Manufacturing Engineer With 20 Years of Experience

AARON PIPPETT

** ***** ****** **** ***** Home: 972-***-****

Eureka, MO 63025 *****.*******@*****.***

CAREER OBJECTIVE

An engineering position where problem solving skills can be utilized to improve profitability of assembly and fabrication operations in the St. Louis area.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science Industrial Engineering – University of Missouri, Columbia 1997

BACKGROUND SUMMARY

Twenty years of manufacturing engineering experience with emphasis in the HVAC, aircraft and currency sorting industries. Expertise within a corporate, advanced manufacturing engineering environment in managing new product introductions, process improvements, assembly line design, and tooling specifications. Experienced in taking a product from development/prototype stage to full production on shop floor. Additional skills in correcting, improving and designing engineering drawings and models with Pro/Engineer 2001. Activities have ranged from process engineering to development and design of sheet metal fabrication and assembly tooling.

Excellent experience with existing fabrication and assembly operations, including hands-on shop floor trouble shooting, process improvements and cost savings, product and equipment relocations, and lean manufacturing implementation. Outstanding communication skills including written, verbal, and interpersonal. Additional strengths include:

Capital equipment specification, justification, purchase, and installation

Lean manufacturing implementation

Assembly line design

Tooling specification/conceptualization

Continuous improvement with shop floor and office using Kaizen methodology

Product costing

Product design and improvement with Pro/Engineer 2001 and Intralink

MRP experience with SAP, Macola and QAD-MFG/PRO systems

Internal ISO audit, corrective action and procedure generation

Certified Lean 6 Sigma Black belt with Villanova University

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Empire Comfort Systems, Bellville, Illinois

Manufacturing Engineer (June 2013-Present)

Manufacturing engineer supporting Fireplace, Cast Iron Stove, Broilmaster, Mantel, Fiber and Decorative Kit production lines.

Introduced multiple new Fireplace product to fabrication integrated production line.

Mathematically size and create Kanban plans for product lines based on fabricated part sizes, lead times and blank sizes.

Performed station-by-station assembly analysis and improved rate from 70 units to 80 units/per day on Cast Iron Line.

Support shop floor Continuous Improvement initiatives through bi-weekly Gemba Walk with 5 production lines.

Implement yearly design changes to Broilmaster Grill production line for new season.

Create costed BOMs and assembly standards for Fiber assembly line where none existed.

Introduce new Decorative Kit Assembly Cell including fabrication and paint system.

L-3 Communications, Mission Integration Division, Greenville, Texas

Manufacturing Engineer III (November 2009-June 2013)

Manufacturing engineer supporting maintenance and modernization of RC-135 aircraft.

Preformed root cause analysis of manufacturing and process issues.

Designed tooling to solve manufacturing issues in a dynamic aircraft assembly and modification environment.

Generated Manufacturing Engineering Instructions to improve consistency and quality of aircraft maintenance tasks.

Designed and built scaffolding systems to support aircraft modification and repair per OSHA 1926.

Continuous Improvement Engineer II (September 2008-November 2009)

Supported efforts to improve schedule, delivery and quality of RJ-135 aircraft.

Implemented and sustained 5s in aircraft hangar.

Analyzed daily production data to drive improvement.

Supported and led 6 Sigma kaizen events and activities with materials group.

Supported 6 Sigma kaizen event to improve sample part process.

De La Rue North America Incorporated, Irving, Texas

Mechanical Manufacturing Engineer (June 2004-August 2008)

As a member of the Manufacturing Team, supported shop floor operations in a highly customized, build-to-order environment. Audited and approved engineering changes to ensure integrity of system bill of materials. Designed complex parts and assemblies to improve cost, assembly and fabrication of high speed currency sorting machines using Pro/Engineer 2001. Used knowledge of sheet metal fabrication, CNC machining and part finishing to interface with suppliers and vendors to solve design issues in a high pressure environment, ensuring customer requirements were met.

AARON PIPPETT

Page Two

Authored over 500 engineering changes to improve the product, reduce cost and correct engineering errors. Generated Pro/Engineer models, assemblies and drawings.

Provided guidance and expertise to Design Engineering on how make product designs leaner.

Qualified ISO-9001, ISO-14001 and OHSAS 18001 internal auditor.

Determined disposition of non-conforming components though daily MRB process.

Air System Components, Richardson, Texas

Manufacturing Engineer (June 2002-May 2004)

As a member of the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Group, provided support for manufacturing operations in eight different facilities across the US. Worked with design engineering/marketing groups and provided design evaluation relative to

DFM/DFA. Identified and implemented best practices across functions and departments. Actively participated in the introduction and troubleshooting of new products and processes prior to being released to plant engineering. Relocated surplus equipment from one plant to another upon plant closures. Applied lean manufacturing methods including: Kaizen Event Participation, Value Stream Analysis, Single Piece Flow, Kanban, SMED, and Poka-Yoke.

Introduced new RadiaTec diffuser for Titus products in Tucson facility on time and within budget. Worked with design group and plant engineers to ensure manufacturability of new design. Wrote capital request, specified tooling and fixtures, supervised startup, and solved post startup issues. Project cost was $95k and resulted in $250k annual profit.

Replaced worn roll form machine with stamping tooling. Plant requested a new machine, but determined that a better course of action would be to purchase punch press/press brake tooling. Project cost was $60k with $121k savings vs. original replacement option of $175k roll form machine with no savings.

Performed value analysis on Linear Slot Diffuser Plenum product. Led analysis team to improve value to customer for this product. Project cost was $2k and savings was $45k.

Nordyne Inc., St. Louis, Missouri

Manufacturing Engineer (Feb 1999-June 2002)

Manufacturing Engineer at South Grand production facility. Supported two package unit air conditioner/heat pump production lines, as well as new product introductions. Established and improved manufacturing in a Kanban/DFT environment. Actively involved with Kaizen teams in several events to improve production methods and products.

Managed over $3.5 million worth of tooling, presses, and assembly line equipment for new Platinum Series product introduction at a new remote “Brownfield” plant start-up. Worked with design group as a member

of the product implementation team to ensure manufacturability of new product. Worked with tooling engineers to ensure that correct production methods were selected to achieve target costs, and generated capital request. Specified, purchased, and oversaw installation of $950k DFT assembly line. Assisted materials manager in setting up Kanbans for new assembly line. Line included helium leak detection equipment and automated unit testing systems.

Implemented engineering changes resulting in direct cost savings of $120k/year on package assembly lines in 2001.

Designed tubing assembly fixtures using Poka-Yoke error proofing principles.

Performed station-by-station takt time analysis and improved daily rate from 300 units to 350 units/per day using Theory of Constraints.

Boeing-McDonnell Aircraft and Missile Systems, St. Louis, Missouri

Industrial Engineer (Jan 1998-Feb 1999)

Industrial Engineer in Sheet Metal Center. Supported extrusion fabrication areas.

Transferred 14 large parts from more expensive machine shop gantry cells to lower cost Modig High Speed extrusion CNC router cell, resulting in $350k cost savings over remaining C-17 aircraft to be delivered.

Implemented test program involving automated hand tool dispenser for extrusion hand routing cells.

Estimated fabrication costs for new extrusion components with Make or Buy committee.

Nordyne Inc., Boonville, Missouri

Industrial Engineering Intern (Oct 1996-Jan 1998)

Industrial Engineering Intern responsible for generating visual work instructions based on DFT and standard generation.

TECHNICAL SKILLS/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Microsoft Office

AutoCAD LT 2007

Pro/Engineer 2001 and Intralink

Certified Lean 6 Sigma Black Belt from Villanova University

Value Stream Mapping Class with the Lean Enterprise Institute

OSHA – 511 Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Industry

Week long Demand Flow Technology Business Strategy Workshop session with JCIT

Macola MRP, MAX MRP, QAD-MFG/PRO and SAP systems

Contact this candidate