Willow Oak LLC provides general management expertise and consulting services to middle market companies, including assisting with new product development and launches, manufacturing process improvements, mergers and acquisitions, and filling interim senior management positions. The document provides examples of two clients that Willow Oak partner Roger Breedlove successfully helped by improving manufacturing operations and completing the launch of a new modular high-rise building construction project.

1. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
Willow Oak Operating Partners provides general management expertise to highly engineered
middle market companies on an as required basis.
o NEW PRODUCTS
• Assess/lead commercial development of new products/manufacturing processes,
• Assess technical readiness of new products/new product technologies
• New product launch.
o LAUNCH NEW MANUFACTURING
• Develop/assess manufacturability for new products,
• Develop scalability of new manufacturing processes.
o LAUNCH/RELAUNCH BUSINESSES
• Assist in acquisition due diligence,
• Prepare and execute 100-day operating plans,
• Develop and launch business systems to scale-up new products/businesses,
• Rapidly integrate and de-risk add-on integrations.
o ADVISE COMPANIES/INVESTORS ON OWNERSHIP TRANSITIONS
• Prepare companies for due diligence reviews,
• Manage companies to prepare for sale.
o FILL SENIOR MANAGEMENT POSITION SUDDENLY OPENED

2. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
ROGER MBREEDLOVE – MANUFACTURING & OPERATIONS CASE STUDY
NSI– TIER 1 AUTOMOTIVE STAMPING, WELDING, AND E-COATING
(PAGE 1 OF 1; 273 WORDS)
Company
In 1995, Northern Stamping (NSI), a privately held, $25 million sales, breakeven, Tier 1 automotive
supplier was awarded ~55$ million in annual sales of difficult-to-make, medium and heavy gauge
metal stamping, welded and E-Coated assemblies for the GM’s GMT800 pickup and SUV vehicles.
Situation
The owners brought Roger Breedlove into the company to upgrade the facilities and business
practices, and to launch the new business. Breedlove led the transformation of the company from
its ‘job shop’ stamping operation into a low cost, low error rate, high volume supplier, by
implementing lean manufacturing in all operations and integrated the stamping, Mig and resistance
welding, and E-Coating into a synchronous flow.
Roger Breedlove’s Role
• Expanded press room to 140,000 ft.2
and
added 60,000 ft.2
robotic welding facility.
• Specified, purchased and installed
automatic transfer presses and robotic
Mig welding cells.
• Stamped component pieces to tighter
tolerances to minimize welding costs.
• Instituted pull production.
• Reduced WIP to approximately 3 days’
supply.
• Gained additional sales by offering OEMs
sophisticated CAD topological
optimization of new designs.
• Developed product engineering around
FEA design and forming software.
• Reduced error rates from approximately
450 ppm to 3-5 ppm using pervasive error-proofing.
• Developed closed loop reporting of root
cause deviations against all standards.
• Instituted standardized and frequent
process audits.
Outcome
In 2000, Hilite International, a PE funded automotive roll-up, purchased NSI for $57 million,
providing a net equity return of ~$50 million. (The successor company to NSI was purchased out
of bankruptcy in 1989 for a modest sum.) After the sale in 2000, until Breedlove’s move to Hilite
International in January 2002, NSI generated an additional $42 million in EBITDA.

3. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
ROGER M BREEDLOVE – NEW PRODUCT/TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CASE STUDY
SCR DIESEL EMISSIONS PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
(PAGE 1 OF 1; 326 WORDS)
Company
In 2002 Hilite International, a PE-backed rollup of international Tier 1 automotive suppliers, acquired
Hydraulik Ring from Siemens, a large European automotive supplier. This included a first generation
(Gen I) SCR dosing system. SCR dosing sprays a urea/water mixture into the exhaust stream of diesel
engines upstream of a catalyst, converting NOx into nitrogen and water to meet emissions requirements.
Situation
In 2003 Hilite’s CEO charged Roger Breedlove with assessing the commercial viability of the SCR
product technology. After assessing the worldwide market opportunities (and risks), the future
regulatory requirements to reduce NOx, and competing technologies, Hilite decided to continue
investing in the development of SCR for future sales in Europe, Japan and the US. The initial SCR
technology, Gen I, was based on air atomization of the urea-water, which limited its market to vehicles
with air brakes. Also, Gen I was plagued with design flaws, inherent manufacturing risks and functional
application issues. Breedlove launched and guided a Gen II product with start of production in 2011.
Roger Breedlove’s Role
• Starting with known weaknesses in Gen I,
initiated and set the design goals for Gen
II, including finely atomized spray
without pressurized air.
• Specified SCR product design criteria with
diesel engine manufacturers in the US,
Europe, Japan, Korea, and China.
• Initiated and provided design-choice
oversight for the German engineering
team to develop the Gen II design.
• Recruited non-automotive, chemical
engineering expertise to bridge between
Hilite’s expert mechanical engineering
and unfamiliar urea chemistry and low
pressure spray atomization technology.
• Through this approach, the team developed
a new injector using proprietary PSA
nozzle technology.
• Reduced weight 50% and size 60%.
• Rationalized the patent portfolio to reduce
license costs by $4 million.
Outcome
Production of Gen II SCR started in 2011, and its product technology is recognized as best-in-class
worldwide. In 2011, Hilite was sold for ~$270 million to 3i, a European PE firm. SCR’s 5-year
CAGR of booked sales and estimated EBITDA contributed ~25% of the total 5 year EBITDA
dollars. In 2012, 3i sold the SCR product line to Cummins Engines.
Data prepared in 2011 by Hilite International

4. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
ROGER M BREEDLOVE – MANUFACTURING RELAUNCH
RELAUNCH OF FC MODULAR FACTORY TO COMPLETE B2 MODULAR HIGH-RISE
(PAGE 1 OF 3; 400 WORDS TOTAL)
Company
Forest City Ratner Company, FCRC, a real
estate development company in New York,
NY, developed a modular steel high-rise design
concept to build and assemble a 32 story
apartment building (the world’s tallest modular
building) in Brooklyn. FCRC partnered with
Skanska USA and opened a factory in the
Brooklyn Navy Yard to produce the modules.
The interiors of the steel chassis and their
respective exterior façade walls are completed
in the factory, after which, the completed
modules are trucked to the building site,
adjacent to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn,
where they are hoisted, stacked, aligned and
bolted together.
Situation
In early 2014, FCRC approached Roger
Breedlove to assess the progress of the work at
the factory from a manufacturing perspective.
In August, 2014, the operating partner,
Skanska USA, ceased production and closed
the factory with only 10 stories of the building
complete.
After acquiring the factory, FCRC engaged
Roger Breedlove as interim GM to reopen the
factory, as FC Modular, and complete the
building.B2 Building stopped at tenth floor
August 2014
B2 Building Architectural illustration

5. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
RELAUNCH OF FC MODULAR FACTORY TO COMPLETE B2 MODULAR HIGH-RISE APARTMENT
(PAGE 2 OF 3)
Roger Breedlove’s Role
Led the team which reopened the factory:
• Rehired approximately 120 of the prior
factory workers.
• Directed the developed of a screening and
training program through Brooklyn
Workforce Innovations (BWI) and hired
approximately 100 additional factory
workers.
• Hired and managed production and
associated salaried functional managers.
• Devolved the day-to-day factory work to
senior forepersons who were most
familiar with the sequencing of required
work.
• Rationalized factory space to better
organize long lead-time materials.
• Addressed manufacturing issues at the
factory to insure proper fit and sealing of
modules at the construction site.
• Designed and built a system to report
within day completion and quality check-
offs of all tasks within each module to
both measure production progress and
to maintain Approved Manufacturer
Status per the NYC Department of
Buildings.
• Increased the initial production rate at the
restart of the factory by 300%.
Adjacent Steel Chassis Set in Factory Ready for
Fit-Out.
Ceiling Electrical and Drywall Complete in
Adjacent Modules.
Building Interior and Mate-line Walls on
Layout Table.

6. Willow OakLLC
Operating Partners
3055 Fairfax Road  Cleveland Heights, OH 44118  216.632.0588
21November 2015
RELAUNCH OF FC MODULAR FACTORY TO COMPLETE B2 MODULAR HIGH-RISE APARTMENT BUILDING
(PAGE 3 OF 3)
Outcome
Based on the success of the factory operation
after it was reopened and the resolution of the
fit and sealing of the modules at the
construction site, in July 2015, FCRC hired a
permanent President to complete the B2
Building, secure a new building contract and
find new investors to grow the FC Modular
business.
Completed Kitchen in Module.
B2 Modular Building at Pacific Park Development,
Brooklyn NY. 17 Floors ~ 50% Complete.
Bathroom and Kitchen Hard surface Walls and
Counters Staged for Installation in Modules.
Completed walls ready to install
in modules.