Who we Are
Founded by K. A. Umamaheswar in 2018, True North Solutions
is a diverse group of highly-skilled change consultants
and strategic operations leaders across the globe
with deep industry expertise in finance, IT, manufacturing,
healthcare, engineering, startups, and more.
K.A.Umamaheswar
Founder/CEO, Lean Practitioner
Uma started True North Solutions with a mission to share his Lean experience with aspiring companies, to help them make quantum leaps towards their long-term strategic “True North goals.” With 20+ years of leadership experience spanning the globe in India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the U.S, Uma has worked for reputed Fortune 500 companies like GE, Flex, Amazon, Google, and Snap. Uma is a certified Six Sigma and Lean Black Belt from GE and developed his Lean skillset “on-the-job.” Having served in multi-site operational leadership positions, Uma has owned business challenges with end-to-end responsibilities for the customer, financials, and people.
A true change agent who continuously challenges the status quo, Uma has turned businesses around with significant improvements in financial metrics, worked with customers to transfer multi-million dollar product manufacturing operations with immense leaps in productivity, and coaching teams on problem-solving. Uma credits the Lean approach to problem solving as his strategic weapon in bringing about such proven results. It is this unique, hands-on, business-oriented Lean experience that shares as a coach to aspiring companies. Uma deeply enjoys working with leaders and teams who want to take bold steps to achieve competitiveness through Lean transformation.
Priya Kanesin
Senior Consultant/Lean Practitioner
Priya Kanesin is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has more than 18 years in the industry. Her expertise revolves around transformation activities in manufacturing and strategic operations planning. Through exposure to global change projects large and small, Priya has learned how to apply transformation practices across cultural divides while learning to harness the best possible outcome for each case. Understanding the nuances of business processes has always been Priya’s interest and priority. She enjoys tapping into hidden opportunities for performance improvement and setting clear, sustainable metrics.
With Industry 4.0 and digital transformation taking off at light speed, Priya is excited about the future and sees the opportunity to help companies create so much more value for customers. Priya has spent more than 16 years within EMS across multiple functions and leadership roles (Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Lean, Program Management) supporting key manufacturing sites and driving improvement activities with clients ranging from networking and consumer goods to medical technology. She has traversed the globe supporting international assignments across Asia, Europe & the Americas driving business excellence in lean supply chain and operations. Priya has been a Lean Black Belt certified practitioner since 2010 and is certified in Planning and Inventory Management (CPIM- APICS).
Ram Mohan
Senior Consultant/Lean Practitioner
Ram has over thirty years’ experience in manufacturing and plant management functions and is based in India. He is a seasoned consultant and has particular expertise in manufacturing, maintenance, quality assurance, supply chain management and project planning.
Ram’s passion is the development of Operational Excellence irrespective of product, process or the business environment. He has a natural ability to help clients’ teams identify and eliminate Non Value Adding activities in their organizations and deliver greatly improved service and cost performance as a result.
With extensive international expertise, including in India, China, USA, Canada, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa, Ram brings a confident and perceptive approach to working with global clients and local factory teams; bridging any cultural differences with aplomb to gain the best client outcomes.
Ram is a champion of Kaizen Breakthrough Methodology and has a proven track record coaching and implementing time based Lean principles to help manufacturers achieve unprecedented efficiencies and performance improvement – on the shop floor and in business processes and throughout the value chain. He is an expert of creating, leading and delivering a world class Tiered Visual performance Management system, focusing on People and the Processes, leading to high Performance level in the organization.
Ram held senior level positions across a range of industries. For 20 years, he worked for Honda Power Products in India where he was responsible for manufacturing and plant management functions. For the last 12 years, Ram has consulted extensively in engineering, process and apparel industries and has transformed their business performances and the shop floor performances to unprecedented levels.
Steve Phinney
Senior Consultant/Lean Practitioner
Steve is based in Seattle, Washington, USA, and has over 20 years of Hands-on experience designing and deploying Business Process Transformations (Lean Six Sigma) and Strategy/Change Management solutions. Project experience includes: leading and implementing enterprise wide Lean Six Sigma deployments, coaching and mentoring Six Sigma White, Yellow, Green and Black Belts, designing and conducting end-user training, project management, business process design/re-engineering, requirements analysis, designing and conducting software feasibility analysis studies, facilitating executive strategy development sessions using Hoshin and other approaches. Steve has leadership experience in all aspects of preparing for and conducting Kaizen (Lean Six Sigma) workshops and full scale DMAIC events, through to implementation. Steve’s professional education includes General Electric and American Society for Quality certified Black Belt. He is also certified to teach and execute TRIZ, the “Theory of Inventive Problem Solving,” approach to innovation, along with “Blue Ocean” strategy for creating new markets. Steve also has over 17 years experience applying, teaching and mentoring organizations in the use of Process Modeling and Simulation. Steve also served in the US Military as a Major in the Aviation field. He maintains his rating as a Commercial Instrument Helicopter Pilot along with a passion for SCUBA diving and hiking in the great Northwest and the world. He also enjoys reading and the arts.
Santosh Awasarkar
Senior Consultant/Lean Practitioner
Santosh is the co-founder of a startup that specializes in building an AI platform for transformational analytics, in which he holds a provisional patent. He knows that predicting the future to guarantee business survival may be the technology grail but with an intense passion for predictive analytics, he heads towards that direction by designing, deploying and monitoring predictive analytical models for businesses to react to changes and sail towards their goals. Santosh has more than 15 years of global experience in facilitating 500+ transformational projects using both the classic Lean Six Sigma methods as well as other techniques like BASES, MLLM, DE2S, and others. With Digital Transformation activities mushrooming across businesses, he is excited to see small and mid-sized companies transform their competencies and ultimately their bottom-line through Lean thinking. He holds a Six Sigma Black Belt/Master Black Belt and is a certified Lean and PMP practitioner.
Santosh is an avid traveler, always observing the marriage of technology with daily life and looking for inspiration. During his recent travels, he observed a deaf man communicating with a friend through a video call. Technology has enhanced phone communication in ways most people take completely for granted. This is the power of technology… it brings inspires endless possibilities. In hands of technology, Santosh finds the future really exciting.
Eshwar Sundaresan
Business Transformation Catalyst
Eshwar Sundaresan begins every day by renewing his resolve to lead the most meaningful life possible. Each day unfolds differently, according to his schedule and the hats he wears each day. As a trainer, he brings energy, focus, and a spirit of inquiry to classrooms. He offers meritorious ideas, but is not attached to them. Powerful ideas germinate in the minds of individuals and mutate according to the needs of the host. He sees his job as delivering powerful ideas with panache and passion.
As a counsellor and mentor, Eshwar spends hours with every client, helping them discover what makes them tick. Whether he’s talking to a person feeling suicidal or an ambitious middle-manager, he provides a safe space for honest introspection. That’s where breakthroughs happen. Eshwar likes nothing better than to customize training programs according to the needs of the client. He believes in rendering a unique flavour to every workshop he conducts. In 2003, Eshwar quit a lucrative career in IT to go out on his own. In the next decade, he won awards for his writing and authored books like Behind the Silicon Mask; Bangalored: the Expat Story; God Save the Toddy; Age-old Tales; and Wiser After. Eshwar has also developed and implemented comprehensive training programs for communities and institutions to help eradicate child sexual abuse.
Carl Alleto
Quality/Regulatory Consultant
Carl Alletto has a broad range of experience in the development and implementation of Quality Assurance Principles, Software Quality Processes, ISO Registration/Certification, and FDA Good Manufacturing Practices.
He has over 30 years of experience in the medical device industry in R&D, regulatory and quality assurance fields and has worked in both Europe and the USA. Carl has successfully developed strategies and submitted over 100 FDA premarket notifications, (510(k) submissions), for medical imaging devices, X-ray film handling equipment, medical laser printers, and Picture, Archiving, and Communication Systems.
Carl is a Certified Quality Manager, Quality Auditor, and Software Quality Engineer by the American Society for Quality (ASQ).With his deep and wide experience in Quality/Regulatory fields, especially in the medical industry, Carl helps organizations charter this tricky and challenging terrain by providing wise counsel on launching products, creating a structured roadmap for a QMS/Regulatory system implementation, and the ongoing upkeep of such systems.
Jayanthy S
Business Analyst
Jayanthy is a seasoned software professional and problem solver with a business analysis background in digital, channels, credit cards, banking, and logistics domains. She has 13+ years experience working with global companies and has been a part of high performance teams in Singapore, the UK, and India. To date, she has delivered projects across digital banking, credit card application initiatives, and BAU projects.
Jayanathy’s expertise is in functional architecture analysis, customer / online data analysis, and requirements gathering. She developed her acumen in conceptualizing green-field and blue-sky projects and in delivering working prototypes. She is skilled in coordinating across parties and vendor agencies that are cross-functional, multi-cultural, and/or of different sizes. Thanks to her global, multi-cultural experience and excellent interpersonal skills, she knows how to build healthy, productive working relationships with teams and influence positive outcomes.
Uday Kishor
Advisor, IT Services
Uday Kishor is certified SAP, Agile, and cloud professional with over 16 years of experience in IT Business covering ERP solutions, consulting of various software products, solutions and applications in areas of SAP, Business Intelligence, Cloud infrastructure and Operations, Information & Data Security including Governance, Risk, and Compliance. He has been associated in senior technical management positions with global organizations like Deloitte Consulting, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, Tyco, Accenture, and Tata. Uday has extensive experience in Enterprise Architecture, Systems Integration, led SAP global Implementations (FI, SD, SCM, MDM, CRM modules), and supported critical enterprise applications in 24×7 and Follow the sun model. He has also managed multiple international IT Transition and Transformation projects and has expertise in managing offshore-onshore teams in T&M and fixed and variable projects. Uday currently lives in Hyderabad with his wife and two daughters and has prior work experience in EU, US, and Singapore. He is passionate about traveling and learning different cultures and traditions.
Sudhir K
Advisor, Cloud Architecture/Artificial Intelligence
Srini Reddy
Senior Consultant
Srini is a seasoned business leader and general manager with 11+ years of leadership experience. Srini is currently involved with couple of early stage companies setting up their operations. Prior to this he worked as Sr. Director – Business excellence at Flex. Srini started his career in 1989 and has worked in Consultancy and Electronics manufacturing. Since 2007 he has been leading as general manager and Managing director in some of the major Electronics MNCs – Flex, Lite on & AT&S.
In his 25+ years career, Srini has worked as a Industrial engineering consultant and in various functions spanning – Production, Planning & Shop floor control, Logistics, SCM, Customer Service, Operations Management, and General Management. Prior to the current assignment, Srini worked with some of the leading EMS companies in the major customer ecosystems: Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, GE, Major tier 1 Auto suppliers (Hella, TRW, Visteon). Srini’s experience includes broad leadership roles in Green field project setup, Ramp ups, Mergers and Turn around management, and transformation work. He has subject matter expertise in Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain management, Lean & Six Sigma. Srini holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mech) from MIT, Manipal, Post Graduate diploma In Industrial engineering, National Productivity Council, eMBA- Helsinki School of Economics (Aalto). He also holds a CPIM (Certified Production and Inventory Management) from APICS.
Rajeev Awasthi
Business Transformation Consultant
Rajeev is an Engineering Professional with 25+ years of operational & supply Chain management experience in global consumer product companies, like Sony, LG Electronics, Nokia, Flextronics, across functions including setting up manufacturing operations with P&L responsibility and handling up-stream supply chain management.
Proficient in Sourcing, Procurement, Materials Management, Research & development, product planning, Quality management system & handling outsourcing business model providing value through process innovations & Implemented RPA.
Proven success in driving benchmarks, defining competitive strategies and growth initiatives, mapping business processes, designing process improvements for reducing cost, enhancing business volumes and growth, and improving Top line & bottom-line results.
Rajeev is an Electrical Engineer, Six Sigma Black belt certified since 2002, completed Supply Chain Management program from IIM-Ahmedabad & Certified Purchasing & Supply Chain Manager (CPSCM) program by University of Houston
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