Lead initial design and manufacturing activities of campervan start up centered around bespoke campervan production and rental service

- Hired as part of the transformation efforts after private equity acquisition-Leveraged project management processes while reducing material costs and labor hours to take a historically under-performing (~$4M in revenue) business with negative gross margins and recorded multiple projects with positive gross margins of 20-30% during fiscal years 2019 & 2020-Defined, created, and implemented a new project management initiative that included formal process documents, project milestones, and role expectations for a 8 person team of engineers and technicians- Using rigorous engineering reviews to improve bill of materials (BOM) accuracy and leveraging spend totals from other Eckhart sites with vendors, reduced materials costs as percent of revenue from 65% to <50%

Drove awareness and adoption of additive manufacturing for tooling applications in key industries such as automotive and aerospace through research projects, technical papers and customer engagements

Designed weld and assembly fixtures, gages, lifting devices and other complex tools to support factory operations as well as new product program launches.

Supported the day to day sheet metal manufacturing operations in addition to executing projects to help with overall department efficiency. Managed capital expenditure project to purchase automated material lifting system for a press brake based on ergonomics and safety improvements. Also performed a holistic analysis of part routings and tooling requirements at ten press brake work centers yielding a 34% reduction in tooling changeovers and 47% reduction in the overall amount of tooling

Supported the day to day sheet metal manufacturing operations in addition to executing projects to help with overall department efficiency. Completed cost justification to gain funding for a $535k capital expenditure project that included the purchase, installation and production validation of two new press brakes and necessary tooling. Involved with new product programs providing design for manufacturability advice during design phases.

Supported manufacturing engineering functions and improvement projects for the Willmar pull-type fertilizer spreader and self-propelled sprayer product lines

Assisted product engineers during the design process of large LED video display boards by completing drawings and designs in CAD software as well as building and testing prototype displays