Allen Ray Ramsey
Christiansburg, VA 24073
*****.******@************.***
CAREER SUMMARY: Extensive experience in the management of industrial capital projects and chemical process engineering. Successfully managed large-scale capital expenditure and major maintenance projects from conceptualization to implementation. Led to completion Six Sigma continuous improvement projects to reduce non-value added labor in chemical process plants producing acids, solvents and explosives.
APPLICABLE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
ATK – ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS – ENERGETIC SYSTEMS, Radford, Virginia
Senior Process Engineer December 2007 to Present
• Designed capital improvement projects to support the production of nitrocellulose based energetic materials (gun powder) using ethyl ether, diethyl alcohol, Dinitrotolulene (DNT), nitric acid and related plasticizing ingredients. Including process vessels, heat exchangers, mixing equipment, PLCs and piping installations.
• Constructed a press shroud to capture press shucks from the gun powder extrusion process to prevent shucks from coming into contact with the floor or contamination, which decreases product yield. This improved first-pass yield by 3% and reduced scrap and disposal costs by $25K annually.
• Designed and installed a new pumping system to provide high-pressure hydraulic water to the gun powder extrusion presses. The system consisted of five Worthington high-pressure pumps combined in parallel to provide 4,000 PSI hydraulic water. The system saved $45K annually in maintenance and energy costs.
• Specified and managed the installation of a new Solvent Mixing System for the Energetics Product Center. Currently involved with Toyota Production System (TPS) improvement projects to eliminate waste, reduce non-value added labor and improve customer satisfaction.
• Troubleshooting equipment issues and acting as a liaison for Maintenance personnel and contractors.
• Mentored engineering interns and coordinated senior engineering design projects.
BUCYRUS – DBT AMERICA, PULASKI, VIRGINIA
Mechanical Design Engineer - Belt Systems October 2003 to November 2007
• Designed Belt Conveyor Systems for coal and aggregate mining applications, which were used throughout the world. Translated customers’ specifications and requirements and performed load calculations to determine the correctly sized engineered pulleys.
• Led Six Sigma Green Belt project to identify and resolve reoccurring production issues at the pulley manufacturing facility. The project’s goal was to improve the TAKT time between customer orders and delivery.
• Extensive work with Value Stream Maps (VSMs) to eliminate redundant process steps in the pulley order, routing and production processes. This efficiency improvement resulted in the elimination of non-value added process steps. The project saved $65K annually in workforce reductions.
• Developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for operating instructions to use underground mining conveyors.
• Extensive work with the metric system using AutoCAD and Pro / Engineer Wildfire to design parts, assemblies and create working drawings for machine shop, fabricators and welders.
• Provided technical troubleshooting assistance to mine operators and maintenance personnel whenever part failures occurred. Traveled to jobsite to assist with the commissioning of new conveying equipment, and troubleshooting.
• Performed investigations to determine the root cause(s) for equipment failures and incorporate corrective / preventative action(s) for permanent cost effective solutions.
CELANESE ACETATE, Narrows, Virginia
Process Engineer – Cellulose Compounds August 2001 to October 2003
• Championed a Six Sigma Green Belt project to reduce steam usage in the cellulose flake drying process by identifying the Key Process Input Variables (KPIVs) that wasted steam. The project saved $35K annually.
• Managed the replacement of an inefficient and problematic plate heat exchanger with a more efficient spiral heat exchanger. The new unit allowed for more efficient operating and less energy consumption.
• Constructed replacement Blender Bins, which are used to store off-spec cellulose flake resulting from process excursions. This new capital expense project was completed on time and under budget. Project duration 18 months.
• Designed a new HVAC system for the Cellulose Compounds Control Room. The system consisted of a roof mounted cooling unit, internal duct layout and required me to determine load calculations, vetting bids and selecting winning contractors.
• Monitored daily quality metrics for Cellulose Acetate Flake including: viscosity, molecular weight, pH, acetyl value (AV) and other critical quality parameters.
• Troubleshot equipment issues and worked with Maintenance and Operations to solve production issues in a timely manner. This required me to be onsite on some weekends.
• Established specifications to be used for future projects. Established alternate sources for equipment and services. Reduced the meantime between failures (MTBF) for the cellulose flake screw conveyors and fluidizers.
HALEOS / ACT MICRODEVICES, BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA
Project Engineer September 2000 to July 2001
• Managed the IBM fiber-optic chip program from conceptualization to full-scale production. Developed production schedules to meet the customer’s production demand, hired and trained operators to build the chips, qualify materials suppliers and design working jigs and fixtures to assemble the chip.
• Performed root cause analysis to address customer complaints, created Pareto Charts to identify reoccurring quality issues and issued corrective actions. Tracked corrective actions to verify results.
• Developed production cell layout for the entire manufacturing process including: cutting, grinding, polishing, testing and quality control. Total capital expenditure project totaled $1MM.
• Interfaced extensively with IBM to meet increased production demand to meet the customer’s own production schedule. This required me to utilize Microsoft Project, SAP and Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint to effectively show progress with meeting their production schedule.
EDUCATION:
Virginia Polytechnic and State University – Blacksburg, VA
Master of Science (Mechanical Engineering), 2016 (Acceptance Letter)
Averett University - Danville, VA
Master of Business Administration, August 2000
Bluefield State College - Bluefield, WV
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, May 1997
New River Community College - Dublin, VA
Associate in Applied Science, Drafting and Design Technology, May 1995
SKILLS:
• Effective presentation, communication, and written skills
• Led root cause investigations, which utilized FMEA Models, 5-Whys, 6M’s and Fishbone Diagrams.
• Adapted to working in an ISO 9001/14000/18000 environment and as an ISO internal auditor
• Operated within a Six Sigma setting utilizing the Toyota Way and Kaizen Work Center Methodology
• Versatile knowledge of Pro Engineer Wildfire 2.0, AutoCAD 2009, and Mechanical Desktop
• Designed jigs and fixtures to improve manufacturing and process efficiencies
• Created FEA analysis models using ANSYS Workbench, ALGOR and Cosmos FEA packages
• Vast experience using SAP versions 4.0 – 6.0 Enterprise Resource Planning software
• Extensive work with Microsoft Office, Oracle, UNIX and database programs
PERSONAL INTERESTS: Reading, hiking, biking, and fishing.