Profile
Stephen Armstrong has over 25 years of success, leading C-level strategic change and business transformation initiatives, with an initial pedigree in the aerospace and defense industry and then spreading to other sectors. Included are over 20 large-scale enterprise-wide operational turnaround assignments, in technologically complex environments. In 2010 Armstrong began teaching as an Adjunct Lecturer in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, at the University of Toronto, and in 2014 was appointed Professor of Innovation in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.
Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Armstrong built his leadership capability on a practical foundation as a engineering technologist, and aerospace manufacturing engineer after serving a 5 year higher technical apprenticeship at Short Brothers and Harland (Bombardier Aerospace)-Belfast. His engineering specialty was the development of manufacturing processes and tooling for aircraft production including advanced aerospace composite materials. In 1984 he qualified as a Chartered Mechanical Engineer (CEng, MIMechE) – Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, UK. He later qualified as a Provincially licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada. After a period as an industrial systems engineer and manager of manufacturing engineering at ABB he changed career direction and entered the management consulting industry in 1988 with KPMG becoming principal in charge of the advanced manufacturing system practice in Canada being responsible for numerous ERP and CAD/CAM implementations. He pioneered the development of business process management, and business transformation services in large scale engineering driven enterprises with a deep speciality in aerospace engineering and product development management.
His first entrepreneurial venture was in 1993, founding AMGI Management Inc, an Innovation Management company specializing in leading long term Strategic Change Initiatives, initially in the aerospace and defense sector. These initiatives were long term retainer based initially in operations management, enterprise wide systems implementation, engineering and product development management, and Company wide Business Transformation Initiatives.
He has led over 30 senior executive steering committees and built over 300 plus self-directed work teams in every functional business discipline to achieve dramatic improvement results.
Initiatives have spanned companies size from a family owned start up business with 10 employees to large multi-division enterprises with 20,000 plus employees.
The bottom line results include:
– product development time-to-market reduction of up to 50%
– revenue growth (20-400%)
– cost reduction (30-50%);
– sustainable performance improvement.
He is an author for Cambridge University Press and the Industrial Press, New York, USA.
Click on this link to see the list of many books, guidebooks and papers.
This groundbreaking work has been recognized in the over 70 public presentations and workshops that Armstrong has delivered.
Click here to see some of the past speaking engagements.
This expertise led to Armstrong receiving a teaching appointment in 2009 at the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. He was appointed as an Adjunct Lecturer, then Adjunct Professor in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and in 2014 Professor of Innovation, in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. In 2015 he was appointed as professor in the Toronto Institute for Advanced Manufacturing (TIAM). In 2017 he received an appointment to teach the first ever course on Aerospace Manufacturing Operations and Engineering Management at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).
In 2012 he received an appointment as Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster, London, Department of Business Psychology. He is an academic advisor in the department of Business Psychology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
He is pioneering the development of new graduate level courses for Engineers and Applied Scientists delivering to over 2,000 graduate M.Eng students. These are in the fields of the Management of Innovation, Applying Innovation, Operations and Production Management, Organizational Design, Engineering and Product Development Management, Aerospace Engineering and Operations Management, Business Process Management, Management Consulting, and the History and Philosophy of Engineering.
Relevant Strategic Management Assignments:
Stephen has led C-Level change initiatives across a wide range of industries. His success in this broadly diversified group of industries has proven that his methodologies and techniques are transferable across a variety of industry sectors and functions. Some of the key assignments include:
Aerospace – Defense
Civilian Aerospace
Newspaper and Media
Industrial Equipment
Consumer Goods
Electronics and High Tech
Information Technology
Building Products
Small Medium Enterprises and Individual Entrepreneurs
Early Profile
Stephen grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland serving a 5-year aeronautical engineer higher technical apprenticeship with Short Brothers, and Harland (Bombardier Aerospace). He specialized in manufacturing engineering – tool design & development. As aeronautical apprentice engineer he attended the South Eastern Regional College – Lisburn Institute, and earned the City & Guilds London Institute Full Technological Cert Diploma in mechanical engineering with a major in engineering production.
Following the apprenticeship he attended the London Polytechnic-University of Westminster, UK earning a BSc Honours Engineer Degree (CNAA) in mechanical engineering. He then qualified as a UK Chartered Mechanical Engineer (C.Eng MIMechE) and in 2002 was elected a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE).
He is a licensed professional engineer (P.Eng) in Ontario, Canada.
His initial specialization was in aerospace manufacturing engineering focusing on the development of manufacturing processes for aerospace composite materials (Lear Fan Aircraft fabrication and assembly, Dash 8-leading edge, Apache Helicopter rotor blade). He obtained his first management position with ABB-Brown Boveri joining as an Industrial Systems Engineer and then Manager of manufacturing engineering. He served on a team to implement the Honeywell ERP / MRPII system becoming the trainer of all company personnel. He then joined Honeywell as a manufacturing systems consultant in the marketing department leading a campaign to deliver Computer Integrated Manufacturing, and Computer Aided Design systems solutions across Canada.
After 18 months in marketing he decided to develop his strategic management strengths and in 1988 joined the consulting firm KPMG (Stevenson Kellogg Ernst & Whinney) in Toronto. Working through the ranks he became principal in charge of advanced manufacturing systems.
In 1992 he qualified as a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) from the Institute of Certified Management Consultants Canada while with KPMG. He has received many awards and declarations for his work.