Dick Kallage, contributor to FMA and The FABRICATOR®, dies at 72

Dick Kallage, co-founder and principal of KDC & Associates, died Feb. 18. He was 72.

In 2002 Kallage co-founded KDC & Associates, a Barrington, Ill.-based firm that specializes in competitiveness, turnaround, and operational performance issues facing small and midmarket manufacturing companies. Over a period of almost two decades, Kallage developed the practical lean methodology, which is especially suitable for high-mix operations, including custom fabricators and machining operations.

Kallage spent most of his life working in some of the world’s most competitive industries. He was particularly successful in turning around underperforming operations and spawning new product lines and stand-alone entities. He spent 14 years at Illinois Tool Works (ITW) in engineering, marketing, and manufacturing managerial positions. He also was involved in a startup effort and was a division general manager.

Following his ITW career, he was with Bourns Inc. for eight years as division president, group vice president, and corporate senior vice president. For 10 years, he was president and CEO of Champion Technologies Inc.

Kallage has published many articles on general management, high-mix operations, and lean processes and was a regular speaker at manufacturing conferences for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl.®. He wrote a monthly column for The FABRICATOR® magazine on improvement and management issues.

A member and past chair of FMA’s Management Advisory Council, Kallage was the organization’s lean expert and senior operations consultant for fabricators and other high-mix manufacturers.

“Dick was tough on the outside, but a teddy bear on the inside. He was a Marine. He was a dog lover too. And he was an incredible lover of the outdoors and an expert fly fisherman. He really hit most of the fly fishing rivers in the United States,” said Jim Warren, a senior director at FMA who worked closely with Dick for more than a decade.

Kallage has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and is the holder of two patents.

He is survived by a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Hospice of the Valley in Arizona.