Andy Forbes Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Leading a team of diverse engineering talent to develop next generation IOT products such as internet hubs, remote controls and many and varied window covering products for the global market.Our team consists of mechanical, electrical, software and firmware engineers, testing technicians and technical document writers to realize innovative products to the worldwide market.

Perth, Australia

Key Responsibilities and Achievements• Project scoping, cost estimating and resourcing and subsequent program management of all UAV product development activities ranging from 30kg MTOW air vehicles through to 200kg+ MTOW VTOL/CTOL UAV’s for the commercial and military markets. These activities started with concept design and proceeded through flight test and certification to TRL8.• Responsibility for project delivery of all engineering development programs in parallel with production delivery of the electro-mechanical aerial photography system to customers in both Australia and the United States. Achievements include delivery of first tranche systems ahead of customer stretch targets, system certification with regulatory bodies both in Australia and U.S.A and phase 2 and 3 system developments on budget.• Development and sustainment of the production supply chain in terms of materials, parts fabrication, electrical procurement and final assembly requiring constant touch points to ensure on-time delivery and production ready quality.

Key Responsibilities• Business wide identifiaction and implementation of Operational strategy and Continuous Improvement initiatives to increase team and business efficiencies in the residential building space.• Generation and implementation of processes in collaboration with internal SME's to enhance business delivery consistency and drive a culture of quality into technical teams.• Identify and project manage multiple IT projects to transition from traditional, labour intensive paper based field systems to fully digital solutions with the aim of reduced data entry, increased reporting capabilities and higher user experience in the field.• Build and manage alternative, offshore technical delivery teams to provide increased project throughput and a reduced cost to the business

Melbourne, Australia

Key Responsibilities and Achievements• Responsibility for project delivery for all programs in the Australian Operations (Melbourne and Sydney offices) with an emphasis on financial performance, product quality and customer satisfaction.• Responsibility for 50-70 engineering staff including IT, quality and support functions delivering to customers both domestically and internationally on 10-20 projects concurrently in aerospace, defence, automotive and oil and gas.• Delivery of corporate strategy of increasing value to various customers via the development and implementation of a project delivery process and relationship that integrated local Australian resource with offshore, high value teams in India. This globalisation required regular travel to India to enhance relationships and continuously improve the execution and delivery process.• Resource management across the business to maximize utilisation, and therefore profitability, and achieve optimised program delivery and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Melbourne, Australia

Key Responsibilities and AchievementsAirbus North America Program Manager• Overall program responsibility for multiple projects to this Aerospace OEM based in the US including technical, resource, cost/budget, schedule and reporting management.• Business sustainment and development activities with the customer including on-site and remote project reviews and performance appraisals.• Responsibility for 20+ engineering staff over a 2-3 year period.Spirit Aerosystems Program Manager• Overall program responsibility for multiple projects to this tier 1 aerospace supplier in the US including all aspects of project management.• Business sustainment and development activities including on-site project review and company capability presentations with the customer.• Responsibility for 30+ engineering staff, project leads and support staff over a 2+ year period.Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Project Manager• Project Management responsibility for multiple projects on the JSF Program with Lockheed Martin Aerospace in the US.• Integral part of the management team that delivered sustained customer satisfaction over a 4 year period, and led to over 1 million engineering labour hours and revenues in excess of $100 million.• Customer reporting and liaison over the time zones, developing communication methods that clearly and precisely convey project status and issues to all customer stakeholders. This was achieved weekly via teleconferencing and crucially for the program regular on-site reporting visits to the customer.• Internal project reporting including all aspects of project management but with a focus on project financial performance and customer issues to both GKN Lead Team weekly and monthly to the CEO.

Munich Area, Germany

Key Responsibilities and AchievementsAirbus Industries A380 Cross Beam Team Leader – Hamburg, Germany• Team Leader responsibilities for the concept, design, analysis and testing activities to support the weight optimised carbon fibre A380 cross beam project.• Project reporting of all relevant KPI’s and technical progress to customer project leads.• Customer teaming and communication at multiple locations in Germany with various technical leads throughout the European partnership.• Ultimately the team delivered a weight optimised design solution with advanced composite materials that exceeded project goals.EADS Eurofighter Fuselage Panels Team Leader – Ottobrunn, Germany• Team Leader responsibilities for the final sizing and analysis activities to support the weight optimised carbon fibre Eurofighter fuselage panels project.• Project reporting of all technical, schedule, cost and budget progress to customer project leads.• Work package definition, initial cost estimation, resource, budget control, issue resolution, technical leadership and participation were all tasks throughout the project.• The scope of work grew from initially a small package of work into many man years of engineering support with a high level of customer satisfaction and constant performance of delivery substantially below customer driven budgets.

Melbourne, Australia

Key Responsibilities and Achievements• Project Manager responsibilities for all programme related aspects on the EADS Eurofighter Primary Structure project.• Technical Team Leader responsibilities for the sizing and analysis activities for primary flight structure. This involved all technical direction within the engineering team and customer interfacing to the UK.• Project reporting to the lead team and CEO on a monthly basis.• Development of team building exercises at project launch to establish team cohesiveness and throughout the project to ultimately deliver customer approved deliverables to a tight schedule and below budget.

Montreal, Canada Area

Bombardier is a global transportation company, present in more than 60 countries, which operate businesses in the fields of mass transportation and aerospace. Key Responsibilities and AchievementsTechnical Lead and Integrator• Technical responsibility for primary fuselage structures on the CRJ-Series 700 regional jet project with reporting lines to engineering management.• Achieved stress signatory level within the company for production/shop floor NCR’s.• Integration and technical feedback to off-site design team in Northern Ireland.

Malacca, Malaysia

Key Responsibilities and AchievementsTechnical Engineer• Technical responsibility for preliminary design concept, analysis and weight reduction re-design of primary composite and metallic aircraft structure for the Eagle X-TS Series 200 aircraft with reporting lines to engineering management.

Toronto, Canada Area And Nagoya, Japan

Key Responsibilities and AchievementsTechnical Engineer, Toronto, Canada• Technical responsibility for Stress analysis of the de Havilland Dash 8 Series 400 regional aircraft empennage and aft fuselage structure.• Analysis toolset development and implementation.Integrator and Analysis Auditor, Nagoya, Japan• Project technical integration between Canadian and Japanese design teams, on-site in Japan to deliver project critical solutions. This included around the clock support and interfacing to ensure maximized collaborative analysis outcomes.• Technical auditing and mentoring of Japanese analysis engineers to ensure technical robustness.

Perth, Australia

Key Responsibilities and AchievementsStructural Test Project Manager/Lead Engineer• Project and Technical responsibility for the structural test programme of the Eagle X-TS series 200 aircraft.• Project reporting to the head of engineering of all structural testing progress.• Technical leadership of the test team for all phases of testing including rig concept and design, build, test article design and build, instrumentation, testing and detailed test reporting.• Successful re-design and analysis of major aircraft components in pre-preg composite materials to deliver weight optimized and cost reduced structures

Sydney, Australia

Key Responsibilities and Achievements• I began my career with Hawker de Havilland as a technical engineer in the fields of stress analysis and structural test on the MD Explorer helicopter project. This role involved much interfacing with varied project stakeholders from design, stress and test engineers and also production managers to deliver successful structural test programs. Ultimately this led to my role as fatigue test facility manager responsible for all aspects of testing and final reporting to engineering management. This management exposure was invaluable in shaping the future direction of my career.

Undergraduate, Bachelor Of Engineering (Beng), Civil Engineering, Honours

Achieved award level for a unit of studies

Bachelor Of Engineering (Beng), Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical Engineering, Honours

High School, Maths & Science, H.S.C.