Eddie Cantal

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

Kitchener, ON N*E 0B9

Res: 226-***-****

Cell: 519-***-****

Email: acsjz0@r.postjobfree.com

Linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/eddiecantal

SENIOR ENGINEERING LEADER

A Transformational Leader, with at least 20 years experience in creating environments that enable followers to recognize and realize goals and objectives that exceed past accomplishments.

Unique differentiating capability: Effectively and efficiently bridge the non-productive gaps between Engineering, Project Management Office and Operations in New Product Development and Introduction (NPD/I) environments, resulting in cost effective products of high quality.

Participative leadership style: Mentor and include one or more key employees in the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it), however maintain the final decision making authority. Achieved results and gained the respect of teams and Senior Management over the years.

Assertive communication style: Actively and appropriately communicate clear and transparent goals and objectives. Advocate own needs while respecting needs of others.

Areas of Expertise:

Engineering Management

Program/Project Management

R&D Management

Systems Engineering

Change Management

Customer & Vendor Management

NPD/I Management

Outsourcing Strategies Management

Off-shore Design Services Management

Process Development & Improvement

Team Mentoring and Development (PCM)

Agile SW and HW Development

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Project Manager (Sep 2014 - Present)

Thales Transport Solutions Development (TCTS), Canada

A global company providing urban transport solutions.

Responsible for a team of multi-disciplined engineers and accountable for the successful execution of an Asian Project (Tokyo) including contract compliance, within schedule (project duration of 8 years) and budget (in excess of $100 million).

Key interface between Thales and the customer, responsible for all written communication with customer, conducting reviews with the customer and resolving issues with the customer.

Key interface between Thales engineering departments between Thales Canada and Thales Japan.

Engineering Manager (July 2012 – Sep 2014)

MEGTEC TurboSonic Inc, Canada

A global company providing custom and rugged solutions for tough Air Pollution Control needs and problems.

Responsible for the efficient and cost effective running of the Engineering Group, which design, develop and procure custom solutions for air pollution control systems that have regulations that are tightening yearly. Leading a global team situated in Canada, USA and Italy covering Engineering, Product Management, Project Management, Project/Systems Engineering, Proposal Development and After Sales Support.

Developed and busy implementing a process that is aimed at smoothing the transition from the time that an enquiry is received up to the installation and commissioning of the solution on site. This covers. Savings of up to 15% of labour and materials are currently being achieved and climbing.

Creating a PMO which blends project management and project/systems engineering so that timescales and budget are met and in cases exceeded.

Established a standardization/innovation group focused on standardizing products and processes. Good results have been achieved by reducing rework by at least 25% and reducing design time by at least 15%. Material costs have also been reduced by 10%.

Director, Hardware Engineering (2010 – March 2012)

Psion Inc, Canada

A global company providing innovative and rugged mobile computing solutions that achieve real benefits for business operation needs.

Responsible for the efficient and cost effective running of the HW Eng Group creating an effective Engineering NPD environment and then integrating and supporting a successful transition into an Operations NPI environment. Led a team of 73, from the Electrical Eng, Mechanical Eng, RF Eng, Product Data Management, RF Identification (RFID), Industrial Design, and R&D Departments. Effectively managed a group budget of $11.5M, whilst ensuring that required training and performance enhancement tools were introduced to keep and maintain team core competencies.

Identified core company strengths such as motherboard design, modularity and ruggedization, whilst developing external design services relationships for non-Intellectual Property (IP) areas such as electrical-, mechanical- and RF-design including PCB layout. This enabled optimization of the in-house talent and ensuring growth in key areas such as innovation and creativity.

Established, built and managed external design services relationships with Indian and Chinese engineering consortiums. Succeeded in bring additional product configurations (at least 15 more configurations) to market in the same time span, and reduction in overall expenses (overall labor costs down by 15%), while still ensuring internal creativity.

Revitalized relationships with a contract manufacturer in China (who were having difficulty with maintaining consistent part quality) ensuring that Psion design and manufacturing standards were met. This resulted in at least $100k cost savings with reduction in rejections.

Initiated and managed forums for ensuring that all products built by Psion, met worldwide environmental compliance standards such as REACH and ROHS 2, allowing the company to continue selling products into the European community without any slowdown in production.

Developed a single integrated NPD and NPI process, which ensured collaboration between Engineering and Operations, eliminating unnecessary additional prototype building, leading to reduction in expenses and huge cost savings ($100k to $500k).

Engineered and sponsored the design and implementation of an effective product data management process, capturing all engineering and manufacturing data in a single data base, thereby reducing inefficiencies due to lost time spent on documentation. This resulted in more focused time on design (at least 10%), a higher quality product and less service and field activity.

Product Line Manager (2009 – 2010)

Responsible for a team of over 40 engineers and a budget of approximately $28 million. Oversaw 5 Product Lines and cross-functional activities across 10 departments related to the Product Line.

Identified and managed Product differentiators such as modularity and ruggedness into the Product lines, that resulted in an overall sales increase of at least 10%.

Championed the successful launch of 2 of the lines, before being promoted to Director. Managed the life cycle of a new product family (Psion Omnii Family), consisting of 5 product lines, from new product definition, development of product life cycle management strategies, product pricing and analysis; forecasting input; product training; promotion, sales/channel distribution planning and support.

Created an effective relationship between the PMO and Functional Departments, resulting in adequate and best fit of resources. Oversaw all areas of organizational activity and business processes that impact product line objectives for revenue growth, margin percentage, product / program cost reduction, and cost of quality.

Managed all ‘upward’ status reporting (to senior management and the Board) of products and programs within the Product Line portfolio on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. All stakeholders were well informed, and received all necessary support for issues identified.

Senior Program Manager (2007 – 2009)

Responsible for a team of 25 engineers and accountable for the successful execution of the NPD and NPI phases of a new Hand Held Computer (Neo) into the Retail and Supply Chain Logistics Markets.

Achieved specification compliance, within schedule (project duration of 2 years) and within budget (in excess of $5 million). Promoted to Product Line Manager.

Senior Program Manager (2004 - 2007)

MDS Sciex, Canada

A global leader in life science analytical technologies and developer of Mass Spectrometry equipment.

Responsible for a team of 65 engineers and accountable for the successful execution of a Research and Development Project involving the development of a new ICP Mass Spectrometer platform.

Achieved specification compliance, within schedule (project duration of 2.5 years) and within budget (in excess of $10 million).

Maintained key interface between Sciex and a Joint Venture (JV) partner in the USA.

Senior Program Manager (2001 - 2004)

Alcatel Transport Solutions Development (TSD), Canada

A global company providing urban transport solutions.

Responsible for a team of 45 engineers and accountable for the successful execution of an European Project (Paris) including contract compliance, within schedule (project duration of 4 years) and budget (in excess of $50 million).

Key interface between Alcatel and the customer, responsible for all written communication with customer, conducting reviews with the customer and resolving issues with the customer.

Systems Engineer (1999 - 2001)

Part of an R&D team responsible for successfully replacing a current inductive loop communication system with an RF data communications system.

Engineering and Program Management consultant (1995 - 1999)

INTOTO Consultants, South Africa

Co-owner of a company providing system engineering and program management services to Companies associated with Defense contracts.

Provided professional system engineering and project management services to African Defense Systems, Armscor and BSW Data.

Senior Systems Engineer and Project Manager (1989 - 1994)

African Defense Systems (ADS), South Africa

A global company associated with RSA Defense contracts.

Senior Systems Engineer and Project Manager accountable for the technical integrity and acquisition of an Artillery Target Engagement System. Responsible for a technical team of 20 engineers and a budget of $2 million.

Senior Systems Engineer accountable for the technical integrity and acquisition of a Military Image Interpretation Computer System. Responsible for a technical team of 15 engineers.

EDUCATION

BSc. Electrical Engineering – University of Johannesburg, South Africa

[Accreditation from the Comparative Education Services - University of Toronto]

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Lean Six Sigma Certificate (WB) - The Six Sigma Way

Certificates in Computer Programming – Sheridan College, ON, Canada

Diploma in Tertiary Education – University of South Africa

System Engineering Course – University of Pretoria, South Africa

Project Management Course – The American Graduate University

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Ontario professional engineering association (PE0) - P. Eng. Pending

South African professional engineering association - discontinued after immigration (1999)

ASSOCIATIONS

Member of Worldwide Who's Who, 2012

PATENTS

Removable pistol grip for a portable terminal. Feb 2011: US 7877841

Actuation mechanism for a pistol grip having multiple actuation positions. Dec 2010: US 7857226

Pistol grip for a portable terminal with an internal receptacle for a stylus. July 2010: US 201********

Contact this candidate