Donald Lunak

About Donald Lunak

I’m a Plant Manager with 20+ years of experience leading manufacturing and distribution operations through growth, change, and increasing complexity.I do my best work when an operation is fundamentally viable but strained by growth, inconsistent execution, or over-reliance on a few individuals. My focus is building operating discipline, leadership depth, and systems that produce reliable results without burning people out or relying on heroics.I value clarity, accountability, and respect for people, and I have found that strong systems are what allow those values to hold under pressure.Most recently, I’ve led multi-shift operations through rapid scale while improving safety, delivery, productivity, and margin performance. I’m particularly effective in environments where KPIs need to be clarified, daily management strengthened, and supervisors developed so performance becomes predictable and repeatable.I’m open to Plant Manager roles, or closely related operations leadership roles, where there is a clear mandate to stabilize, scale, or prepare an operation for the next phase of growth.

Experience

1. Director, Plant Operations

   Whisker

   Nov 2019 — Present · Juneau, WI, US

   Lead day-to-day plant operations for a large, multi-shift manufacturing and distribution facility supporting rapid growth.Accountable for safety, quality, delivery, cost, and labor performance across production, maintenance, quality, logistics, and planning.Built daily management systems, clarified KPIs, and strengthened operating cadence to improve consistency and reduce reliance on individual heroics.Developed frontline leaders and supervisors to build bench strength and support sustainable performance at scale.Partner with executive leadership to prepare the operation for continued growth, new product introductions, and increasing complexity.

Education

• McHenry County College

  Associate of Sciences, Mechanical Engineering (coursework)

Skills

• Electronics
• Quality Management
• Iso
• Engineering
• Fmea
• Continuous Improvement
• Engineering Management
• Poka Yoke
• Supply Management
• Machine Tools
• Program Management
• Automotive
• Manufacturing Operations Management
• Operations Management
• Spc
• Injection Molding
• Design for Manufacturing
• Lean Manufacturing
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Ppap
• Apqp
• Product Development
• Supply Chain
• Root Cause Analysis
• Six Sigma
• 5s
• Manufacturing
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Kaizen
• Ts16949
• Value Stream Mapping
• Management