Wasiu Ashiru

About Wasiu Ashiru

Transformational operations and engineering executive with 20+ years of cross‑industry leadership and consulting experience delivering advanced manufacturing engineering, lean operations, and digital transformation to strengthen supply chain resilience, reduce cost, and unlock revenue growth. Expert in building high‑performance organizations, governing large-scale transformation.Recognized for implementing manufacturing operating systems and accelerating technology adoption to improve factory safety, quality, productivity, & operating margins through values‑based leadership and proven builder of global innovation CoE integrated enterprise systems across complex networks.Enterprise Strategy: Architected corporate strategy into a P&L‑driven, 3‑year global “Factory of the Future” automation and capital investment roadmap that enabled end‑to‑end factory automation, strengthened supply chain resilience, and standardized performance across all sites—delivering a 15% COGS reduction, 20% throughput increase, and 30% reduction in global manufacturing footprint.Innovation: Led shutdown of legacy factory, oversaw rapid start-up of 52M‑capacity greenfield site; consolidating regional operation. Optimized regional footprint by upgrading legacy automation equipment and setting up Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems to unlock 3× production capacity. Achieved rapid vertical start‑up with 80% OEE in 120 days, 95% OTD & productivity gains through scalable process and disciplined operational readiness. Operations & Reliability Excellence:(TPS, TPM, Lean) Boosted global productivity by deploying TPS (Jidoka & JIT), TPM - Autonomous & Progressive Maintenance (CIL, CL, BDA, RCM, MRO, AI‑driven predictive maintenance, SPC) to institutionalize an operate‑maintain‑improve culture and stabilize high‑volume operations— to improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity and cost. Digital & Smart Factory:Pioneered a 3-year global digital & smart factory transformation using the ISA-95 framework, deploying integrated Industry 4.0 tech (IoT, robotics, AI/ML, MES, ERP, digital twins, AGV, AR/VR) across the enterprise. Enabled $M OPEX savings through ~60% TRIR reduction, 15-pts first-pass yield, 60% labor productivity gains via multi-team synergy.Change Leadership:Governed a global portfolio of high-impact initiatives from ideation to realization, integrating internal teams & vendor partnerships through project governance and war room cadence.

Experience

1. Senior Director, Manufacturing Engineering

   Cepheid

   Jan 2025 — Present · Sunnyvale, CA, US

Education

• University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika

  Bachelors of Technology (B.Tech.), Electrical Engineering.

• The Polytechnic, Ibadan

  Higher National Diploma, Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

• Harvard Business School

  Developing Leadership Brand

• University of West Georgia

  Master of Business Administration - MBA