BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Dedicated professional with diversified automotive design and engineering experience in Instrument Panel, Interior Trim components, BIW, Seats and Restraints.
PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
FCA / Advantage Resourcing Auburn Hills - MI
Appearance Program Manager – 2019 KL Program (Jeep Cherokee) May 2016 – January 2017
Worked between the Design Office, Craftsmanship Studio, Mastering Studio and the Program Team (Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, etc.).
Responsible for monitoring color and material mastering and Appearance Approval Reports (AAR) for interior and exterior appearance parts, creating status reports, and presenting status to high level management.
Support for the Mastering and Craftsmanship teams by managing issues with external suppliers, mitigating risk and removing roadblocks for timely approvals.
Led AAR process per Product Creation Process (PCP) from tool kickoff through commercial approval, resolve issues, removed roadblocks.
Communicated color and materials requirements for Interior and Exterior trim components, from Design Office to Program Team.
Created and managed Excel spreadsheet to track vehicle program AAR status for interior and exterior appearance parts.
Created presentation materials to communicate mastering and AAR status to high level management reviews.
Co-chaired with Craftsmanship Specialist, "Zone" meetings to communicate vehicle program appearance requirements, timing, AAR process and discuss open issues with External Suppliers and Supplier Quality.
Scheduled and conducted vehicle Harmony Reviews at pre-series (PS) build and launch, to evaluate overall color and surface harmony.
Followed up with suppliers to resolve appearance issues to achieve full commercial status. Responded to program investigate Bulletins with feasibility and timing related to color and material changes.
Supported scheduling and coordination of virtual vehicle reviews and assessments.
FCA / Cpk Interior Products / Linked LLC. Auburn Hills - MI
Product Engineer – 2019 RA Program - Instrument Panel December 2015-May 2016
Responsible for synthesizing Engineering requirements with Product Design Office (PDO), Craftsmanship design appearance requirements across program through concurrent 3D data development, from Theme Select to Step 3 program milestones.
Ensure that the PDO surface release supports engineering design practices and lessons learned, drove PDO
surface priorities at the component level to ensure PDO surface is completed in time to support Engineering
deliverables and component tool kick-off timing, providing consistent design and engineering feasibility
support to PDO team for cockpit components across RA Program..
Responsible for developing current engineering design by integrating product design, performance, and
manufacturing through the use of CAD, CAE test to meet product requirements. Maintained daily contact
with engineering functions as program was developing.
Made decisions within the limits of general practices and standards.
After product concept was frozen, developed product to meet all project requirements.
Maintained accurate project records within the Product Development Process (PEP), reported project
engineer status internally and to customers. Worked with engineering team for root cause analysis for both
internal and customer issues, coordinate implementation of corrective actions.
Support Program Manager in meeting cost, weight and timing objectives.
Developed and performed design analysis of pre-released design by integrating product design,
performance, and manufacturing through the use of CAD, CAE test to meet FCA product requirements.
Maintained daily contact and provide technical direction to support engineering functions, suppliers, plant
personnel in order to implement cost reduction and achieve method and product improvements.
Initiate documents to provide engineering authority and to maintain math data, Implement engineering
changes and release parts for production.
Communicated information to and from internal and external customer organizations, coordinated and
consulted with departments outside engineering such as manufacturing and tooling.
Participated in core Best Practice FCA Specifications and Product Development meetings and weekly
Engineering reviews to identify and document issues.
ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES ACQUISITIONS CO. Troy-MI
Owner/Manager July 2006- December 2015
Successfully owned, managed and operated the business.
LOTUS ENGINEERING / DIRECT STAFF INC. Southfield-MI
Senior Project Engineer – 2012 JLTV Tactical Vehicles-Military Program November 2007-February 2008
Bill of Material and calculate gross vehicle weights for all programs to meet FMVSS Requirements.
Coordinate CATIA V5 Designers to develop construction sections, components and assemblies of LRS,
CTV, UVL, TV2, 3 and 4 military vehicles.
Worked with Sierracin Corp. on various combinations of fibers, metal alloys and ceramics for weight
management.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY / SIGMA TECHNOLOGIES Dearborn- MI
Design Release Engineer – 2010 Lincoln MKT Program - Instrument Panel April 2006-November 2007
Responsible for design and release of Finish Panels and Registers for the 2010 Lincoln MKT Program.
Worked in the development and feasibility of vehicle surface using the design studio.
Lead development of product verification plans and engineering sign-offs on CAD models and drawings and related geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.
Lead full service suppliers through design and execution (ensure system meets all FMVSS and Ford
corporate requirements).
Knowledge of TCE, DigitalBuck, WERS, APQP and PPAP process approval.
Maintaining DVP&R and signing-off on DV tests, tool drawings and tool CAD.
Quality Engineer – Ford Lincoln & Mercury Programs – Warranty S&R
Prepared warranty / quality corrective action while maintaining cost reduction.
Searched, documented and classified customer verbatim data for programs, and informed Engineering Management of the issues.
Built issue resolution and notified engineers to take corrective action to resolve product quality with the assembly plants.
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION Warren- MI
Design Release Engineer – GMT Interior Dec 1989-April 2006
Write Engineering Work Orders (EWO) in E2, to add, remove or modify parts, to design, release, and revise
production launch, quality and reliability of seats components, seat cushion, back, head and arm rest in
Team Center V9.1.2.3g, UGNX 3, VAS, GPDS, APM, MPI and VDS.
Lead design reviews and participate in core best practice on Design Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (DFMEA)
and Design Verification Plan & Report (DVP&R).
Worked on warranty / quality concerns, corrective action and work towards cost reduction.
Built issue resolutions and took corrective action to resolve product quality and assembly problems to satisfy
manufacturing, and assembly plant needs.
Determined main cause of defects using the PRTS (5 phase process), provided and verified solutions
through testing and tryouts.
Prepared warranty / quality concerns corrective action and work towards cost reduction.
Tracked and coordinated production launch, quality and reliability of new and revised products.
Interpreted warranty and quality concerns, participated in core best practice and specifications
development initiatives.
Established credible bench tests and qualify failure distributions for components in conjunction with release
engineers.
Ensured all design, development and releasing activities are completed in a timely fashion to support affiliate
requirements.
Fully support localization activities to meet minimum local content requirements.
Product design, development, and releasing responsibility with emphasis on launch support and
problem resolution due to process, quality, and through-out issues.
FMVSS201U Studies – Target Points and Drawing creation for GMT368, 2004 Chevy SSR and other programs.
Obscuration Studies for GMT Design of Seats and Restraints GMT 325 / 330, 360 / 370.
Design Changes for Door Trim Panels, Headliners, Carpets, Consoles, Sheet Metal and Bumpers on
GMT 325 / 330 programs.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Batavia School of Drafting – Madison Heights, MI – 1985
Bosca School of Automotive Layout and Design – Roseville, MI – 1986
Philpot School of Automotive Design – Madison Heights, MI – 1987
Edgard DeSmet School of Automotive Design and Surface Development–Auburn Hills, MI–1995
COMPUTER SKILLS
Unigraphics System NX3, iMan, Team Center, Vis Mock-up, both Microsoft Windows and
UNIX Environment, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Lotus Notes.
EDUCATION
Michigan Technological University – Houghton, Michigan
Design Engineer – Mechanical Engineering
Washtenaw Community College – Ann Arbor, Michigan
Associate Degree – Architectural Design