Manufacturing Engineer Senior

CHARLIE NICKELL

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS AND COMPUTER SKILLS

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, 1997

Clemson University, Clemson, SC

Associates in Industrial Technology, Machine Tool Technology, 1992

Trident Technical College, Charleston, SC

Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, Cummins

MS (Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, and Project), Solidworks, Autodesk Inventor, Autocad, CAMworks, GibbsCAM, and Mastercam.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Elbit Systems, Ladson, SC 4/2023- Present

Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Developed plant floor layout, completed work instructions, process flow and routings for complex assemblies. Created and maintained routings and bill of materials for 15k part assembly.

Completed production readiness reviews with our parent company in Israel. Completed first article inspection for new products.

Designed fixtures and jigs to aid in the assembly process. Completed design reviews of new product changes and releases.

SKF, Sumter, SC 11/2020-4/2023

Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Supported daily production of 4 to 13 inch thin section 440c stainless steel ball bearings, which included green turning, heat treat, bore and diameter grinding, hard turning and path grinding operations, using Okuma, Mori Seiki machining centers.

Reduced scrap by 20% while increasing by creating operator work instructions and troubleshooting guides for troublesome parts. Also worked with operators to understand good machining standard practices.

KSM Castings, Shelby, NC 6/2020-11/2020

Machining Engineer

Supported daily production of machined aluminum automotive control arms, including the setup and changeover of 5 axis twin spindle SW machining centers.

Led startup of new capital equipment, prove out, and documentation, including work instructions, process plans, and changeover instructions.

Cummins Turbo Technology, Ladson, SC 11/2006-10/2011, 11/2018–1/2020

Manufacturing Engineer – Component Machining (11/2018–1/2020)

Supported Okuma machining centers for the daily production of Impeller, Shaft and Wheel components.

Reduced overtime and weekend work by leading the installation, setup and runoff of a Schenck impeller balancer, including the creation work instructions, process plans, operator care and changeover procedures.

Used GR&R and capability studies to re-qualify balancers after machines moved as part of a line consolidation.

Manufacturing Engineer – Component Machining (11/2006-10/2011)

Supported Okuma machining centers for the daily production of Impeller, Shaft and Wheel components.

Consolidated cast Titanium impeller production into the Palmetto plant, which required establishing capability, scheduling the move, working with contractors to have the machines moved and installed, capability studies, and completing of all paperwork for PPAP submission.

Increased impeller balance production capacity from 200pcs/shift to 600pcs/shift by automating existing equipment and optimizing the cell layout.

Reduced manufacturing footprint by 40%.

Reduced manpower by 20%.

Completed runoffs and capability studies on grinders, lathes, and balancers.

Completed GR&Rs for production gages and balancers.

Wrote and edited CNC programs to reduce machine cycle times.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Huntsville, AL 11/2017- 11/2018

Process Engineering Specialist- Machining

Supported daily production of engine Head (milling), Cam (turning and grinding) and Block Lines (milling).

Maintained tooling and fixtures, Cost improvements, and tooling trials.

Troubleshot existing processes using PLC logic and other troubleshooting methods.

Reduced cycle times by performing time studies.

Created Capital Appropriations Request to replace dated equipment.

Eaton Aerospace, North Charleston, SC 10/2011-08/2017

Manufacturing Engineer – New Product Introduction

Quoted new complex machining components, which involved estimating the raw material or casting, machining, and outside vendor processes.

Selected tooling, manufacturing processes, wrote NC programs for 5 axis Okuma, Mazak and Mori Seiki machining centers using GibbsCAM and Mastercam, and completed documentation for initial runs of new projects.

Reduced new part delivery time by tracking all new components from process development to initial run.

Supported daily production of the hydraulic pump focus factory, which included monitoring productivity, throughput, quality and safety.

Bellwright Industries, Summerville, SC 10/2002-11/2006

Manufacturing Engineer

Supported Okuma 4 axis horizontal and vertical mills and lathes for the daily production of turbine housings sold to Cummins Turbo Technologies and lawn mower components sold to Electrolux Yard Products.

Designed and implemented production gaging, including calibration, GR&R studies, and setup of data acquisition systems

Designed fixtures using Autodesk Inventor, selected and designed tooling, designed production gages, wrote CNC programs, selected machinery, and developed manufacturing processes for the startup of new products.

Released new products to production, which involved writing process specifications and training production personnel.

Led PPAP submission for new products, including machining capability studies, and PFMEA creation.

Reduced machining defects by preforming corrective actions and root cause analysis.

KryoTech, West Columbia, SC 06/1997-10/2002

Design Engineer

Designed sheet metal computer housings to incorporate a cooling system.

Designed evaporators and insulation for Intel and AMD microprocessors.

Used Camworks to program CNC machines to manufacture evaporators and insulation.

Obtained UL Certification of the complete system including EMF and EMC compliance.

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