Jake Nickel

About Jake Nickel

Experienced Plant Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the consumer goods industry. Skilled in DMAIC, Value Stream Mapping, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Design for Assembly, and Root Cause Analysis. Strong operations professional with a Bachelor of Science (BS) focused in Industrial Technology from Iowa State University.

Experience

1. Sr Manager Operations

   Travero

   Jan 2024 — Present · Fairfax, IA, US

   Driving multi-site operations and strategic growth for REGEN Fiber and Travero Logistics. Key achievements include:Commissioned and launched a greenfield manufacturing facility with patented automated processes.Directed planning and construction of a new plant in Lubbock, TX, completed on time and within budget.Oversight of operations across three manufacturing sites and Logistics Park Cedar Rapids, managing warehousing and transloading services to optimize supply chain performance.Built high-performing teams, reducing turnover to <5% and fostering a zero-incident safety culture.Established nationwide vendor and customer partnerships to strengthen supply chain and operational excellence.

Education

• Iowa State University

  Bachelor of Science (BS), Industrial Technology/Technician

  2002 — 2006

Skills

• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Root Cause Analysis
• Design for Assembly
• Product Development
• Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing
• Process Engineering
• Value Stream Mapping
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (Fmea)
• Process Improvement
• Design for Manufacturing
• Manufacturing Operations Management
• Gd&T
• Fmea
• Project Management
• 5s
• Tpm
• Design of Experiments
• Manufacturing
• Management
• Engineering
• Dmaic
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Pro Engineer
• Leadership
• Lean Manufacturing
• Business Process Improvement
• Robust Design
• Total Productive Maintenance (Tpm)
• Kaizen
• Six Sigma
• Spc
• Continuous Improvement