Timothy J. Fischer

Permanent Address

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

Virginia Beach, VA 23456

773-***-**** Mobile

E-mail aczgt3@r.postjobfree.com

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Engineering Manager (BS ME) with twenty years of progressive experience in automated medical, plastic, and electronic industries. Proven leadership in machine design, product design, tool and fixture design, process improvements, cost reductions, regulatory communication (including FDA), vendor coordination, manufacturing methods, automation engineering, and training. A hands-on operational and product development design leader utilizing the latest engineering software tools and with the demonstrated ability to motivate cross-functional project team members. Proven ability to work well with entrepreneurs, corporate management, associates and external contractors and regulators

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

November 2011 to Present

Hu-Friedy Mfg. Inc., Chicago, IL

Senior Project Manager of this $160MM dental instrument research, design and manufacturing company. Responsible for managing multiple projects and coordinating dental instrument design with cross-functional product and business development departments to bring dental instruments to the market.

●Led the design and product implementation of the flagship sterilization product line ($12MM annual sales) over the course of 3 years, resulting in 10% growth in the product line.

●Led a multi-discipline team that launched a joint venture between Hu-Friedy and EMS resulting in $3MM incremental annual sales.

●Designed and managed the engineering and PMO website in Sharepoint, which allowed all personnel to submit new business ideas and kept the company up to date on all NPD progress.

●Led the in-sourcing project of the machining of private label ortho product into the Shanghai facility, resulting in $240K in annual savings

●Led the design engineering for the Diamond Sharpening Card product line, resulting in $300K incremental annual sales.

●Successfully utilized additive manufacturing, RFID and related technologies for researching and applying products and strategies in the dental market

●Implemented Engineering VP’s special project of introducing the Stage-Gate process to the company, resulting in an increase in vitality index from 3% to 20% over the course of 5 years.

December 2008 to August 2011

KREG Medical, Chicago, IL

Design Engineer for this $5M medical apparatus design, manufacture and leasing company, reporting directly to the owner in heading all product development of the company’s Medical Division and in gatekeeping the company’s engineering design changes and files. Led four direct reports as well as five consultants.

●Turned around product development of a previously mired bariatric hospital bed project. Cut annual development costs in half from levels of the previous four years and brought product to market in less than half the time

●Set up a model shop, which gave the company prototyping and repair capabilities resulting in an average 2-month ROI for projects.

●As technical advisor to Kreg Therapeutics (rental and leasing business), recommended numerous decisions for the success and quality of product introductions to medical provider customers.

●Designed and implemented a custom web based, ISO and FDA compliant engineering system (ECR, EO, QMS, DHF), which fostered collaboration on engineering changes and communication. This also allowed for consultants to write ECR's from their home offices and eliminated cost ($26K) of document control personnel.

●Designed and implemented developing products with reduced contact surfaces which minimized the risk of pressure ulcers.

●Led the Finite Element Analysis and Simulation engineering during the linkage design development of the bariatric bed.

●Set up MRP system and acted as purchasing agent for the bariatric bed project.

●Determined the root cause failures on DC actuators on the hospital bed, which allowed the use of a less expensive actuator leading to 10% savings on a $10K product cost.

●Registered the Kreg facility with the FDA to make hospital beds and patient surfaces.

March 2007 to December 2008

Summit Industries, Chicago, IL

Engineering Manager

●Led the operations of the engineering department (five direct reports and one indirect report) which encompassed mechanical design, operations databases, manufacturing and product support, documentation, tool room/prototyping.

●Led company-wide weekly ECO meetings to discuss all design changes and their effect on all company departments.

●Managed the design history file for all engineering departments.

●Averted an FDA shutdown of the facility due to poor collimator design by submitting a detailed failure analysis and implementing a successful recall.

●Liquidated $3MM in inventory by creating and managing a new product for upper management after the company engaged in a bad contract with a digital receptor manufacturer.

●Adapted a digital flat plate technology to the Innovet Specialist line of products, generating $200K in revenue in 8 months.

●Created and implemented an engineering help desk that prioritized and managed 40 weekly engineering requests, simultaneously creating a department metric that evened out work load and documented improvement.

●Successfully assumed responsibility for the company’s communication and negotiation with UL.

●Implemented production transfer of company circuit boards to a strategic partner facility in China. Hired and managed additional staffing to facilitate the transfer, established quality control sample programs to monitor production in China, and build electrical test fixtures to overcome unfavorable production conditions in China.

●Produced two unique products ("Swing Out Keyboard" and "Lexus Table") from concept to prototype for the major radiological show in less than a week, generating additional traffic at the company booth.

●Saved the company $2MM per year by redesigning six products for manufacture in our China facility.

●Developed a three phase project process that helped us remain FDA and UL compliant, with hard deadlines and well laid out specifications. This replaced the old process, which was rarely followed and led to undocumented and out-of control projects.

December 2002 to March 2007

Summit Industries, Chicago, IL

Mechanical Project Engineer

Manufacturer of medical and veterinary x-ray equipment ($25MM in sales annually) with a production facility on site.

●Project manager and lead designer on the first CCD digital product at Summit, leading to $1.6MM in sales in four months.

●Led the turnaround of a two-year OTS (Overhead Tube System) project ($200,000) by completing the design and implementation in 4 months, after budgetary and schedule overruns and leadership disruption had plagued the project.

●Project leader for a project to completely redesign an ailing product line over an 11 month time period, resulting in a new product with over 250 unique parts that in 6 months has become 30% of product line sales.

●Created and implemented over $60,000 worth of cost reductions in four months by converting machined parts to molded parts and interchanging assemblies between product lines.

●Increased the magnetic locking force 50% on all products by designing and implementing brakes that worked with a rectangular magnet while keeping the surfaces in contact with the patient at current temperatures, as well as decreasing the cost by 33%.

●Supported production on a daily basis in an engineering role.

●Approved and developed new vendors from an engineering standpoint.

September 2000 to July 2002

Hollister Inc., Libertyville, IL

Mechanical Project Engineer

Manufacturer of disposable medical products ($400 MM in sales annually) with seven manufacturing facilities, some of which are located internationally.

●Led a new manufacturing method project ($2.86 million investment) which saved $500,000 annually as well as increasing stock rollovers, decreasing time to market, allowed for Internet ordering and direct shipping, and implemented a JIT process.

●Designed in AutoCAD and implemented, as the engineering team leader, the tooling for the Moderma Flex with Tape product, doubling the capacity (300,000 units) for the product line for less than $20,000.

●Worked with a team of engineers to design and implement the tooling for a new product (Internal Catheters) that involved the high-speed production of silicone injection molded parts and assembly.

●Implemented, as engineering team leader, phase one of a $3 million manufacturing project for a product line (Lock n’ Roll) worth $20 million in sales over the next 5 years.

●Designed and implemented a Microsoft Access database for the director of engineering which kept track of all departmental projects, greatly reducing managerial meeting times.

●Worked with one other engineer to implement and train employees on the Meridian documentation system, eliminating a documentation manager position and giving all plants access to engineering drawings.

●Worked with another engineer and two vendors to design and implement an $850,000 machine, saving $50,000 in scrap and changeover time annually while doubling capacity. All design was done in AutoCAD.

June 1997 to September 2000

Beltone Electronics, Chicago, IL

Senior Production Engineer June 1997-Sept. 2000

Manufacturer of hearing aids and related devices ($300M in sales annually) with five manufacturing facilities, some of which are located internationally.

●Implemented in a team environment “Cellular Manufacturing” in a plant with over 450 floor personnel.

●Part of a team of four people who implemented new processes in foreign plants, resulting in estimated cost savings of $50,000 annually and standardization of processes.

●Implemented with two co-workers a “Pay-for-Knowledge” system that increased cross training, reduced personnel, and more adequately compensated employees.

●Managed and coordinated a team of 14 people who used “Kaizen” techniques to improve cell flow and move outlying processes into the cells.

●Introduced a new type of exhaust system to the plant and justified the cost by analyzing the HVAC system, resulting in $90,000 in energy savings annually.

●Wrote routine using MeasureMind software to visually inspect injection-molded parts that had been put through a CNC machine saving $30,000 from reworked scrap.

●Wrote a Visual Basic routine to analyze live test data and report production trends in histogram format, saving an estimated 1,000 engineering hours annually.

●Designed a heated press to cut plastic plates that paid for itself in one year and could possibly save $84,000 annually per cell. Design was done in SolidWorks.

●Saved an estimated $60,000 annually by designing an inexpensive counterweight to keep modified microscopes from falling over. Design was done in SolidWorks.

●Save 1500 man-hours annually by designing a fixture to hold a UV curing wand during curing operations. Design was done using SolidWorks.

●Designed and implemented at parts control stations data base management routines which analyzed $500,000 annual scrap costs, identified inherent design defects and reduced counting / data entry workload by three man years.

●Designed and implemented a UV curable adhesive system that saved over $80,000 annually in scrap, materials, and labor and eliminated the use of expensive and dangerous chemicals.

●Designed a “Touch-for-Quality” system and participated in its implementation, resulting in the elimination of 7 non-value-adding inspection jobs.

September 1996 to June 1997

University of Illinois (Professor Mark Shannon)

Research Assistant

●Designed a bracket to help facilitate vertical micro-machining in a vacuum chamber

●Designed PRT and IDT devices on AutoCAD that were used as etching templates

●Outfitted an outdated lab with wet-lab capabilities to accommodate advanced silicone plating research

●Implemented CAM of micro-machines by modifying a pica-motor switch box and programming the control computer

Education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana

Emphasis in fracture mechanics, FEA, thermodynamics and lasers.

Software experience:

Microsoft Office including Excel (extensive), Word, Access (extensive), PowerPoint, Project 2013 (extensive); AutoCAD; ADAMS; SolidWorks (extensive); COSMOS; ANSYS; SIMUL8; Statistica; IDEAS; ProE. Programming experience: C, Fortran, and VBA

Continuing Education:

●Affiliated Educational Consultants Design of Experiments

●Affiliated Educational Consultants Statistical Process Control

●AMA Project Management

●AMA Making the Transition to Management

●Productivity Point Advanced Project 2000

●University of Wisconsin-Madison Lean Manufacturing

●Prism Three Day MBA

●Leadership 2000 Supervisory Management Training

●Welding Certification

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