William Backus Email & Phone Number

Worked at Textron Systems in Hunt Valley MD as the lead Manufacturing Engineer supporting the Shadow RQ-7B Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (TUAV). Supported prime contracts to the United States Army, Marine Corps, and multiple international governments. Began working at Textron Systems (formerly AAI Corporation) in 2005, starting as an Associate Manufacturing Engineer supporting multiple factory back shops and working my way up to Senior Manufacturing Engineer of the Shadow TUAV Production Line.

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  Senior Manufacturing Engineer

  Textron Systems

  Aug 2005 - Apr 2024 - Hunt Valley, Maryland, United States

  -Lead Manufacturing Engineer supporting the Shadow RQ-7B Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (TUAV) serving prime contracts to the United States Army, Marine Corps, and multiple international governments.-Functioned as liaison between production personnel and design engineering to drive schedule and quality compliance in alignment with ISO 9001, AS 9100, and key performance metrics.-Trained and mentored junior manufacturing engineers on processes, engineering best practices, and support activities related to multiple product lines.-Supported additional product lines to enable business expansion including Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW), Nightwarden / Shadow M2 / A5000 Unmanned Aircraft, Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV), and Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC) programs.-Worked with the Pricing and Estimating Team to provide detailed analyses of touch labor setup and runtime estimates for multiple government contracts and programs.-Created manufacturing routings, discrete/production orders, and Manufacturing Process Documents (MPDs) to facilitate daily Shadow TUAV build and test activities for contractual schedule deliveries to our government Customers.-Interacted cross functionally with various departments including production, shop floor control, production planning, process control, quality, and engineering testing to support assembly areas, composite/bonding labs, paint shop, engine teardown/build/test, machine shop, and the air vehicle final assembly line.-Implemented continuous improvement strategies to reduce product lead times, manufacturing direct labor times, streamline cost efficiencies, and increase throughput of major contract production lines.-Collected and analyzed factory Standard versus Actual (SvA) metrics throughout the Shadow Air Vehicle Production line and feeder factories. Tracked and adjusted standard Setup and Run labor hours compared to actual touch labor hours charged to jobs.

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  Messiah University

  Mechanical Engineering