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One of Atlanta’s top contract manufacturers has announced a CEO transition that will take one of the city’s leading voices on global manufacturing out of day-to-day operations.
East West Manufacturing founder and CEO Scott Ellyson, who co-founded the company and shepherded it from a primarily China-focused sourcing shop 25years ago to a globally integrated system spanning seven countries today, will move into the chairman role June 15 to make room for new executive leadership.
Over more than two decades, Mr. Ellyson became sought after across Atlanta’s manufacturing and international affairs circuits for his ability to simplify the complexities of outsourcing, supply-chain resilience and global competition, injecting dollars-and-cents reality into discussions that often veered toward the political.
Ryan Flynn, the new CEO, seems equipped to follow in those footsteps. Mr. Flynn boasts 25 years of industrial experience across three continents, including service as president of the connect and control division of engineered components giant ITT Inc. and Konecranes PLC, the Finnish producer of ship-to-shore cranes. Most recently, he served as managing director of the North America region for The Weir Group plc, a Scottish mining equipment firm.
Mr. Flynn was also educated globally, holding a bachelor’s of commerce degree from the University of South Africa and an MBA from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
“I am confident Ryan will build on our strong culture and people, engineering-first business model, and global manufacturing footprint advancing the company’s strategic vision,” Mr. Ellyson said in a news release.
For his part, Mr. Flynn welcomed the opportunity to “lead an organization that is known for solving complex engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain challenges.”
East West Manufacturing started in 2001 as a spinoff of metro Atlanta-based Diversitech, for which Mr. Ellyson was leading sourcing and logistics in Asia. He joined forces with Jeff Sweeney to set up East West, helping other manufacturers gain access to the arbitrage provided by purchasing key components in Asia. Mr. Ellyson spearheaded a motors joint venture in China that East West maintains today. (Its longtime partner, Changzhou Baojie Motors, recently opened a new induction motor plant in Thailand).
Soon, it became evident that customers would want a hedge against China, and East West opened a factory in Vietnam, then a sourcing office in India.
About a decade ago, it tapped private equity to fuel an acquisition streak that has netted facilities in Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada and across the United States, positioning the company well for the post-pandemic focus on near-shoring in the Western Hemisphere.
