Engineer Manager

Residence: 256-***-****

**** ********* *****

Mark C. Horton W ork Cellular: 256-***-****

Huntsville, Al 35803

acejbt@r.postjobfree.com

SUMMARY

I am a decisive, results-focused and self-starting engineer and manager offering over 20 years of experience

in design/analysis, testing, operations and manufacturing in both aerospace and automotive environments. I

have a proven track record of success in research and development, solid rocket motor and airbag inflator

design, product launch, material / component / assembly testing, operations and manufacturing engineering. I

have extensive experience in toll-gate deliverables, team dynamics, process planning, earned value

management, lean manufacturing and implementation of designs and decisions in a high rate manufacturing

environment both under budget and on schedule.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Alliant Tech Systems (ATK), Huntsville, Alabama, Titles: Senior Design Engineer, Chief Engineer and

July 2008 – Present Material Test Lab Manager

Worked with the Thrust Oscillation team in evaluating and designing options to mitigate the thrust oscillation

by damping the rocket motor impact on the NASA flight vehicle (ARES I):

•Supported all System Engineering and Integration efforts as the Thrust Oscillation representative.

•Assisted in Tuned Oscillation Array (TOA) and Isolator design studies to damp the harmful motor oscillations.

•Supported customer integration with the Integrated Product Team meetings held with NASA / MSFC.

•Assisted in the implementation of the NASA reference dynamics model at ATK.

I assisted NASA and DOD (Army) on potential sub-scale designs to evaluate insulation and nozzle

performance of larger or flight weight motors. Utilized Abaqus for 3-D Modeling and structural analysis of

preliminary designs and tooling designs.

Working as both Chief Engineer / Material Test Lab Manager for the ATK material test lab located Huntsville

to improve flow rate, reduce total cost and implement new test capability. Responsible for evaluating

engineering requirements and executing the proper test series for both ATK and Spirit composite components

for the Airbus A350 program. Specific efforts included engineering design, proposal preparation, test

implementation and management of the labs daily activities. In less than a year, we were able to increase our

approved Nadcap and ISO17025 certifications by over 200%. Our team was able to meet budget

requirements and meet or exceed customer schedules.

KEY Safety Systems(KSS), (BREED Tech.), Titles: Senior Engineer, Lead Engineer Hybrid,

Lakeland, Florida: June 1995 through July 2008 Engineering Manager Hybrid, Production Unit

Manager and Plant Engineering manager

Engineer: Designed and developed the original side impact inflator for BREED Technologies. The Hybrid

Side Impact Inflator (HSI / BD) was developed, validated and in production within one and a half years.

Current production capacity is over 5 million units per year. HSI and BD are the most successful inflators in

the history of KSS.

In an effort reduce side impact inflator costs; I led the development / design / launch of the CGI inflator. This

new inflator design removed five components from the HSI design to simplify manufacturing and reduce

material costs. Currently in production and CGI capacity is over 3.75 million units per year.

Significant experience in the design, manufacture and processing of metal components. Experienced in

developing TIG, MIG, Friction, Laser and Resistance welds.

Engineering Manager Hybrid: Managed a team of 4 engineers and 6 technicians to design and develop

applications for HSI and BD inflators. Customers included Audi, VW, KIA, Peugeot, GM, Hyundai, Ford and

FIAT. Responsible for all aspects of engineering for hybrid and stored gas inflators, including research,

development, design and manufacturing. Met both budget and schedule for all application efforts.

Production Unit Manager: Managed a support staff of 9 engineers and supervisors with a production staff of

over 300 line operators and technicians. Ramped several products and production lines and was able to

produce over 7 million inflators in one year. Primary responsibilities included all day to day operations on the

production floor, setting priorities, meeting the required production goals, maintaining delivery schedules and

reducing production costs for all side impact inflators.

Mark C. Horton 256-***-****

Plant Engineering Manager: Responsible for all driver side, side impact and passenger side inflator

production lines and plant efficiencies. Managed a technical staff of engineers, technicians and toolmakers.

Responsibilities included: reducing production costs, managing line throughput, implementing new lines,

maintaining quality control, suggesting and implementing design solutions for all production inflators,

production line budgeting and staffing requirements, increasing line efficiency, controlling spare parts cost and

maintaining production line drawings. This position required the capability to provide engineering and

management support across all shifts over a 24/7 work week.

Was the link between both operations and engineering to implement required design changes and needed

modifications to improve inflator production and product quality.

Thiokol Corporation (Morton Thiokol), Huntsville, Titles: Associate Engineer, Senior Associate

Alabama: December 1986 to May 1995 Engineer, Engineer and Senior Engineer

Designed and developed solid propellant rocket motors for military and space applications. Efforts included

proposal preparation, hardware design, propellant grain design, ballistic tailoring, design verification and

production engineering of motor systems. Specific efforts included:

• Evaluation of propellant data, nozzle data, structural data and flow in many preliminary design efforts.

• Trade studies to evaluate impact of propellant performance, nozzle configuration, case and grain design for

numerous designs and proposal efforts.

• Assisted propellant chemists with the evaluation of new propellant formulations and the motor design impact.

• Maintained the design and performance database for production and proposed rocket motors.

Ballistic evaluation for production motors including Patriot, MK36, Maverick, TOW II and the Castor IV family.

Maintained data base information and related performance of rocket motor to build configuration including

propellant mix data, grain anomalies and build data.

Both preliminary and detailed design (nozzle / case / grain) for multiple Thiokol programs including:

Thiokol THAAD Booster Motor; FOG-M / NLOS Booster and Sustainer motor; TACIT Rainbow booster; New

Generation AMRAAM; New Generation Patriot; Castor IVA-XL

SPECIFIC COST SAVINGS AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

At ATK - Implemented a wet grind/jig operation for the material test lab to reduce the time to machine process

control panels. First year additional profit for ATK exceeded $100K.

At KSS - By managing seal life and implementing maintenance program on high pressure pump systems, we

improved high-pressure gas efficiency from less than 10% to over 30%. The efficiency increase translates to

over $200,000 in real savings every year. I led the team to improve gas efficiency to over 50%. Savings due

to gas efficiency and seal life improvements exceed $1,000,000 per year.

At KSS - W e improved CGI production rate by implementing a team approach utilizing line technicians, cell

leaders and operators. Line efficiency improved by over 30% per shift. This improvement action amounted to

over $500,000 in increased sales every year off line IF. We launched the second CGI line in 2006 and the

third in 2007; both additional lines were based on the improvements implemented on line IF.

At KSS - My team managed the launch of the HPH inflator and two HPH assembly lines for KSS in 2005 /

2006. Despite production ramp timing being reduced from 1 year to less than 3 months, KSS was able to

maintain HPH inflator production ahead of GM requirements. The team was able to reduce scrap from over

12% of sales to less than 3% of sales. This reduction in scrap saved over $500,000 each year.

At KSS - Developed a hot-spun closed end pressure vessel utilizing seamless tubing. This hot spun pressure

vessel reduced cost of current production pressure vessels by more than 50% and allowed for increasing the

size and capability of hybrid and cold gas inflators therefore increasing sales of the inflators.

At Thiokol - THAAD ballistic trade studies involving sub-scale ballistic test motors and a large-scale test with

PATRIOT sized motor. The trade studies allowed for accurate analysis of throat erosion and grain

performance prior to design and build of the THAAD booster motor. The test data allowed us to redesign the

throat contour and grain design prior to full scale testing.

EDUCATION

Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama: BS in Aerospace Engineering - 1986

Mark C. Horton 256-***-****

PATENTS

DISTRIBUTED EROSION REGION ROCKET MOTOR NOZZLE

Patent Number: 5,579,635

Issued: 3 Dec 1996

HYBRID INFLATOR FOR AIRBAGS

Patent Number: 6,010,153

Issued: 4 Jan 2000

NOTE: Currently in production at a capacity of over 5M units per year. Longest lived production inflator in the

United States and potentially worldwide.

MULTI-STAGE ROCKET MOTOR ASSEMBLY INCLUDING JETTISONABLE LAUNCH MOTOR

INTEGRATED WITH THE FLIGHT MOTOR

Patent Number: 6,481,198

Issued: 19 Nov 2002

OPENING DEVICE FOR A COLD GAS INFLATOR

Patent Number: 6,629,703

Issued: 7 Oct 2003

NOTE: Currently in production at a capacity of over 3.75M units per year. This patent covers the CGI inflator

design.

PASSENGER SIDE MODULE WITH TWO AIRBAGS

Patent Number: 6,709,009

Issued: 23 Mar 2004

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