BENSENVILLE, IL--We're privileged to welcome Fred Kessler, consultant with the Bourton Group, to the Uncommon Sense column in ASSEMBLY. Kessler is joining last month's columnist, Andy Magee, and other consultants at the Bourton Group, as a contributor to Uncommon Sense.

Kessler has more than 37 years of manufacturing management experience. As area engineer supervisor for Abbot Laboratories, he oversaw the design and installation of facilities improvements. As vice president of manufacturing for American Atomics Corp., a high-volume producer of radio-luminescent light sources, Kessler was responsible for manufactur-ing, engineering and facilities man-agement functions.

Kessler holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago. He is a contributing author for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and a faculty member at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.