Derek Muller Email & Phone Number

With more than 30 years' experience as an engineer and project manager, Derek will bring experience, creativity, and innovative solutions to your project. He has a passion for product development and project management and it shows in his continuous drive for achieving the best results.

Orem, Ut, Us

• Lead a cross-functional team of VIA Motors and supplier engineers overseeing every aspect of the interior design for all VIA Motors vehicle configurations.• Facilitate weekly problem-solving workshops to create a production-ready and fully validated vehicle that is compliant with safety standards in multiple global regions.• Develop and execute a plan to meet or exceed program cost targets with a focus on design for manufacturing, design for assembly, low capital investment through modularity, and strategic materials selection.• Direct and collaborate with studio artists and designers, incorporating industry best practices for industrial design, ergonomics, and human factors to create a visually appealing and functional interior environment.• Conduct regular design and KPI reviews with senior managers, vehicle partition leaders, suppliers, and other key stakeholders.

• Serve as the primary customer facing liaison for OEM clients. Lead financial negotiations, discussions of product deviations, resolved disagreements, and coordinated change management activities.• Develop program master schedule for the design, validation, and industrialization phases.• Create and facilitate recovery plans when timing or budget deviations arise.• Lead Core and APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) Teams by setting daily priorities for cross functional team members to meet established performance and quality goals.• Function as primary liaison between manufacturers and internal business units to ensure coordination of financial, engineering, and quality compliance. • Lead weekly reviews of key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify opportunities for financial improvements, product enhancements, and manufacturing optimization.• Conduct detailed cost analyses and create a comprehensive make vs buy strategy for complex programs with large bill of materials (BOMs).• Publish monthly reports highlighting open issues, financial performance, and risks/opportunities. Present the reports in monthly reviews for local, regional, and global senior managers.• Respond to OEM requests for quotation, manage internal purchase order creation, track internal work orders.

• Managed a team of 12 scientists and engineers developing new products and innovative solutions in the automotive interior environment.• Met with OEM customers weekly to align potential innovation solutions with their future vehicle product plans.• Provided technical support to OEM program teams incorporating innovations to ensure a successful launch with zero negative incidences.• Established department level and individual objectives for the Innovation team.• Managed day to day operations of the department including strategic planning, budget monitoring, material procurement, internal and external work orders, NDA’s with collaborators, and all other legal disclosures.• Collaborated with 5 other Senior Regional Managers and technical staff to prioritize global project workload and provided local support when required.• Featured speaker at 2018 IDTechEx Show. Presentation titled “Innovative Material for the Cockpit of the Future” highlighted future automotive trends and how Faurecia products and technologies can deliver solutions for global OEMs.

Burgos, Spain, Es

• Managed high volume programs within the Ford, Toyota, and General Motors business units.• Actively championed all Tier-2 supplier engineering change activities, developed timing to support all build and testing requirements, and created/implemented recovery plans.• Supervised manufacturing teams to develop new processes and incorporated new technology to reduce costs and drive down quality defects. Assigned work responsibilities, established targets, and set timing milestones for all program personnel including product engineers, CAD designers, and manufacturing support staff.• Monitored and directed daily activities of intercompany departments (Purchasing, Sales, Costing, Quality, etc.) to ensure continuity toward achieving established program targets.• Negotiated business contracts with OEM included pricing, logistics, development expenses, tooling, program volumes, manufacturing rates, and warranty targets.• Set up new Shreveport facility to support JIT of complex modular overhead systems

Burgos, Spain, Es

• Designed modular overhead systems through pre-production builds, validation testing, and SOP.• Led robust design and engineering activities to meet corporate and federal vehicle performance and safety requirements.• Championed resolution of engineering issues while maintaining documentation of issues history, next steps, and successful countermeasures.• Initiated design and process improvements to provide both internal and customer cost savings.

Dearborn, Michigan, Us

• Provided support to the PMT Leader as the primary planning and coordination point of contact with all internal departments (engineering, design studio, finance, program management, etc.) • Served as the interior trim Launch Manager for the 2002 Ranger at two Ford assembly plants with total responsibility for integrating dozens of interior subsystems supplied by multiple full-service suppliers.

Dearborn, Michigan, Us

• Hand-picked to lead the development and launch of the 2000 Ranger “Tremor” special edition. Managed every aspect of design, marketing, procurement, assembly personnel training, and start of production at two Ford assembly plants.• Managed cross-functional issues resolution between Tier 1 suppliers and Ford assembly plants, including warranty, incoming quality, and cost VA/VE initiatives.• Coordinated component, subsystem, and vehicle level testing.• Published Design FMEA, Verification Plan/Reports, open issues tracking and resolution, and status reports for management reviews.

Ms, Engineering

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Mechanical Engineering