VP Engineering
Resume:
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Dave Jarvis
Chicago, IL
djarvis5517@ gmail.com
New Product Development - Cost Reduction - Lean Manufacturing
Quality Improvement - Strategic Business Planning - Global Sourcing - Start Ups Dynamic, results-oriented senior product development global executive with strate- gic vision for advancing products, manufacturing processes and quality. Broad based innovative product development with OEM and first-tier suppliers in high- way truck, railroad, valve and agricultural industries. Valued for ability to commu- nicate effectively with technical and management teams. Strong track record of bringing leading edge products to market and surpassing productivity, growth and profitability goals. Leadership style that focuses on developing and motivating em- ployees in a cross-functional team environment for improved performance.
Experience
Alamo Group (IL)- AG Division (Rhino/M&W), Gibson City, IL 2006 to 2014 Alamo Group, Inc is a publicly traded company with annual sales of $670M. VP of Engineering - AG Division - responsible for engineering, research and develop- ment, technical service and quality groups, comprising of 30 to 40 reports. Reported di- rectly to President and controlled P&L responsibilities.
• Led development of full range of agricultural and industrial product offerings - re- sulting in four innovative market leading flex-wing rotary cutter product lines. One U.S. Patent pending in 2015.
• Developed new streamlined flex-wing designs which improved overall cutting per- formance, noise levels, manufacturability, and product durability - all key metrics verified via lab, prototype field testing and customer feedback. Manufacturing in- cluded fabrication, welding, paint and assembly operations. Extensive improvement in thin gauge plate forming and welding operations. Completed production start up 8
weeks ahead of schedule.
• Implemented and guided cross-functional product development, manufacturing and quality teams which drove key new product design parameters, stage gate process and lean manufacturing goals. Resulting in 25% reduction in purchasing and inven- Page 2
tory costs and 60% reduction in tooling changeout times by using common platform
methods versus prior generation product.
• Initiated and led four major cost reduction programs for overall AG division by de- signing, testing and sourcing major components (gearboxes, drivelines, machined components and castings) from key suppliers in China, Brazil and Italy - resulting in
$2M plus in cost savings.
• Provided engineering, testing, process and quality control for production start-up in France. Blade design improvements which eliminated manufacturing processes to further reduce costs. Initiated root cause statistical control methods in manufacturing facility to improve quality control and product safety.
• Developed strong product safety guidelines with technical service, manufacturing and quality teams. Implemented continuous improvement metrics for key process/ product inspection and testing programs - leading to no major field accidents during 8 year tenor.
• Lead expert witness in U.S. district court jury trial in December 2013 who success- fully presented prior art engineering analysis and legal arguments to invalidate a U.S. patent by a major corporation. Strong example of team approach taken by two
sister entity engineering groups and multiple law firms over a 3 year period.
Amsted Industries, Inc., Chicago, IL 1985 to 2005
Amsted Industries is a privately owned and employee owned (100% ESOP) diversified global manufacturing parent company with 47 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries which serves the highway truck, railroad and construction industries. A high growth in- dustrial company which increased annual sales from $600M to $3B over a 20 year span. As an engineering management executive for Amsted, I held the following key positions at four market leading divisions.
Consolidated Metco (ConMet/ASF), Chicago, IL 1999 to 2005 Engineering Manager – general management of Simplex fifth wheel product line for heavy duty truck-trailer transportation. Implemented new products, low cost design initia- tives, continuous improvement manufacturing and quality solutions.
• Initiated weight and cost reduction of fifth wheel top plate casting and components - leading to overall cost reduction of 7%. Also developed new cam-operated cylinder
locking assembly to automate operation.
• Successfully managed transition of product line to new manufacturing facility along
with outsourcing major key components to China and Brazil.
• Implemented TS16949 quality program within office and manufacturing locations. Page 3
Amsted Industries International (Amsted Rail), Chicago, IL 1993 to 1999 Manager - International Sales and Engineering – directly responsible for implementa- tion of sales strategy and collaborative early stage design and development with global OEM customer base, overseas governments and multinational corporations. Early stages of international expansion and global acquisitions for Amsted, fully recognizing global boundaries were disappearing.
• Designed, tested and implemented customer specific freight railroad vehicular sys- tems (ASF, Griffin, Brenco) and Class 8 highway truck systems (ASF, ConMet). Working extensively in Canada, Middle East, China, Eastern/Western Europe, Mexi- co, Australia, and Brazil. Surpassing annual sales goals by 36% and overall sales in- creased from $14 million to $20 million.
• Expanded sales and global manufacturing footprint with addition of licensees, joint ventures and placement of key international product and manufacturing process
patents.
American Steel Foundries (Amsted Rail), Chicago, IL 1990 to 1993 Engineering Manager/Project Engineer – product design and engineering of AAR couplers, articulated connectors and bolsters to the freight car railroad industry.
• Designed and patented new coupler system - leading to reduction in free slack and train system buffing forces.
• Implemented ISO certification throughout office and manufacturing locations. Henry Pratt Company, Aurora, IL 1985 to 1990
Product Engineer/Applications Engineer - product design of heavy industrial valves and hydraulic control systems to water, wastewater and nuclear industries.
Education
MBA - International Business (Honors), Loyola University, 2000, Chicago, IL. Continuing Education (MBA courses), University of Chicago, 1995, Chicago, IL. B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Southern Illinois University, 1984, Carbondale, Il.
Additional training, skills and affiliations
Unigraphics, SolidWorks, ProE, ANSYS, Minitab, MS Project, MS Word, Excel and in- dustry specific analytical software.
ASME, TMC, SAE, AEM and other memberships and committees. Hobbies - golf, swimming, skiing and travel.
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