Harley executive discusses supply management for hogs
Oct. 22, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- There'll be hogs in Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business this week--not portly, pink four-legged swine, but rather sleek, high-performance muscle machines.
Three Harley-Davidson motorcycles will be on display in the lobby of Schneider Hall Thursday and Friday, Oct. 25 and 26, heralding the presence of the Integrated Supply Matrix Management Program's latest executive-in-residence. Greg Smith, director of development purchasing for Harley-Davidson Motor Co., will be on the WMU campus to discuss his company and his career as a supply management executive.
On Thursday, Smith will tour the University and the business college before meeting with ISMM students and faculty. At 7:30 p.m. he will give a presentation on supply management theory and techniques in the Brown Auditorium of Schneider Hall. There is no cost to attend the talk, which is open to the public.
In addition to more face time with students and faculty, Smith's Friday agenda includes a meeting with University officials to discuss possible collaboration in 2003, when both WMU and Harley-Davidson will celebrate centennial anniversaries.
Smith, who works at Harley-Davidson headquarters in Milwaukee, became director of development and purchasing in 1999 after joining the company three years earlier as materials manager of the prototype division. His group launches new products by engaging supply management at the concept stage of design, reduces material cost through a cost management strategy; and develops an original equipment manufacturing, or OEM, supply base that will carry Harley-Davidson into the future.
Before joining Harley-Davidson, Smith worked as an engineer and sourcing manager for General Electric and Motorola. He earned a bachelor's degree at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and master's degrees in management and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a fellow in the Leaders for Manufacturing Program.
Media contact: Jessica English, 616 387-8400, jessica.english@wmich.edu