RODNEY A. KINDLER

** ******* **.

Clifton Park, NY 12065

Cell phone: 518-***-****

E-mail: tzb0c9@r.postjobfree.com

_______________________________________________________________________________________

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Hands-on Engineering Manager having wide-ranging experience with Fortune 100 and small, development companies in lean manufacturing, quality applications, electrical power applications and project management. Team leader, with strong verbal and written communication skills, committed to high standards of quality, cost reduction and process improvement for design and production. Highly organized and efficient at completing assignments while maintaining flexibility with changing priorities.

EXPERIENCE

ARCADIA MANUFACTURING GROUP, Green Island, NY 2010

Process Engineer

Develop, implement and maintain methods and operation sequences in the manufacture, fabrication and test of customer parts and assemblies. Introduce methods to reduce costs, reduce cycle time and improve quality of the company’s products. Develop quality systems for creating future processes to route new products through company operations.

Accomplishments

• Develop new system to route materials through company operations during manufacture and fabrication of customer parts and assemblies.

• Work with the IT Manager to introduce new tracking modules for creating complete data packages for parts.

• Introduce assembly fixtures to reduce set up and production time for recurring part orders.

AEROTEK ENERGY SERVICES, Niskayuna, NY 2009

Electrical Engineer

Designed temporary electrical system to power deconstruction of buildings including system specification and supplier development. Interfaced with site electrical engineering to provide bulk power feeds for temporary electrical systems. Wrote and provided technical assessment of electrical specifications for sub-contractor operations.

Accomplishments

• Developed temporary plan for safely using building power during initial phases of asbestos and beryllium abatement enabling deconstruction to begin three months ahead of original schedule.

• Designed and wrote purchase specifications for temporary power system for deconstruction of buildings.

• Mentored young electrical engineer in power applications.

• Corrected original utility pole installation design saving approximately $1000 on sub-contractor task.

PLUG POWER, Latham, NY 2005-2008

Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Manager (2007-2008)

Managed advanced manufacturing engineers providing cost reduction ideas and manufacturing improvements and machine shop producing prototype, test and small volume production parts. Completed advanced manufacturing engineering tasks on schedule in my assigned development programs.

Accomplishments

• Developed a 7-station prototype assembly line with procedures in two weeks that identified >100 issues with system design, work station layout, operator procedures and potential cost reductions.

• Specified and managed the electrical system design and fabrication by an out-of-state supplier for mobile 5kW back-up power supply prototype vehicles.

• Managed internal design and fabrication of inline test fixture for fuel cell cathode air supply equipment that provided approximately 40% cost savings over outside quotes.

• Set up weekly priority reviews with machinists to schedule efficient workflow through the machine shop to meet stringent performance objectives, 100% of production tasks and 95% of development tasks completed on time.

• Lead the education committee for the Community Outreach Team.

Lead Engineer (2005–2007)

Reviewed system designs for potential cost savings and more efficient assembly methods. Developed better part specifications and qualified new parts in cooperation with suppliers.

Accomplishments

• Managed supplier efforts for redesign of fuel cell hydrogen and cathode air humidifier including system specification changes, cost reduction reviews, characterization tests and field failure tests.

• Designed, managed and coordinated proof testing with supplier to increase hydrogen safety detector service interval from 3 months to one year, which reduced yearly costs approximately $4000 per unit.

• Managed contract engineers redesigning power module that provided a 16% cost reduction and identified additional reductions of 15-20% with major architectural and supplier changes.

• Corrected system design eliminating >25% flow meter failure rate within the first six months of service. Flow meter failures eliminated after redesign implemented.

FORD MOTOR COMPANY / VISTEON SYSTEMS (Ford Motor company spin-off) 1989-2004

Simultaneous Engineering Team Manager, Bedford, Indiana (1999-2004)

Lead four engineers and provided plant interface for four different design engineering groups identifying design and manufacturing corrective actions to improve customer quality and increase first-time throughput in production.

Accomplishments

• Managed major program to eliminate materials prohibited by European Union directive from automotive service assemblies and schedule release of alternative designs.

• Maintained Reliability Engineer Certification through American Society for Quality to provide data analysis verifying plant product compliance with customer specifications.

Senior Product Design Engineer, Dearborn, MI (1989-1999)

Managed APQP process for design and release of new model vehicle products, including prototype development and testing to meet milestones in vehicle programs, coordination of design assembly with manufacturing plant to reduce initial assembly cost and increase initial assembly production throughput and review initial field failures to identify corrective actions for quality improvements.

Accomplishments

• Managed suppliers and organized product APQP for design and release of the original Expedition/Navigator fuel pump sender. Chassis and fuel system design had the lowest initial failure rate and TGW rating of any Ford vehicle up to that time.

• Maintained quality tracking system and analyzed field return parts to apply corrective actions for electrical terminal corrosion on pickup trucks eliminating extremely high warranty cost at one year in service.

• Identified root cause and recommended design change for electrical issue in vehicles that created >50% replacement of parts after three years in service.

FORD AEROSPACE, Albuquerque, NM 1988-1989

Staff Member

Provided electrical engineering support for engineering service contracts with government and industrial customers. Coordinated, authored and edited company proposals for engineering service contracts in response to federal government requests for quote.

Accomplishments

• Developed quick method to measure contractor budget and schedule slips supporting the government contract officer.

• Organized verification test of laser interferometer for identification of voids in solid rocket fuel matrix..

Other employers – Illinois Power (1984), Public Service Indiana (1981-1984), Westinghouse Electric (1980-1981)

EDUCATION

Master of Science, Manufacturing Management,

Kettering University, Flint, Michigan

Master of Science, Electrical Engineer,

University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering,

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

ADDITIONAL INDUSTRY TRAINING

Project Management Design for Assembly

Design for Manufacturability Risk Analysis

Reliability: Key-life Testing Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing

ISO Internal Auditing Statistics for Quality Systems

PATENTS

U.S. Patent No. 6669043; “Passthru Device for Internalized Component Fuel Tanks,”

Co-holder with Duane Fish and Shiva Dhanapal

Contact this candidate