Trailblazing Engineer. Award-Winning Leader.
Easton D. Rhodes is a results-driven industrial engineering leader with over a decade of experience advancing process optimization, statistical modeling, and efficiency across aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and supply chain.
He currently serves as Senior Industrial Engineer, Manufacturing Research and Development at Bell Flight, where he leads digital modeling, simulation, and process optimization techniques to support the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. Easton's work focuses on improving manufacturing workflows for FLRRA components and subsystems, reducing lifecycle costs, and integrating human factors engineering to enhance system performance and sustainment.
Previously, Rhodes held leadership roles for fortune 500 companies Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Carrier Corporation, and Caterpillar.
At Boeing, he led a recovery plan project at the Miami Distribution Center that saved $1.5 million dollars and helped write a design practice for supply chain production system for the Seattle IE Core team. His work at Lockheed Martin included capacity analysis and statistical quality control for the F-22 program, while at Carrier he delivered $80K in annual savings through lean transformation and value stream mapping. Earlier in his career at Caterpillar, he developed workflow layouts, preventive maintenance systems, and time studies that significantly improved plant efficiency. Rhodes also led a large SAP capacity project that helped support future growth and expansion and was awarded Management Engineering Employee of the Month in 2014.
Recognized as a proven leader in operation excellence, Rhodes has successfully led Kaizen events, applied Six Sigma methodologies, and leveraged advanced analytics tools to optimize production, staffing, and ERP systems. His leadership and technical expertise have earned honors including the BEYA Modern-Day Technology Leader Award (2024), BEYA Boeing Future Leaders Alumnus (2024), and a Boeing Cash Award Certificate (2023).
Education
- Master of Business Administration, Management, Strayer University, 2024
- Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering Technology, South Carolina State University, 2010
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, 2014
- Carrier Excellence Certification, 2021