DETROIT (BRAIN) — Detroit Bikes has hired Chris Kiesling as chief operating officer. Kiesling will focus on strengthening and expanding Detroit Bikes’ manufacturing operations to meet growing customer demand.
In addition to manufacturing its own signature bicycles in 2016, Detroit Bikes will manufacture thousands of bikes for New Belgium Brewery, in concert with other custom manufacturing contracts. Detroit Bikes also recently entered into an agreement to be a key supply chain partner for a major U.S. bike share provider. This agreement involves various aspects of production for several thousand bikes annually.
Kiesling joins Detroit Bikes from DTE Energy where he served as a plant manager.
“This is a critical time,” he said. “Now we transition from a company that produced a thousand bikes a year into one that can produce thousands each month. ”
“The Detroit Bikes factory is configured in a way that is well-suited to an increase of this scale. We need to analyze throughput and effectively use the tools we have at our disposal to ensure successful growth,” Kiesling added.
To handle the increased workload, Detroit Bikes is adding additional positions including welders, wheel builders, powder-coaters, and bike assemblers.
“Things are moving very fast for Detroit Bikes,” said Detroit Bikes founder and president, Zak Pashak. “Bringing Chris aboard strengthens our management team at a crucial time. His leadership, and process engineering skill are what we need to continue to grow.”
Kiesling graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in chemical engineering before earning his masters of business administration from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining DTE, Kiesling worked for National Industrial Maintenance and the National Steel Corporation.
