Eric Garnatz
KX Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
In My Own Words
I understand the challenges faced by growing companies. No matter the size or years in business, the challenges, especially product development/creation, client management, team leadership, and operations, are the same just scaled differently.
My passion lies in ensuring improved efficiency and productivity of an organization. Bringing multifunctional experience creating and executing highly successful products, I have achieved revenue growth and market expansion. I am an excellent collaborator, communicator, and creative problem-solver recognized for empowering teams and improving processes to achieve profitability. Able to identify market opportunities and translate business needs into technical requirements to deliver features and functionality to provide a competitive advantage, I am adept at visioning solutions, gaining senior stakeholder support and measuring product KPIs.
Areas of Expertise: - Product Creation - Strategy Development - Product Costing - Conceptual Design Development - QA / Product Testing and Methodologies - Regional Sourcing - Product Commercialization - Design for Manufacturing
Work Experience
Director of Product Creation - Footwear, Apparel, and Accessories
KX Inc.2023 – Present
- Cultivate relationships with new clientele regarding potential engagements to identify and mitigate risks associated within each product/project. - Set and drive revenue/profitability targets in all teams and product categories, owning financial performance within Product Creation/Development. - Deliver monthly communications on progress, challenges, and opportunities to support the CEO and executive board.
Manager of Product Development-Footwear and Accessories
TravisMathew Apparel2022 – 2023
- Negotiated profitable product costs and contract terms (lead times and MOQ) with vendors/manufacturers to achieve sales and margin goals. - Led, developed, and mentored the product development team while identifying capacity issues and building roadmaps to identify additional team members. - Managed our product testing and "athlete/player services" responsibilities to ensure that product had superior fit and quality for both our customers and PGA tour sponsored players.
Manager of Product Development - Cuater Brand at TravisMathew Apparel
TravisMathew Apparel2022 – 2023
Senior Product Developer - Footwear
TravisMathew Apparel2021 – 2022
- Initiated the creation of cost breakdown documents with our vendors to allow for negotiation of price based on tracking of specific seasonal material and labor costs. - Created a product testing program that ensured quality, fit and performance of our footwear product for both lifestyle and golf categories. - With the signing of PGA tour players, instituted a program to created customized footwear based on each of their specific fit requirements using 3D scanning technology.
Design for Manufacturing Lead
Arc'teryx Equipment2019 – 2021
- Drove design for manufacturing principles early in the product creation process by collaborating within Design, Advanced Concepts, Product Development, Quality and Manufacturing spaces. - Established manufacturability, quality, repairability, and serviceability by ensuring cross-functional teams manage communication of downstream implications within product creation expectations. - Evolved Design Center creation/local ARC’One factory manufacturing team communication through process, documentation, and standardization.
Product Development/Project Management Consultant
Incident Knowledge Resources, Inc.2019 – 2019
- Developed presentations for national speaking engagements in collaboration with the company president. - Oversaw the completion of consulting project contracts and project timeline between clients and IKR.
Director Of Product Development - Nike Footwear
Flex2017 – 2019
- Directed the product development team delivering products that surpass customer expectations (fit, design, performance, manufacturability, and quality). - Led the facility commercialization and production team in the Nike process and standards of product excellence. - Drove the automated innovation initiative discussions and application into seasonal product design intent. - Built collaborative/customer focused cross-functional teams processes for Development, Technical Engineering, Materials, Commercialization, Quality, and Costing to ensure product integrity.
Senior Technical Manager Originals, Running, American Cleated Sports, Snow and Skate categories
adidas2007 – 2015
- Spearheaded Adidas product initiatives through development and commercialization in three product categories, accounting for ~ 20% of the full seasonal line plan. - Achieved on-time sample delivery (Development, Testing, and Sales/Marketing) by managing seasonal calendar deadlines. - Cultivated lines of communication with production factory offices in Asia for manufacturing of brand products.
EDM / CNC Machinist and Programmer - Tooling, Aerospace, High Tech, and Medical Device Manufacturing
Davis Tool2000 – 2006
EDM Department Lead - High Tech, Medical Device, Consumer Goods Manufacturing
Advanced EDM Concepts1993 – 2000
Education
Northview High School
1989 – 1993
Bachelor of Arts - BA
Global Outreach Virtual Edu.2016 – 2019
Skills: Skilled Multi-tasker · Office 365
Certification
National Tool and Machining Association Training Center1995 – 1998
CNC Manufacturing and Toolmaking CMI/GDT/CMM Certification
