Engineer Manufacturing
Resume:
Mike Ekstrand.
Attention: Human resource Director
Senior Manufacturing / Tooling Engineer (Van Aircraft Inc.)
Senior Project Engineer (Lancair/Evolution International)
Master Toolmaker /Tooling Design Specialist (U.A.W. Journeyman Card # 209648)
Manufacturing Engineer (Prototype, and heavy automation)
Machine Shop Manager (Prototype, and heavy automation)
Wind tunnel Model Maker (Mc Donnell Douglas / Boeing)
T.Q.M. Instructor (Mc Donnell Douglas)
C.N.C. Programmer (Certificate from the Deckel Machinery Company of Germany)
C.A.D. (Solidworks)
39 Years+ Manufacturing Tooling & Prototyping Design Experience
Off Site Consultant For: Stratos Aircraft, Cubcrafters, Van’s Aircraft, Precise Flight Inc.
At present:
Precise Flight Inc.
Position: Director of Manufacturing & Design Engineering
Precise Flight is not a manufacturing company; they are an assembly company who are at present exploring the possibilities of one day being able to design and manufacture their own in house products. I was brought in to help them in this endeavor and to clear up some problems they were having with a wingtip lighting assembly. After I accomplished the redesign of this wingtip assembly I moved on to design three other products for them that could be manufactured by other companies and then assembled in house. Precise Flight was delighted with these new products and the possibilities they would bring to their inventory. I also made many other recommendation for products they could make in the future. After some time had passed however it became clear that Precise Flight would not be able to make the commitments needed to move on further with any more of their own new products, so I move on. I wish them all the best and maybe one day we will work together again, for I left with respect, and on good terms. After all, timing is everything so keep things happy an return when things are right.
All the best to Precise Flight.
10/2003/01/03/2008 08/15/2013 – to 11/28/18
Lancair/Evolution Aircraft
Position: Sr. Project Engineer / Machinery & Tooling Design Engineer/ C.N.C Programmer/QA Manager.
At Lancair International/ Evolution I am their Senior Project Engineer.
My responsibilities and accomplishments have included:
Review, editing and approval of all designs by the design team
The selection of outside vendors and their methodology concerning company products
All programming for the CNC machine
Design of all tooling for assembly
Design of methodology for master plugs
Designed and developed both pressurized doors for the Evolution Aircraft
Continuous review of quality control and redesign
Developed of are High G Seat (The lightest High G Seat in general aviation today.)
Developed of are Piston and Turbine Throttle Quadrant
Redesigned of Legacy Motor Mount
Designed of are 1 pound collapsible Tow bar
Designed of the Nose Gear Door Mechanism for Legacy
Redesigned of the Flap Torque Tube Mechanism for Legacy
This represents only a small part of my contributions to this company.
Van’s Aircraft Inc.
Position: Sr. Manufacturing Engineer / Tooling Design Engineer
At Van’s Aircraft I was their Manufacturing/Tooling Engineer.
My responsibilities were as follows:
Support of the engineering department by tailoring their designs to facilitate efficient and profitable manufacturing designs
Designing tooling for longevity and for simplification of the manufacturing process
Education and unification of shop personnel with the engineering department by teaching
Communication skills to both groups (the 3Kp’s of Communication)
Programming their CNC milling machine
And new product designs for feature aircraft
Ismeca
At Ismeca I served in the positions of Manufacturing Engineer and Machine Shop Manager.
Ismeca is a worldwide automation company, which is based in Switzerland.
Ismeca served many aspects of the automation industry such as:
Clean room application.
The circuit board industry.
And the completely custom machine market, anything, and I mean anything you could think of they would make it!
In my position as Manufacturing Engineer it was my responsibility to evaluate all products for quality and their performance. It was also my duty to keep products profitable.
This was accomplished by the removal of manufacturing and engineering “Fat” i.e. wrong materials, overly complicated designs, and wrong manufacturing techniques or unnecessarily tight tolerances. This balancing act between the customer’s needs and the engineering department could be a challenging one.
To be effective at this position one would have to have a very broad knowledge of a lot of different industries as well as the ability to keep many different people happy through the negotiation process. At Ismeca I was very successful at this process, taking almost a million dollars of engineering manufacturing “Fat” out of there standard product line within the first six- month.
As a manufacturing engineer I was also responsible for negotiating baseline cost and price point for outside manufactured machine parts.
The need to work very close with the purchasing department was essential. I looked at history, to determine the most efficient quantities to order.
As a Master Toolmaker and machinery designer, I am aware of how setup costs can affect a machine shop, so I would order accordingly, spreading this setup cost over many parts. Often this was the difference between making money and losing it on a project.
As the tool shop Manager, I was responsible for the setting up of our machine shop when we had a new building made for us. I laid out the shop, purchase all machinery and hired all personnel for all three shifts.
Ismeca was a rewording place to work.
McDonnell Douglas and Boeing
At McDonnell Douglas, I served as a laboratory-Engineering machinist. It is worthy of note that by McDonnell Douglas standards I was considered an engineer and functioned as part of the engineering staff. My primary job was the making of wind tunnel test models. Qualification for this job required a Master Toolmakers rating due to the highly technical nature of the work, which included difficult shapes and contours, highly polished surfaces, and close tolerances.
My work required various aspects of engineering design and manufacture. All design of tooling was left up to me and was my responsibility. Upon completion of a model I would also travel with the model for testing.
In summary,
I bring you over 39 years of tool and product design experience as my technical contribution. However, I believe that my management experience will be of equal value for I have a strong commitment to the value of team empowerment. I believe in the value of giving a Clear vision to the people I work with. The outcome of this is Clear and efficient development, which will yield Clear success!
Additional skills and interests:
I am also a watch and clock maker. I am proficient outdoors (hunting and fishing). I also have a lifelong passion for flying and have a pilot license with complex and high-performance endorsements. I also am currently in the process of building a J-3 cub like airplane. I love anything that goes over the fence or out the door at the end of the day, and clearly feel that I am a shoe in for your organization. One thing more this is not my complete resume. Complete would start in 1977 too much to look at.
If you want someone who is seasoned, competent, and eats sleeps and breathes manufacturing, I’m your man; you can go to the bank on it!
References:
Curtis Page, 541-***-****
Tom Green, Former President of Van’s Aircraft.
Scott Risan, President Van’s Aircraft.
John Schrantz, Machine Shop Lead Man of Van’s Aircraft.
James Timothy Rawson, Manager Development Center Flight &Laboratory Test. Boeing Aircraft.
Bill Mitchell
Thank you sincerely,
Mike Ekstrand.
Phone# 541-***-****
P.O. Box #424 Prineville Oregon. 97754
E-Mail: ****.********@*****.***
Contact this candidate