mc²solutions is a successful, management consultancy that offers its clients personalized service and focused attention. We specialize in implementing effective portfolio, resource and project management systems in new product development.

The company had its beginnings in 1998. Sue Kania, Director of Quality at Lucent Technologies, and Gene Kania, an internal consultant to Lucent in the area of managing new product development projects and operations, collaborated to implement the Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) method for managing projects for Lucent’s flagship product, the 5ESS Switch™ (a multi-billion dollar product employing over 4000 people across 4 countries). To this day, the 5ESS implementation is the largest, most sustained and most successful implementation of its kind.

Under Sue’s leadership over 2 years and with Gene’s consulting, facilitation and training expertise, more than 100 projects were completed using the CCPM method, over 3000 people had been trained, and CCPM tools and reports had replaced the previous project management system. Using CCPM, project cycle times had been reduced over 30% and productivity had improved by 45% while sustaining on-time delivery performance of over 90%.

In 2001, Gene started his own management consultancy to help other companies besides Lucent. Under the banner of “More Capacity Management Consulting & Training”, Gene has helped many companies increase productivity and throughput while improving the quality of life for their employees. Click on Clients and Results to learn more.

In 2004, the name of the company was changed from “More Capacity Management Consulting & Training” (quite a mouthful, isn’t it?) to the simpler mc²solutions. While continuing to pioneer and provide expert consulting in the area of improving EXECUTION in product development operations (using CCPM, risk management methods, etc.), mc²solutions also grew in its offerings and services to clients.

Specifically, mc²solutions was asked by clients to develop a complete solution to the challenge of managing product development operations that most companies faced. This complete solution had to not only address EXECUTION (project management), but ACHIEVABILITY (resource management) and VALUE (portfolio management). After 2 years of effort, and working with selected software partners, mc²solutions released its flagship offering called the VAX System. The VAX System is a complete solution to effectively manage a portfolio of product development projects and can be customized to meet the needs of all companies, no matter their size or their maturity level, in this mission critical area of their business.

Despite this growth, mc²solutions continues to provide its clients with personalized service and focused attention. With our software and consulting partners, we continue to serve large and small clients alike and are able to be responsive whenever a time urgency is identified.

Eugene Kania, Principal

A graduate of the University of Illinois in 1980 with a Masters Degree in Engineering, Gene has been involved in engineering, new product development and business management for over 25 years. As an engineer, Gene worked at Bell Laboratories (Lucent Technologies) and the Professional Services Division of Control Data Corporation.

While Chief Engineer for a large, multi-division, worldwide supplier of engineered, metal bellows, Gene was instrumental in successfully bringing to market some key, new products for several automotive (Chrysler, Ford) and aerospace (Lockheed) customers. Later, as a Business Unit Director for the same company, he was responsible for managing the P&L (profit and loss) for several product and market portfolios.

Gene is a new product development trainer for the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) and is certified as a New Product Development Professional (NPDP). Gene is a member of the Certification committee for PDMA having been active in the development of the exam and the exam prep review.

In 2005, Gene was awarded the designation EMCP (Engineering Management Certification Professional) by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in recognition of his engineering management contributions and achievements over the years.

He is a guest lecturer for the Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He is a sought after speaker and regularly presents for professional organizations like DIA, PMI and ASQ. He also publishes articles on managing product development operations in various professional publications.

Susan M. Kania, Chief Strategy Officer

Sue has over 23 years experience in research and new product development. As an engineer and manager with Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies, she has worked in a variety of areas including hardware, HW/SW architecture, system test, quality, project management and business management.

Sue has a bachelor’s degree in Structural Engineering and a master’s degree in Structural Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.