Lalitha SIVANESAN joined Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. in September 2017 as a Senior Industrial Engineer (IE). She has held multiple lead IE roles in strategic, current and new programs.
In her first months with the company, she developed an improved method of establishing trades using takt-based calculation which is being benchmarked and used in all new programs. Lalitha was promoted to a Principal Architect within a year and a half and Chief Architect six months later. She established herself as an instrumental member of the Advanced Manufacturing Strategy organization and was responsible for the design of "Engineered Factory" principles that is being used to implement Future Factory projects. She was then promoted to Senior Manager in 2021. In October 2023, she developed the strategy for Operation Transformation, and in January 2024, she was awarded the title of Distinctive Capability Leader for Engineered Factory. She is one of six Distinctive Capability Leaders for Spirit AeroSystems.
Prior to joining Spirit, Lalitha served as Project Manager at Electromech Technologies, where she managed new product introduction from development to FAA qualification testing, to pilot build, to production handoff. Prior to this role, she was a Continuous Improvement Manager in AGCO and a Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor in Case New Holland where she was promoted to the World Class Manufacturing Site Leader within one year of employment. She managed, coached and was one of the key members that assisted in culture change for these organizations to move toward World Class.
Preceding her tenure at Electromech, she served in several positions such as: Project Manager at Thermadyne, Sr. Manufacturing Engineer at Victor Equipment, Sr. Industrial Engineer at Tweco Products, Robotics Industrial Engineer at Tweco Products and Paint Industrial Engineer at General Motors Fairfax. She has also served as an Adjunct Instructor at Friends University.
Lalitha earned her bachelor’s of science degree and a master’s of science degree in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University, specialized in Lean Manufacturing and Quality Management. She was trained and became a trainer for Fiat World Class Manufacturing for the Case New Holland Site.
Lalitha was born and raised in Malaysia. She moved to the U.S. in 1996 to further her education. She and her husband, Nallu, have twin 11-year-old boys, Dharmik and Kaushik.
Siva BALASUBRAMANIAN is Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering and Digital Operations for Spirit AeroSystems.
He is responsible for the Manufacturing Engineering and Digital Operations Teams across all domestic sites and taking the Spirit production system to the digital world including the strategic approach to Industrialization.
Prior to this role, Balasubramanian was the Director of Production Engineering with Triumph Aero Structures in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has also held numerous other leadership and management positions with Spirit, Triumph and Hawker Beechcraft companies in Production and Manufacturing Engineering as well as Quality.
During Balasubramanian’s prior to employment with Spirit, he has successfully led teams to improve the manufacturing processes of complete composite and metallic fuselage line, a wing assembly lines and composite and metallic fabrication sub-assemblies. During his stay at Spirit, he led the establishment of McAlester 3 & 4 Axis Center of Excellence and was instrumental in automating the nutplate assembly process in Tulsa, Balasubramanian brings a diversified manufacturing knowledge of automotive, agricultural farm machinery and aircraft with his manufacturing experience.
He holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and a Master of Business Administration, focusing on Finance, both from Wichita State University. He also has several certifications: Certified Production and Inventory Manager (CPIM – APICS), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP – APICS), Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB – ASQ), Certified Quality Engineer (CQE – ASQ).
He resides in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife and one daughter. He enjoys spending time with his family doing cooking and watching movies with them.