metal Treating is proud to have Stacy on the team.