General Manager Customer Service

Daniel P. Schmidt

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

Salem, Virginia 24153

Cell: 847-***-****

*********@*****.***

SUMMARY

Results-oriented, forward thinking team builder with a very diverse background in product engineering and design. Proven track record delivering innovative product designs that fit customer needs and business strategies. Experience executing each phase of product life cycle management. Strengths encompass each area of engineering and technical management including strong leadership, team building, resource management, project management, defining product requirements, and overall technical skills required to lead technical organizations.

SKILLS

Leadership

Strategic Planning

Product Planning

Customer Service

Team Building

Stage Gate

Quality Management

CAPA

Microsoft Navision ERP*

Budgeting

Product Launch

ARAS PLM*

Capital Equipment and Production Planning

Manufacturing Planning

Costing

Vendor Relations

Process Development

General Business Management

*Heavy involvement in the planning and implementation of both an ERP and PLM system.

EXPERIENCE

August 2023 – May 2025

VP/General Manager – ESS, A Pacteon Company

Results driven leader, I reported to the Pacteon CEO, I led the ESS business through significant change as it evolved from private ownership into a corporate structure while consolidating two manufacturing sites into a single location.

•Oversee daily operations and all aspects of machine quotations, engineering, procurement, assembly, and other and business operations of highly customized robotic packaging and palletizing equipment that serves medical and industrial packaging needs

•Managed up to 70 personnel to improve team communications, drive completion of equipment for delivery, and addressing legacy equipment field issue resolution

•At the Pacteon level, worked with the team to solve cross business functional needs, enhance inter business communications, and drive consistent processes across business

•Support high level negotiation of sales and field issue needs

•Perform complete product line management driving standardization, simplification, and feature sets to achieve customer satisfaction

October 2011 – July 2023

Director of Engineering – Triangle Package Machinery Co.

Known for being a doer and getting things done by company ownership and fellow senior management team, I am challenged to address needs across the business from sales order processing, customization of designs to meet customer needs, fabrication and assembly efficiencies, product quality, and growth of the business through new product development.

•Developed a cohesive team of proud and engaged engineers that keep up with aggressive customized sales orders while also developing new and innovative products. The team is comprised of three managers and 30 FTE mechanical, industrial, electrical, and software engineers.

•Lead ongoing product development and innovation that have yielded to date:

o Best in class, and first US OEM, ultrasonic sealing implementation in the VFFS bagger market

o New convertible VFFS bagger platform that has been immediately well received by the market

o Multiple innovative vertical sealing technologies including ultrasonic sealing

o PMMI award winning auto-changeover system for the Triangle bag-in-box cartoner system

o Numerous software enhancements across the product lines

o New compact bagger, openly cleanable VFFS bagger (2019 release)

•Envisioned, championed, and completed a complete restructuring of product bills of materials across product lines to reduce engineering order release times from 2-3weeks down to less than one day.

•Streamlined engineering metadata management by selecting and implementing a PLM system that integrates with the company ERP system, reduces errors from a directory-based drawing management system, and eliminates paper ECN’s amongst many values it brought to the business.

•Key leading team member for the business ERP change from 1996 MK ERP to Microsoft Navision ERP. Involvement included everything from quote and order planning through each aspect of production planning, production execution, and shipping.

•Perpetually driving multiple manufacturing efficiency projects throughout the business. This includes fabrication equipment utilization improvements through assembly and standard assembly time development.

•Support sales through on-site assessments, technical discussions with customer decision makers, problem solving, and product recommendations.

•Mentored multiple team members to develop them for the key management roles they have now earned within the business.

•Restructured and realigned company Industrial Engineering Team to be in line with company goals and needs.

Aug 07 – October 2011

Manager of Engineering - Buehler, A Division of Illinois Tool Works

Reporting to the business unit President/GM of this international business, I revitalized product development, invigorate the company product portfolio, and address existing product design quality issues. This occurred while managing the complete engineering organization with 17 engineers located at 2 locations, one of which was located in Shanghai, China.

•Redeveloped the complete engineering department procedure set to comply with ISO9001

•Led the elimination of 80% of the legacy product issues within 6 months on the job

•Reduced product development cycle by 50% through numerous initiatives including stage gate processes.

•Supported an over 30% business growth by identifying and leading the developments for over 15 new products.

•Successfully defined and managed a program to reduce costs of existing products by 5-15% using best practice tools

•Drove modernization of product assembly instruction process to assure product manufacture consistency and eliminated out of box failures resulting from assembly errors

•Trained the engineering team in failure analysis investigation and corrective action to improve field issue response time.

Added responsibility for managing the company quality and service organization from Jan 2010 – Jan 2011

•Restructured field service organization to improve customer experience and reduce time to service by 50%.

•Developed professional code of conduct and field service personnel manual for service personnel

•Led the development of a new quality metric review process to identify product quality issues graphically from active quality data

•Implemented a Quality Circle process to immediately address manufacturing and service issues with a cross functional team of manufacturing, engineers, and quality

Aug 01 – Jul 07

v - Baxter Healthcare: Round Lake and Deerfield, IL

A “go to” engineering leader with experience in design and sustaining engineering support for small volume IV infusion pumps and Automated compounding equipment developed by Baxter Healthcare. Experience spans all aspects of engineering with special ability to understand complex engineering systems and how systems interact from a holistic approach.

•Managed cross-functional teams for hardware development and product improvements for 5 products

•Managed customer complaint and product quality monitoring process.

•CAPA champion for numerous investigations.

•Team member and Instructor for a Technical Problem-Solving Procedure used for CAPA investigations.

•Supervised up to 5 contract and internal laboratory technicians that perform product testing

•Provided first response technical support for loss of life product investigations

Oct 00 – Aug 01

Test Engineer/Production Engineer - Arens Controls Company: Evanston, IL (company moved to Carpentersville, IL in Oct. 01)

Exceeded in a fast paced, rapidly growing, small company environment, this engineering position involved all aspects of engineering support and customer interaction for electromechanical automotive products.

•Managed and developed universal end of line testing system for complete range of products

•Developed and implemented new method of work instructions that reduced assembler skill level requirements

•Established/updated product testing requirements for entire product line in a QS(now TS)/ISO environment

•Developed quality database to eliminate paper-based system.

•Managed testing program for end-of-line failures and field returns.

Aug 98 – Oct 00

Product Development Engineer/Project Engineer - Elkay Manufacturing: Broadview, IL

Diversified position in a high-volume manufacturing environment, this position involved modernizing design and manufacturing techniques in a well-established environment that produces stainless steel sinks and numerous faucet products.

•Championed numerous process improvement projects tied to improving manufacturing efficiency.

•Improved welding efficiency by developing new welder controls

•Lowered annealing scrap and improved OEE of annealing furnace through process modifications. Due to outstanding success, these modifications were recognized and adopted by heat treating partners.

•Developed a manufacturing quality database to capture and analyze manufacturing process data.

•Automated electronic data interchange (EDI) interface and information storage to eliminate manual processes.

Feb 92 - Aug 98

R&D Instrument/Device Engineer & Materials Engineer - Abbott Laboratories: Abbott Park, Illinois

Established a materials science testing lab. After broad engineering skills were recognized by project leaders, responsibilities grew to include medical diagnostic product R&D.

•Acquired, modified and maintained test equipment utilized for materials testing.

•Designed and developed numerous test fixtures and equipment for both R&D prototypes and lab test instruments.

•Developed numerous software controls for R&D prototypes and test equipment using Labview, Visual Basic and C/C++.

•Co-developed a patented multi-chamber blood collection tube.

•Developed application method for coating polypropylene sheet with a proprietary wetting agent.

•Designed and developed low cost means to measure skin conductivity used for diagnostic equipment development.

•Co-developed multiple means of accessing and extracting subcutaneous fluid from human subjects.

Jan 85 – Jan 2009

Wisconsin Air National Guard – Master Sergeant - Retired

•Jan 85 – Jun 89 Jet Engine Mechanic

•Jun 89 – Jan 09 Air Refueling Boom Operator aircrew member, instructor, and evaluator.

EDUCATION

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee: Milwaukee, Wisconsin - B.S., Materials Engineering - Jan 92

USAF Leadership Training from basic leadership school through senior enlisted leadership

Project Management Training

Stage Gate Courses (multiple)

DMAIC Problem Solving

The Toyota Way – Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), A3 Thinking, Set Based Design

80/20 Training

Product Line Simplification

In-Lining for Production and Process

Simply Strategies – Business strategy course that was applied to the Buehler business model during my tenure there

Microsoft Education - Visual Basic

Microsoft Education - Visual C

Advance Microsoft Excel

Advanced Microsoft Access

Multiple technical seminars for Software, Mechanical Design, Electrical Design

Multiple management courses that include Team Development and Inspirational Leadership

Outside Activities

Boy Scouts of America –Badge Counselor for Multiple Badges

Radio Controlled Planes & Helicopters

Automotive

Woodworking & Building Construction

3D Printing

Electronics and Electromechanical Hobbies

Custom Computer Building

Soccer Coach

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