Rick Oskowis Email & Phone Number

Phoenix, Arizona

Lead the engineering and program management team in launching new products for extruded and fully fabricated products. Offer engineering support to both sales and customers to grow the extrusion and fabrication business. Offer leadership and technical support to the fabrication facility to improve manufacturing processes, expand capacity and increase profitability. • Established a project tracking and reporting system to assure customer delivery and product performance are addressed during… Show more Lead the engineering and program management team in launching new products for extruded and fully fabricated products. Offer engineering support to both sales and customers to grow the extrusion and fabrication business. Offer leadership and technical support to the fabrication facility to improve manufacturing processes, expand capacity and increase profitability. • Established a project tracking and reporting system to assure customer delivery and product performance are addressed during the initial product launch.• Collaborated directly with customers on product designs of extruded and fabricated aluminum shapes for their product offerings.• Led the pricing review of all fabricated products and implemented pricing adjustments for products incorrectly market priced resulting in increased sales and profit. Identified areas for manufacturing process improvements to maintain pricing on products appropriately priced.• Led the fabrication center process improvement activities after moving the operation from Guaymas, Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona. Developed and implemented LEAN process improvements to machining centers and assembly lines to reduce cost of fabricating existing products with a net profit gain of $800,000 in 4 months, bringing the operation to a profitable level. • Successfully launched the fabrication and assembly of reusable aluminum pallets used to transport automotive parts resulting in initial sales of $5.3 million with a margin of $1 million.• Led the consolidation move of two fabrication facilities in Tolleson AZ. and Portland Or. into one 212,000 sq. ft. facility in Phoenix AZ. while successfully launching seven new product platforms to support two automotive customers.• Helped support the new facility by taking the responsibility for plant technical services including Manufacturing Engineering, Quality Engineering and Reliability/Maintenance. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Formed a global engineering organization to address the emerging solar industry in support of a $180 million business and contributed to the first year growth of $100 million. Engineering functions in four regions around the globe included Product Engineering, Development Engineering, Project Management, Reliability Engineering and Product Standards. Accomplishments included:• Implemented a LEANPD approach to the development of new products with stage gate reviews to assure projects were on… Show more Formed a global engineering organization to address the emerging solar industry in support of a $180 million business and contributed to the first year growth of $100 million. Engineering functions in four regions around the globe included Product Engineering, Development Engineering, Project Management, Reliability Engineering and Product Standards. Accomplishments included:• Implemented a LEANPD approach to the development of new products with stage gate reviews to assure projects were on time and meeting cost and performance objectives.• Performed multiple “Voice of the Customer” activities to better define product requirements prior to concept and design.• Addressed numerous design related quality and reliability issues on the existing product line to improve the offering and meet customer and approval agency requirements.• Identified and qualified second sources for all purchased components to improve supply chain management.• Implemented $1 million cost reductions on existing products by substituting materials, eliminating components, improving manufacturing processes and simplifying designs.• Redesigned the top selling product line to reduce the cost by 30% while utilizing the majority of the existing production tooling and assembly lines.• Designed new products using a platform approach to reduce complexity and production tooling cost.• Developed next generation Solar Connector strategy and presented concepts and performance objectives to the product approval committee. Received agreement to move forward with the development of the product.• Established product design standards to be used by all Solar engineering teams globally to simplify designs and reuse known reliable components.• Formed the Reliability Engineering function and established key testing parameters to predict 25 to 30 year life in solar applications. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Led a regional team of 45 engineers and designers focused on developing connector products for the lighting, solar, industrial and appliance industries. This also included power products which covered all industries.• Deployed a project management program across the product management and development engineering organizations to assist in the justification of new products and subsequent tracking of progress against the established plan and budget.• Established a global development… Show more Led a regional team of 45 engineers and designers focused on developing connector products for the lighting, solar, industrial and appliance industries. This also included power products which covered all industries.• Deployed a project management program across the product management and development engineering organizations to assist in the justification of new products and subsequent tracking of progress against the established plan and budget.• Established a global development engineering leadership role for the lighting industry with routine project reviews to critique product designs and discuss resource requirements.• Achieved 1 year new product sales of 23% of total sales for growth product lines.• Achieved 40% standard manufacturing income on all new products developed and released.• Developed and introduced new products to increase market share in the lighting, solar and industrial industries. Products included sensor connectors, sealed lighting connector, LED bulb connectors and customer specific solar panel junction boxes. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Directed a regional engineering team consisting of 103 employees focused on the development and engineering support of new and existing connector products and cable assemblies for the medical, lighting, industrial, commercial building equipment, appliance, solar and instrumentation industries. Numerous new products were developed for the above industries in support of the $1 billion North Americas business and $2.3 billion global business.• Developed and released new products to support… Show more Directed a regional engineering team consisting of 103 employees focused on the development and engineering support of new and existing connector products and cable assemblies for the medical, lighting, industrial, commercial building equipment, appliance, solar and instrumentation industries. Numerous new products were developed for the above industries in support of the $1 billion North Americas business and $2.3 billion global business.• Developed and released new products to support key industries increasing 1 year new product sales from 3% to 7% of total sales.• Developed key products for the lighting industry including a cost effective hot pluggable ballast connector that met all NEC requirements and board to board/wire to board connectors for the emerging LED market that focused on size limitations, sealing, installation requirements and thermal management.• Developed resource tracking tool for development engineering and manufacturing development to monitor resource requirements to support the new product development workload.• Established a connector strategy for the medical market including multiple reusable and disposable connector design options.• Identified, developed and released multiple new products for the appliance, industrial and commercial building equipment industries to meet customer requirements and grow market share.• Set up and conducted US based training sessions for engineers in China, India and Europe to improve the engineering skills in the other regions. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Led a team of Product Managers and Product Engineers supporting Circular, Power and Wire-to-Wire/Wire-to-Board Terminals and Connectors with annual sales in excess of $200 million. Responsibilities included product line growth and profit, product line/pricing strategies, pricing contract review for top tier customers, forecasting, demand management, budgeting, profitability increases, new product introduction, product marketing and engineering support of products.• Implemented annual cost… Show more Led a team of Product Managers and Product Engineers supporting Circular, Power and Wire-to-Wire/Wire-to-Board Terminals and Connectors with annual sales in excess of $200 million. Responsibilities included product line growth and profit, product line/pricing strategies, pricing contract review for top tier customers, forecasting, demand management, budgeting, profitability increases, new product introduction, product marketing and engineering support of products.• Implemented annual cost savings initiatives of $1 million/year on average to reduce cost and improve profitability.• Retooled Power I/O product line in China at a private brand label vendor to reduce cost by approximately $2.5 million per year and meet customer price reduction objectives of $50.00 per unit. Maintain profit level for product line with lower sales.• Accomplished a major product line acquisition from a competitor. The terminal block product line was brought in to the existing brand name, streamlined and retooled in China or sourced at a private brand label vendor to improve profitability. Also, the product line was expanded by adding multiple high volume customer specials.• Addressed multiple design related quality issues with positive results and customer acceptance. The quality issues were usually product performance related and quickly addressed with multiple redesign solutions following parallel paths. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Managed a team of Product Engineers in support of legacy AMP connector and terminal products. Responsibilities included engineering and product application support of existing products to Sales, Product Management, Manufacturing and Quality. • Drove continual product performance improvements, product extensions and cost reductions to meet specific customer needs and improve profitability.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Led a cross-functional product line team with annual sales of $25 million. Responsible for all functions required to support the product line including Development Engineering, Product Engineering, Product Management, Materials, Scheduling, Manufacturing Engineering and production lines for high speed stamping, molding, plating and assembly.• Expanded product line by working closely with customers to develop custom solutions for their magnet wire applications in the appliance and automotive… Show more Led a cross-functional product line team with annual sales of $25 million. Responsible for all functions required to support the product line including Development Engineering, Product Engineering, Product Management, Materials, Scheduling, Manufacturing Engineering and production lines for high speed stamping, molding, plating and assembly.• Expanded product line by working closely with customers to develop custom solutions for their magnet wire applications in the appliance and automotive industries. Show less

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Possessed overall business responsibility for automatic lead making and terminating equipment. Activities included promotion, working with sales to place equipment, machine demonstrations, determine future machine requirements, placing used machines, pricing and general sales and operations support.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Supervised a team of Product/Manufacturing Engineers and supervisors in engineering support of automatic and bench connector termination equipment. Worked with Product Management to determine future machine requirements or improvements. Made machine design modification for customer applications. Worked with operations to reduce equipment cost. Had responsibility for the introduction of new application tooling products from development engineering. US patent issued for Modular Plug Hand tool.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area

Held engineering responsibility for various automatic and semi-automatic application tooling product offerings. Activities included equipment evaluation for customer requirements, machine design modifications for special applications, cost reductions and manufacturing and quality support.

Bachlor Of Science, Mechanical Design Engineering Technology

Associate Degree, Mechanical Design Engineering Technology