Ryan Nielsen Email & Phone Number

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

River Falls, Wi

Managed three shift supervisors with a total team of 60+ employees for assembly, molding and support. Responsible for facility metrics around Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost. Customer-facing point-of-contact for multiple programs, planning and delivery to schedule.• Led a team through critical problem solving and root cause analysis to reintroduce production for a top-tier customer• Integrated second-generation medical device and drove improvements to reduce rolled throughput scrap from 42% to 11%• Designed and communicated a strategic production plan for new customer

Hudson, Wi

Oversaw Manufacturing Engineers, Electronics Integration and Purchasing employees, along with responsibility for facility management and site expansion.• Increased staff of engineers and technicians from 8 to 21 to support business growth• Provided work direction to staff supporting multi-million dollar global medical device manufacturing for new product introduction, process development and automation per corporate, FDA, ITAR and ISO standards• Planned and executed space reallocation for two facilities to support increased customer demand, including additional internal seating, re-layout of cleanrooms and added off-site test engineering facility. Worked directly with architectural firm to lead a team developing plans for future building expansion.

Hudson, Wi

Supported day-to-day operations of Purchasing, Customer Service, Scheduling, Shipping, Receiving, Process Engineering and Technical Support for molding and assembly. Served as interim Quality Manager for six (6) months.• Allocated resources to support multiple global program management teams• Forecasted capital expenditures for improvement, replacement, or modification to production equipment and facilities• Added multiple Quality Engineers to support increased global development teams

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Managed a team of engineers, technicians and support staff for integration of new product introduction and acquisitions. Reviewed project status and communicated progress to multiple management levels.• Ran a team to successfully transfer and integrate a takeover medical device line, including sourcing and validation of materials and equipment, execution of validation protocols and sterilization qualification.• Developed engineers and technicians to ensure technical knowledge base is aligned with business requirements• Drove a culture to reduce process variation and improve quality through tooling improvements and process automation

St. Paul, Mn

Implemented continuous improvement projects utilizing Lean 6-Sigma methodology. • Eliminated returned material backlog in Receiving and Failure Analysis in one (1) month• Completed training plan, through-put efficiency and metrics for facility ramp-up • Redesigned corporate Orange Belt Lean 6-Sigma curriculum and executed training and certification to all levels of employees

Plymouth, Mn

Created and implemented a plant wide data driven continuous improvement strategy. Developed, trained and mentored facility Green Belts, Kaizen leaders and upper management / sponsors through the use of Lean 6-Sigma projects, methodology and LEGO simulation classes.• Managed projects totaling over $1,000,000 in annual savings• Implemented strategic plans for 25 Kaizen projects of $650,000 in annual savings• Streamlined Service process saving $380,000 and realized a 50% increase in thru-put

Plymouth, Mn

Mentored and managed staff of eight Manufacturing Engineers and Technicians with responsibility for Production, Service and Repair.• Led the design, development, integration and validation of an innovative shop floor traceability software creating a fully-electronic biometric system per 21 CFR Part 11• Eliminated all hardcopy traceability and quality verification with overall estimated annual saving of over $750,000• Achieved cost savings over $500,000 through 30 process improvement projects

Plymouth, Mn

Implemented a culture shift throughout the Production organization. Improved training and compliance to meet regulatory standards. Directed and developed Production employees in process and system improvement, as well as career and team growth.• Created shop floor tracking metrics to evaluate assembly processes and drove changes to realize improvements in compliance by 60% and reduced sub-assembly production errors by over 50%• Coordinated an accelerated production increase of 350% and increased staff from 30 to 78 employees to meet key customer contract requirements• Developed a DMAIC improvement program that decreased manual documentation errors by 70% and defects pre million Reduced by 40% across the Production floor

New Richmond, Wi

Functioned as customer-facing technical resource for Marketing and Sales organization to develop and expand contract manufacturing for the production facility.• Identified need to create new position and justified for management approval • Created start-up strategy for Puerto Rican facility, including site selection, staffing, finance, engineering and production transfer and educated upper management on the island’s culture• Led and completed an accelerated timeline to transfer supplier business, including detailed strategic plans resulting in zero production downtime to customer, full re-validation of equipment, system technology and tooling

New Richmond, Wi

Managed the development, improvement and integration of key suppliers and subcontractors.• Created supplier quality scorecard systems for two business units• Improved defect rates in key subcontractor programs, including return dollars by 90%, corrective actions by 43%, first pass yield by 45%, MRB by 50% and scrap by 80%• Communicated results and improvement opportunities to internal management and subcontractors on a quarterly basis

Minneapolis, Mn

Planned and executed eight production line transfer strategies to Puerto Rican facility. Created schedules to manage resources, procure tooling, equipment and materials, and defined validation requirements. Managed staff of four direct and 20 dotted-line employees in Minneapolis and Puerto Rico.• Owned planning and control for annual transfer operating budget of $3,500,000• Reduced cycle time by 40% and achieved labor/burden savings of over $9,000,000• Justified and coordinated a $1,460,000 manufacturing facility expansion in Puerto Rico

Minneapolis, Mn

Guided multiple corporate global projects and managed resources in conjunction with offshore facilities in Switzerland and Holland.• Created system to ship sub-assembled devices to international distribution location allowing for site-specific packaging• Reduced labor costs by $390,000, cycle time by 50%, and WIP inventory by 75%• Improved product quality, decreased indirect labor and produced annual savings of over $1,000,000

Minneapolis, Mn

Led adaptive redesign, development, integration and validation of next-generation label printing software and technology. Designed and documented $500,000 facility for in-house 100% EtO sterilization. Supervised three production teams. • Improved cycle time by 30%, labor costs by 40% and material costs by 75%• Eliminated 80% of down-time and lowered process-related scrap by 90%• Shortened printing time by 30-60%, reduced labor by 40% and eliminated 90% of operator errors due to data entry

St. Paul, Mn

Masters Of Science, Manufacturing Systems

Bachelor Of Science, Industrial Technology