Trying out retirement

Working on Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification through Monroe Community College and a project in the screen manufacturing area at Carestream Health.

Managed the quality system supporting the development and manufacturing of extruded LCD backlight films. Translated customer needs and specifications into manufacturing specifications for commercializing new products. Provided leadership for the transfer of product technology to new sites.•Developed the quality system for a new type of extruded backlight film and a $20M business, working with customers in Asia to determine specifications and with product development to design test methods and equipment that met manufacturing and product needs. •Over a 2 year period, worked on-site to commission a new $40M extrusion facility in South Korea and to accredit new and existing products, resulting in increase in capacity from $20M to $300M. Trained engineers and operators on quality procedures and extrusion troubleshooting techniques. Consulted with the South Korea team to solve product / process issues and other start-up problems.

Led projects in development and manufacturing to improve P&L for extruded LCD backlight films. Worked with development to assure new products met manufacturability goals. Interfaced with toll converters to control costs and improve yield. Managed quality issues with customers. Monitored projects to verify they delivered expected cost savings. Predicted and verified monthly financial results from SAP in the transition from Kodak to Rohm and Haas.• Improved overall product yield 20% for a monthly savings of $450K by implementing widthwise improvements in the extrusion process while executing diagramming improvements at contract converters in Asia.• Delivered over 10% productivity gain and $1.2M in cost reductions over a 6 month period by identifying productivity improvement opportunities, providing needed development time on the production extruder.• Saved $3M in 6 months and moved gross profit from -30% to neutral for the production side of a semi-works machine. Analyzed product costs and identified and led projects needed to cash cost saving opportunities.• Guided product development teams in selection of materials and in setting specifications for suppliers to assure cost and quality targets were met.

Supervised a group of 4 engineers and 5 technicians working to drive improvements for quality, material flow, waste reduction, lead time reduction, and machine efficiency for Professional, Aerial, Graphic Arts, Health Imaging, and Motion Picture film manufacturing.Spearheaded lead-time reduction from 21 to 7 days using lean manufacturing principles. Eliminated non-value added processes and streamlined others to increase flexibility, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve customer delivery.• Collaborated across the film sensitizing machine’s functional teams and suppliers to develop strategies and standard work to implement a production control system making the planning process visual. Resulted in more efficient identification of issues and resolution of problems before crisis could occur.• Focused operational decision making by providing tools and coaching to technicians and operations that improved productivity and increased the amount of product released online by 30%.

Senior Product Coating Engineer 2003 – 2005Managed the physical quality and manufacturing efficiency for Kodak Professional, Aerial, Health Imaging, and Graphics films.• Led multifunctional team from feasibility to capital upgrades and product accreditation that increased productivity on a film manufacturing machine by 25%, for over $1M in cost reductions.• Improved the graphics film material flow by refining the automated markout algorithm of the online optical scanning system, increasing the amount of product released at time of manufacture by over 50% and $60K per month cost savings.• Led the relocation of the Kodak Graphics film portfolio from plants in England and Mexico to Rochester, enabling the shutdown of 2 manufacturing facilities.Product Engineer, Kodak Haichang Ltd, Xiamen, China 2001 – 2002Coached the local film sensitizing product staff at newest film manufacturing facility to work independently to drive to root cause on problems, implement and test solutions, and identify opportunities to improve quality and eliminate waste.• Debugged remaining issues from the machine start-up to reduce waste and make the China plant the most efficient manufacturing site for Kodacolor film.• Planned and implemented a worldwide online optical scanning team for effective use and common performance of the scanners across three worldwide manufacturing sites, assuring product transparency for cosmetic quality across the manufacturing sites.• Provided technical support on-site for the start-up of a major capital upgrade to film manufacturing site in France, enabling the first roll of film made on the new machine to be on schedule and on aim for cosmetic and photographic properties.