Rich Seubert, Partner and Co-Founder
Richard Seubert’s expertise has been forged through over 30 years of experience in heavy manufacturing industries, spanning the spectrum of design, operations, supply chain, and program management. His experience includes both commercial and military programs, and began with 13 years at The Boeing Company. Rich held several executive positions at Boeing, including the General Manager for Boeing Military’s Machining / Processing factory in Kent, WA. In this assignment he was responsible for over 600 hourly and salaried workers, in addition to controlling an annual operating budget in excess of 100 million dollars. When Mr. Seubert transitioned from that position to work on the commercial side of The Boeing Company, it was to become the Director of Program Management for Boeing Commercial Airplane (BCA) Operations, reporting directly to the EVP of BCA Operations. In that role, Rich was responsible for working with both Supply Chain and all internal manufacturing operations, representing all make as well as buy parts, to ensure compliance with all applicable Boeing initiatives and sourcing policies. Rich also interfaced with Boeing’s Manufacturing Research and Development organization (MR&D), as well as Boeing’s PhantomWorks organization, to review, select and implement strategic technology thrusts in support of BCA’s strategic objectives. At the culmination of his Boeing Career, Rich was selected as a leadership member of the executive Boeing Operations Council.
After leaving Boeing in 2000, Mr. Seubert has started two companies. In 2000 he co-founded Vykor, a firm offering proprietary software and consulting offerings to create “should cost” models for machined parts for Aerospace and Defense, Transportation, Material Handling, Power Generation, and other heavy industries. Rich was key in raising over 27 million dollars in venture capital for Vykor, and as its COO / Chief Customer Officer conducted business development for the company, securing over 75% of the initial sales from Vykor’s customer base, while also leading Vykor in sales each year. In 2006 he built on his Vykor consulting background and spun off VKR Solutions. VKR Solutions is a consulting firm focused on defining and implementing strategic solutions for highly engineered product vertical markets for customers in Design, Operations, and Supply Chain organizations. He works with all levels of the organization, from executives to buyers to factory floor, to structure and implement strategic programs such as Design to Cost, Cost and Cycle Time Reduction, Factory Optimization and Automation, Enterprise Should Cost, Lean, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Development, and Supply Chain Rationalization initiatives. Rich has also worked closely with various Manufacturing R&D organizations in the area of technology development and technology transfer initiatives. Rich is as equally adept on the factory floor as he is in the executive offices.
Mr. Seubert received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Gonzaga University. In 1994 Rich was nominated and chosen by Boeing to be a MIT Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) fellow. Rich graduated in 1996 with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT’s School of Engineering, as well as a Masters in Business from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
When not working with manufacturing and engineering companies, Rich can be found actively coaching youth soccer and baseball teams.