KCH Engineered Services' parent company, the ECS Companies, appointed Gary Kessinger as Chief Executive Officer.
Kessinger is a proven operations executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience. He has increased profitability, improved operational processes, scaled production, and prioritized talent development and employee engagement across numerous manufacturing industries, including plastics and metal foundries.
In his most recent role as Chief Executive Officer of Lee Brass Foundry, he grew sales by 20% by increasing production capacity and diversifying the company’s customer base, developing new product lines, investing in talent, upgrading equipment, and improving operational efficiency and safety culture. Kessinger led Lee Brass’s efforts to develop new infrastructure projects, securing an exclusive production contract. He also improved product costing and pricing systems to stabilize price fluctuations for important longstanding customers during a time of volatility in raw materials costs. Furthermore, he stabilized the workforce in a tight labor market by reducing turnover and hiring new talent across engineering, safety management, and production management roles.
“The addition of Gary is a big step forward for the ECS Companies,” Jones says.
Kessinger succeeds Jeff Jones, who will retain the title of President and Chief Commercial Officer of ECS Environmental Solutions. Jones will shift his full focus to ECS Environmental, growing the company’s customer base and industry applications. Jones was one of three founding members of ECS Environmental and remained fully engaged in the company's operations.
“The addition of Gary is a big step forward for the ECS Companies,” Jones says. “My passion is developing a new processes and products, and focusing on technology and the customer experience. Gary will allow me to get back to my roots and concentrate on what makes ECS the North American Leader in air pollution control and odor control technology.”
In late 2022, The ECS Companies added Landry McDuffie to the leadership team as President and General Manager of KCH Surface Finishing. Prior to joining KCH, Landry held leadership positions at Moen, Mueller Water Products, and Columbus McKinnon.
“I look forward to leading KCH Engineered Systems in support of the ECS Companies' overall success,” McDuffie says. “Working in concert with Jeff Jones, I am excited to support Gary in his new role as CEO for the ECS Companies.”
“ECS and KCH products are innovative, high-quality solutions positioned in growing markets,” he says
Kessinger says he is thrilled to join ECS companies.
“ECS and KCH products are innovative, high-quality solutions positioned in growing markets,” he says. “I am confident that Jeff, Landry, and I—alongside our talented teams—will find new applications for our products, uncover ways to make our production processes more efficient, develop our talent, and ultimately grow our sales to scale the success of both organizations.”
In business since 1929, The ECS Companies provide highly engineered solutions for the air pollution and surface finishing industries. In 2019, ECS expanded its product and market reach by purchasing Heil Air Pollution and KCH Engineered Systems. Prior to the acquisition, ECS focused on municipal odor control, becoming a strong market leader. Heil Air Pollution Control added significant capabilities, including a line of fiberglass fans, and expanded ECS’s reach into the industrial markets.
The addition of KCH Systems deepened ECS’s vertical integration adding extensive thermoplastic fabrication capabilities and introduced offerings into the niche surface finishing market sector. The ECS Companies (ECS, KCH and Heil) have production facilities in Texas and North Carolina totaling 175,000 square feet. The companies’ fabrication expertise and capabilities include composite (FRP), thermoplastic (PP, PVC, etc.) and metallic (carbon, stainless, aluminum, and exotics).
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