Laboratory Operations Manager with ISO/IEC Expertise

Work History:

BQ Technologies (Brush Industries/Q-Card Co), Sunbury, PA January 2007-Current

Manager of Laboratory Operations June 2024-Present

Responsibilities below, plus-

Manage and uphold ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation of the testing laboratory: physical card testing, testing, and calibration card generation

Maintains EMVCo accreditation testing for the payment brand industry through payment cards, mobile phones, and wearable samples

Oversees, schedules, and manages ISO/IEC 9001 compliant customer equipment repairs, manufacturing, assembling, and calibrations; maintains customer spreadsheets and files for historical archiving and Sales information

Motivates and supervises technical staff of engineers and technicians

Oversees, schedules, and plans technical staff’s daily functions and is a back up to their processes

Main liaison between Sales and the laboratory to relay changing deadlines, adapting to challenging customer needs, new requirements, rush results, repair of equipment, and upcoming projects

Leads team in LEAN/5S initiatives to improve upon testing, repair, and calibration of customer items to reduce turnaround times, decrease waste, improve organization, and increase efficiency

Promote high positive morale and complete “right the first time” accuracy work ethic for the customer

Plans, directs, and assigns tasks to technical staff to meet customer requirements, complete test reports, and other essential duties

Coordinates with other departments such as Sales, Purchasing, QA, Shipping/Receiving, and the Vice President of Technology to manage customer provided materials and completion of testing, test reports, repairs, and calibration of customer equipment

Evaluates and reviews outside external generated data for accuracy and compliance before presented to customers

Performs initial review of all experimental data and test reports created by the laboratory for compliance, format, and accuracy to ISO/IEC, ANSI, Payment Brands, EMVCo, and CQM standards

This includes the following testing but is not limited to:

Physical card testing: Environmental: Heat, UV, Xenon, Durability, Different Temperature and Humidity conditions, Surface Distortions, Wear, Warpage, Chemical: Aqueous and Organic, Mechanical: Opacity, Peel Strength, Dimensions, Stability, Adhesion, Blocking, Bending Stiffness, Dynamic Bending Stress, Dynamic Torsional Stress, Impact, Embossing, Electrical: ESD Testing, Contacts, Chip Functionality, Static, ATS, Resonant Frequency, Q-Factor, and ATR, Magnetic Stripe: Signal Amplitude, Jitter, Adhesion, Warpage, Surface Roughness, Wear

EMVCo L1 Contactless, Mobile and HCE, Analog and Digital, Payment Brand testing, Interoperability, Performance, Visa L2 Transactional

Provides technicians with constructive and detailed feedback to prevent future testing reworks and improving efficiency by collaborating with the Vice President of Technology for technical recommendations for when performing test methods and completing test logs

Reduce the amount of errors in test reports by having a meticulous attention to detail and provide the customer with a confident test report product

Completes executive summaries, testing proposals, other customer related documents, and informational reports for individual lab test reports with guidance from the Vice President of Technology

Manages documentation and overall administration of the laboratory by updating work procedures, testing forms, test reports, other technical documentation and general instructions as new versions of standards or continuous improvements arise in conjunction with the Vice President of Technology

Promotes hands on training and compliance of new procedures and processes, updates to standards, and improved techniques in conjunction with the Vice President of Technology

Maintains the EMVCo library for up to date information, communications, testing information, and technical knowledge

Manages, promotes, and helps complete continuous improvements, resolutions to customer complaints, and corrective actions as they arise in the laboratory and through the auditing process to improve the lab’s efficiency and compliance to procedures and standards

Participates and leads in internal and external audits to find recommendations for improvements, deviations, and non-conformance as part of the quality system

Completed training in understating the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard and auditing our laboratory to the standard

Documents quality and customer testing acknowledgments using electronic systems of JobBoss and uniPoint

Back up to the Shipping department using FedEx, DHL, and UPS software and export compliance documentation

Tracks and develops metrics to indicate productivity and performance of the department: First Pass Yield and On Time Complete delivery

Manages training plans for technicians, proficiency testing process, and scheduling

Performs evaluations, on-boarding, and offer input for new employee hires

Leads the upper management review meeting for quality compliance

Brush Industries/Q-Card Co., Sunbury, PA

Lead Electronics Laboratory Technician/Electro-Mechanical Assembler- December 2021-Present

Responsibilities below, plus-

Member of the safety committee; coordinates with staff to improve working conditions and address concerns

Manages equipment, environmental conditions, infrastructure, facilities, testing materials, supplies, chemicals, and consumables required by the laboratory

Troubleshoots any and all laboratory issues for equipment, facilities, processes and procedures

On/offsite service and calibration of magnetic stripe analyzing equipment

Building/ calibrating technical machines and testing equipment/ devices

Customer Service/trouble shoot via email/verbal contact to decipher issues and solutions to customer concerns/complaints

Customer training/ walkthroughs of equipment and usage

maintain standard operating procedures while offering/implementing continual improvement of procedures and test fixtures

Test fixture development and fabrication/modification

Brush Industries/Q-Card Co., Sunbury, PA

Lead Electronics Laboratory Technician- January 2011- December 2021

Responsibilities below, plus-

Assist scientists and other customers with per-production, new development, and troubleshooting needs;

Training new staff on policy/procedures, testing, and maintenance

In charge of sample preparation and measurement for metal, plastic and paper cards in laboratory testing

ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 Auditor

aided in achieving ISO 17025 certification

Assist with sample identification and productivity metrics

Certify secondary reference material according to ISO 7811-2/6 standards

follow standard operating procedures while offering/implementing continual improvement of procedures and test fixtures

Works independently, following processes to collect and analyze data while also being able to collaboratively work with team members, communicating effectively about experiment setup and data analysis

ICMA ACE-M, A, P, Certified for my knowledge in the field of Card Manufacturing

Brush Industries/Q-Card Co., Sunbury, PA

Electronics Lab Technician - January 2007- January 2011

Responsibilities:

Laboratory testing of identification cards following ISO/IEC 7811-2, 7811-6, and 10373 standards Creation of various types of test cards for magnetic stripe readers

Use of test equipment such as micrometers, magnetic analyzers, function generators, oscilloscopes, sieves, xenon chambers, weathering chambers, temperature and humidity chambers, micro–ohm meters, flame hood, bar code readers, RFID instrumentation, Optical Comparators

Lab cleanup and organization, equipment calibrations and servicing

maintain instrumentation documentation and calibration records

Working with Quality Assurance measuring equipment(Micrometers, Shadow graphs, Perthometers, Microscopes including OGP)

Traveling/Onsite support to other facilities

Workflow matrix management

Experience with various electronic test instrumentation including electrometers, network analyzers, digital/analog multimeters, oscilloscopes, and power supplies

Technical experience including problem solving skills, attention to fine detail, process flow improvements

Accomplishments:

Pennsylvania Skills USA placement

Introduction to Information Technology and Electronics Technology Certificate

Moyer’s Electronics - Top Ranking in Sun Area Career and Technology’s Electronics Program

Instrumental part in team to accomplish A2LA accreditation for Q-Card in ISO/IEC 17025 standards

P.T.B. Training (Metrology Center in Germany) to be the primary handler/certifier of secondary reference material

setting the magnetic stripe standard around the world.

International trade shows

Lead ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 Auditor

Training: ACE A Certified (ID/Payment Industry top certification)

Qualified Electrical Safety/Training

Safety and OSHA training

Training in current MS Office programs (Work, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

semiconductor processing-working knowledge

Project and General Management Training

Experience with both PC and MAC OS

Education:

Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton, PA Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology

Advanced DC-AC, Solid State and Digital devices, circuits, analysis, troubleshooting * Microprocessor applications and various electronic equipment and measuring devices

Sun Area Career and Technology Center, New Berlin, PA Certificate in Electronics Technology

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