Engineering

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David Edward Benton 803-***-****

**** ******** ****** #*, ***** Pleasant, SC 29464 *************@*****.***

Professional Profile

Experienced Design Engineer seeking a challenging and rewarding career in the Charleston area. Solid background in engineering program management, with strong emphasis in expenditure forecasting, budgeting, expense management and cost reduction, manpower and resource planning. Highly skilled in mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic design and engineering capital budgeting. Expert in computer aided engineering and design systems, product life-cycle management and enterprise resource planning software applications and system design and implementation. Strong background in heavy truck and tactical vehicle design.

* SolidWorks, SolidEdge, CATIA v4, CATIA v5, AutoCad, ProEngineer/CREO CAD Systems

* WorkGroup PDM/Enterprise PDM, TeamCenter, SmartTeam, Enovia, Smaragd PLM Solutions

* SAP, BAAN, Syteline, MAS500 ERP Systems

* ANSI Y14.5 Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Standard

* APQP Product Development, SystemRequirements Analysis, Project/Program Management, Microsoft Project, Vast Knowledge of Manufacturing Methods and Processes

* Advanced Powertrain Integration – Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel/Mercedes, John Deere, Allison, Eaton

* Advanced Leadership Training – Dale Carnegie, SAE

* Finite Element Analysis and Simulation– Ansys, Cosmos, LS Dyna

* Computational Fluid Dynamics – Star CCM+, StarCD

* Cost Reduction and Lean Manufacturing principles, Six Sigma, 8D and A3 Problem Solving Methodology and Tools

* APQP Product Development Framework

Professional Experience

Jankel Tactical Systems, Duncan, SC

August 2012 – May 2014

Senior Design Engineer

Jankel is an industry leader in occupant combat survivability solutions and commercially-based protected vehicles.

Achievements:

* Won 3 individual defense contracts worth a total of approximately $106 million

* Implemented a controlled Engineering Change Management system to reduce scrap and rework due to design changes saving the company over $300,000 annually over a two year period

* Developed an effective Engineering Resource Allocation Plan resulting in:

* Reduced head count of 33%

* 20% improvement in engineering production efficiency

* Adopted by other enterprise functions

* Conducted market studies and prepared business cases for developing products for new and emerging markets

* Achieved improvements in the Product Lifecycle Management System resulting in seamless communication between Jankel’s global location, resulting in reduction of critical path errors.

* Developed and commissioned market research to guide the development of new products for emerging markets.

* Developed and maintained Design Validation Plan & Reports (DVP&R’s) for all Jankel product lines

Responsibilities:

* Jankel’s direct technical representative to top level government officials and defense industry clients

* Ownership of company-wide Engineering functions:

* Manpower and resource allocation

* Capital budgeting and expense reconciliation

* Ongoing Program Management

* Engineering team leadership and development

* Developed and improved Engineering Department infrastructure and processes by developing in-house resource allocation tools and a more robust engineering release process

* Ensured that current and evolving designs met customer Statements of Work and program requirements

* Educated engineering staff on proper design methods, appropriate industry standards, applicable Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing

* Responsible for program management of large defense industry contracts

* Key decision maker for new candidate selection

* Responsible for validation testing and output reporting for all products in production

* Conducted supplier quality audits and site visits to ensure adherence to critical company quality standards

* Tracked key active program milestones through the company’s Advanced Quality Product Planning process and reconciled noted deficiencies

Proterra, Inc, Greenville, SC

March 2012 – August 2012

Lead Mechanical Engineer

Proterra is a world leader in the design and manufacture of zero-emission vehicles that enable bus fleet operators to reduce operating costs and deliver clean, quiet transportation to the community.

Achievements:

* Directed and implemented a new, more efficient bill of materials release process resulting in an overall reduction of 15% in engineering release cycle time

* Directed and implemented a controlled Engineering Change Management system to reduce scrap and rework due to design changes saving the company over $20,000 in a three month period

* Directed and implemented a Product Lifecycle Management system change

* Change was completed on-time with no data loss or implementation issues resulting in 50% less downtime for the engineering function

Responsibilities:

* Ownership of engineering functions ensuring that proper design engineering, development, and validation tasks were followed.

* Ownership of the company’s Engineering Change Management system, with ongoing continuous process improvement duties

* Ownership of Mechanical Engineering functions:

* Manpower and resource allocation

* Ongoing Program Management

* Engineering team leadership and development.

* Responsible for new candidate selection and subsequent performance appraisals.

Force Protection Industries, Inc., Ladson, SC

September 2006 – March 2012

Engineering Technical Expert

Force Protection, Inc. was a manufacturer of ballistic- and blast-protected vehicles which have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and other hot spots around the world.

Achievements:

* Designed and integrated complete powertrain systems for three individual protected vehicles, all successful and ahead of program schedules

* Cougar

* Cheetah

* Canadian TAPV

* Established a modularized system for engineering and documenting the armored vehicles systems. This was a 2 year process that defined Force Protection’s vehicle architecture.

* Developed the technical direction for all major vehicle subsystems

* Led the automotive engineering team in the creation of engineering Technical Data Packages, including Bills of Material, project schedules and validation plans, Engineering Change Requests and Engineering Change Notices.

Responsibilities:

* Functioned as the technical expert and principle engineer for the automotive drivetrain systems for various military vehicle designs

* Ensured that system and subsystem designs met program requirements through requirements tracking processes (DOORS)

* Performed all necessary engineering calculations and identified required testing/analysis to validate designs to program specifications

* Conducted supplier quality audits and site visits to ensure adherence to critical company quality standards

* Mentored junior design engineers and developed future ‘experts’

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation, Gaffney, SC

April 2005 – September 2006

Design Engineer II

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation is a national provider of high quality chassis for motorhome, step van and school bus applications.

Achievements:

* Lead the design and prototype validation phases for the design, development and manufacture of a front engine motor home chassis using a Cummins ISB’07 engine (FRED)

* Project was completed on-time and within budget

* Met 100% of customer requirements

* Chassis is still in use today under a number of Class C motorhomes

Responsibilities:

* Ownership of all project aspects from early conceptual phases, through preproduction prototypes, to final production models and two individual motorhome chassis

* Led the design team in designing new chassis systems

* Engine and powertrain

* Transmission

* Steering and suspension

* Braking

* Intake, exhaust and cooling

* Performed all necessary engineering calculations and identified required testing/analysis to validate designs to FMVSS, OEM and industry standards

* Directed and performed all validation testing including cooling, suspension tuning and durability

* Lead the design team in structuring and creating of engineering Technical Data Packages, including BOM’s, project schedules and validation plans, ECR’s and ECN’s

HASRCO Rail (formerly HARSCO Track Technologies), Columbia, SC

March 1998 – April 2005

Design Engineer III

HARSCO Rail is a global supplier for railway track maintenance and construction.

Achievements:

* Lead the design and validation phases for the design, development and manufacture of a high-production, multi-million dollar ballast undercutter

* Project was completed on-time and within budget

* Met 100% of customer requirements

Responsibilities:

* Ownership of all project aspects from early conceptual phases, through preproduction prototypes for three multi-million dollar track equipment programs

* Led the design team in designing new engineered systems

* Powertrain

* Track maintenance systems

* Pneumatics and hydraulics

* Cabin and human interface systems

* HVAC and cabin climate control

* Performed all necessary engineering calculations and system simulations

* Tracked project costs and schedules to ensure on-time and on-budget

Master of Business Administration

Webster University, Columbia, SC

August 2003

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

The University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

December 1994

References

References are available upon request.

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