Brian Drees named ODW Logistics Senior Director of Operational Excellence

Brian Drees has joined ODW Logistics as its new Senior Director of Operational Excellence.

Drees will lead ODW’s continuous improvement strategy for the growing third-party logistics (3PL) company. His focus will be standardizing and refining operational systems, inventory controls, and best practices for improving operation performance to drive cost and service advantages to ODW clients.

“Brian’s experience in evaluating operations for process improvement opportunities makes him a great fit to lead ODW to greater levels of operational excellence,” said ODW President Ted Nikolai.

Drees has more than 25 years of management/engineering experience, with almost 20 years in distribution. He spent 10 years with direct selling company Thirty-One Gifts where he led teams in process improvements, material handling equipment projects, system projects, productivity accountability, and other key operational initiatives. He was instrumental in expanding the company’s network in 16 months from one 80,000-square-foot facility to four facilities in excess of 1.5 million square feet.

“As we standardize our core processes and tools, current clients will realize operational efficiencies that deliver competitive advantages to their supply chain. New clients benefit greatly because the time to ramp up their business is reduced, and efficiencies are realized sooner,” said Drees. “For me, operational excellence is about striving to exceed your customer’s expectations and developing the culture to support it.”

Drees is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He and his wife live in Columbus, Ohio and have two college-age sons.