CAREER
Pratt & Whitney
Discipline Chief, Affordability and Value Engineering / May 2019 - present
(East Hartford, CT)
Succeeding the retiring Discipline Chief, I've been given responsibility for representing the Pratt & Whitney engineering disciplines of affordability engineering, military life cycle costing (LCC), and value engineering (VE/VA/VM). My responsibility is to keep all three disciplines in good health.
All disciplines need good Engineering Standard Work (ESW) so that every engineer has a clear understanding of what it means to perform their work at a high level of quality. To that end, I've worked with my experts to completely revise much of the documentation for 2022. I've also trained up to become a SharePoint administrator in order to create SharePoint sites that make information about the disciplines easier to find.
I also have to manage attrition of the discipline due to retiring and COVID-related workforce reduction. In 2021, we worked together to create the first complete in-house training course for Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) for LCC.
As part of P&W Quality Engineering (aka Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) / Customer Oriented Results and Excellence (CORE)), Value Engineering's (VE), main purpose is to run cost reduction workshops, I coordinate the execution of value engineering events for Pratt & Whitney, maintain a volunteer group of VE facilitators, upgrade the tools and training materials, report on workshop results, and facilitate critical cost reduction workshops. I am involved with many VE events, including direct facilitation of 6 large events since 2018; savings idea totals ranged from 6% to 58%, with an average of about 35% of either cost reduction or build time reduction. I maintain the central database of all workshops and ideas issuing from them. I am leveraging new tools like Zoom, MS Teams, SharePoint Online, and SharePoint to find more modern ways of running cost reduction workshops when all attendees can't physically attend.
Pratt & Whitney
Tool Manager, aPriori Cost Estimation Software / January 2020 - present
(East Hartford, CT)
In addition to my prior responsibilities, in January 2020, just prior to COVID, I took on responsibility for managing the aPriori enterprise-wide manufacturing cost estimating tool (aPriori Professional, Cost Insight). aPriori is installed in 3 countries and is highly customized. I managed aPriori through the COVID period despite having only 10% of the budget of prior years and 2 reorganizations. I succeeded in bringing the system through 2 system upgrades, one 3 year license renewal, and two service contracts. Tasks included: making aPriori useable by remote workers, annual upgrades of the product, training, marketing, managing license/service contracts, and maintaining the aPriori SharePoint site. To be more efficient, I've added tools such as GitHub, ZenHub, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (eVDI). In 2021, I've created improved Engineering Standard Work that clearly defines when cost estimates from aPriori (or BDI DFMA) are required.
Pratt & Whitney
Senior Manager, Cost & Weight Team / May 2020 - December 2021
(East Hartford, CT)
In addition to my Discipline Chief and aPriori Tool Manager roles, I managed the entire Cost & Weight Team during COVID-related reorganizations. This team is a mix of 12 direct/indirect/outsource reports and is part of Systems Engineering at Pratt & Whitney. Members include three disciplines: weight managers (3 direct reports), life cycle cost engineers (2 direct reports), and affordability engineers (1 direct report). Tasks included: restabilizing the team after reorganization, updating and improving engineering standard work for all the disciplines, putting training material in place for life cycle costing, and general management duties for my direct reports. I am particularly proud of my efforts to fully integrate Pratt & Whitney Puerto Rico team members into the group. I created an innovative SharePoint site for the team that provided different access areas for visitors, team members, and the Manager (me).
Pratt & Whitney
Affordability Engineer - Program Cost Manager / August 2017 - present
(East Hartford, CT)
I jumped from the software industry (apriori) to the aerospace industry over four years ago. At Pratt & Whitney, I use the full range of my career skills and have had to learn to work within/between large organization structures such as CIPTs, IPTs, Module Centers, etc.
I have been responsible for estimating the learned-out cost of a critical new military engine program and have to work many angles to keep the cost down to meet the Customer's cost requirements. Here I learned much about the tools and techniques used for DoD-style cost estimates. I am grateful for having the best-in-the-business as my mentor for this work. The bulk of this work was completed at the end of 2019. From 2020 on, my involvement has been minimal during this phase of engine development.
Additionally, during this time, I facilitated Value Engineering (VE/VAVE) events/cost reduction workshops for different engine programs in order to accumulate good engineering and manufacturing ideas to reduce product cost or build time. Starting May 2019, I succeeded the retiring Discipline Chief in Value Engineering, and so my work continues in this area, albeit on a larger scale and with more responsibilities.
aPriori Technologies
Senior Cost Modeler / August 2004 - August 2017
(Concord, MA)
I have spent 13 years at aPriori. As the first official employee, it has been a fascinating journey watching aPriori grow from a tiny startup company to a company of about 100 employees. Here I have been heavily dipped into the world of professional software development of an enterprise system. I've learned to use tools like Subversion, Beyond Compare, JIRI, and Wikis. I learned Agile methods like SCRUM. aPriori remains on the cutting edge of cost estimating software and is designed from the beginning as 3D CAD model-based, including Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI).
Over the years, I've touched quite a few manufacturing cost estimating models: 2/3-Axis Turning, 3/4/5-Axis Milling, Cylindrical/Rotary/ID Grinding, Gear Hobbing/Shaving/Shaping/Broaching, Bar & Tube machining, Sand Casting, Injection Molding, 2-Model Machining, and currently Aluminum Extrusion. Each cost model has its own special issues and unique problems. Gently teasing out computable knowledge and hard technical and economic numbers from all levels of experts and many other sources also presents its challenges. However, it is always exhilarating to see it come together. Additionally, I also work with the team tasked to find and update the real-world material, labor, and overhead rates for manufacturing across 67 regions in the World.
The Stanley Works - Black & Decker
Data Analyst / VAVE Program Manager / August 2002 - August 2004
(New Britain, CT)
Stanley Works was a no-nonsense hard-nosed GE-style company that tried to squeeze every wasted penny of material and labor out of its products around the world. Worldwide Procurement gave me a front row seat to view these activities.
Data Analyst for the Direct Materials Corporate Procurement Group. Responsible for collecting and analyzing material procurement data, including 4,000 cost reduction projects affecting $1 Billion in spend. Responsible for monitoring VAVE (cost reduction) projects and best practices.
INTRANET PRODUCTIVITY PROJECT TRACKER. Highly successful worldwide system for collecting and tracking cost savings projects. I wrote the specifications and did most of the training, and data scrubbing.
VAVE BEST PRACTICES. Brought-in a well-known expert on Value Engineering, Jerry Kaufman. Worked with him to propose a detailed business plan for improving the Vidmar Cabinets business.
The Stanley Works - Black & Decker
Cost Engineer - Cost Modeler / September 2000 - July 2002
(New Britain, CT)
Representing a new type of position in Corporate Procurement: building blends of manufacturing, logistics, & import cost models to estimate the 'should cost' of products.
PLANT CLOSING / EXPANDING COST MODEL. Working for the COO, built an intricate cost model to estimate the net cost impact on the company of: closing plants, expanding plants, moving product to suppliers. Costs involved 600 SKU's and worldwide logistics costs. Received an award with stock options for my efforts.
MFG COST MODELS. Created Visual Basic - Access cost models for: single shot injection molding tooling, mult-shot rotational injection molding, truck and/or ocean logistics costs, die castings and corrogated boxes.
RFQ's. Assembled quotes for various make or buy decisions, such as tooling for a high volume tape measure product line.
Pratt & Whitney
Program Cost Analyst / December 1998 - September 2000
(East Manchester, CT)
Pratt & Whitney gave me insight into the costs and advanced materials and processes involved in making one of the most highly engineered machines in the world: the modern jet engine. The Cost Engineering Group there was equally ambitious: wanting to create state-of-the-art cost estimating systems, which included expert systems for cost estimating.
One of two principle cost modelers in the Cost Tools Group. Responsible for shop floor research and development of custom manufacturing cost estimating software.
EXPERT SYSTEM COST MODELING. Created an expert system that generates an itemized cost estimate of each of the many processes, including machining, to make a jet turbine hub or disk. Built with Cost Advantage and LISP, users could choose from different materials, processes, and part designs. Received a raise and an Eagle Award for outstanding effort.
Otis Elevator
DFA Facilitator & Trainer, Cost Tools Benchmarker, and Innovation Group Facilitator / August 1995 - December 1998
(Farmington, CT)
Cost Estimating & DFx Software isn't useful inside a company if engineers don't know how it works and don't see how it relates to what they do. At the Worldwide Engineering Center for Otis Elevator, we learned how to roll out a global training program that became quickly relevant to different engineering centers around the Otis Engineering World. For Otis, worldwide means: Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, Spain, Malaysia, and Australia. This offered an amazing look at how engineers around the world can view the same product and come up with different great solutions to fit their culture and business environment.
DFA (Design for Assembly) FACILITATOR AND TRAINER. Part of a 3-man self-directed team reporting to the Director of Technology. Personally facilitated 23 one-week DFA workshops on over 40 different elevator products; 13 workshops were done overseas. Logged 150,000+ flight miles and frequently operating in foreign language divisions. Created a large corporate DFA website. For a better understanding of the business, spent 3 months in Manhattan skyscrapers assisting elevator mechanics with elevator installation & maintenance.
COST TOOLS BENCHMARKER. Working independently for the Assistant Controller of Worldwide Operations, I benchmarked two cost estimating tools against Otis' best manufacturing facilities.
INNOVATION GROUP FACILITATOR. Facilitated brainstorming and idea evaluation offsite workshops. Developed an ACCESS database for collecting and rating attendee ideas.
Schneider Electric
Team Leader, R&D for Product Development Methods / August 1988 - May 1995
(Nanterre, France - western suburbs of Paris).
Nothing is quite as dramatic and challenging as total immersion as an immigrant (not as an expatriot) into a truly foreign engineering environment. Of course I had to express complex ideas in a second language. To be taken seriously as a true equal, though, I had to learn the values, the interaction styles, and good business manners expected in France. I learned to admire the French for their intelligence, their passion, and their lifestyle.
Managed, administered, worked in a team of 3 engineers.
PROCESS & BOM REPRESENTATION. Developed methods and C++ software to download MRP (COPICS) information to PC's and then provide a graphical editing environment for engineers. Work included the development of an extensive system of manufacturing pictograms.
EXPERT SYSTEM FOR ASSEMBLY STATION CONFIGURATION. Developed an expert system based on OPS83 and C++ graphics, that graphically rendered the configuration of manual assembly workstations as the expert system configured and priced the setup.
PRODUCT ANALYSIS. Working with MRP data, developed methods of analyzing patterns, including demand and using ORACLE to construct and analyze large matrix bills of material representing product families, looking for improvement opportunities.
TECHNICAL DATABASE. Protyped custom extensions for my employer's SDRC (Structural Dynamics Research Corporation) technical database.
Telmeco
FEA Consultant / July 1988
(Geneva, Switzerland)
Called in to a Battelle spin-off company to explain and simulate the failure of a solid-gold watch mechanism for one of their clients.
Battelle
Contract Research Engineer / February 1986 - July 1988
(Geneva, Switzerland)
Where else in the world could you sit next to brilliant engineers who speak 6 languages as if it is the most natural thing in the world? Here I met the worldly researcher-entrepreneur: one who creates a research project, goes out and markets and sells them to business, and then comes back and does the work. Here I learned to respect the importance of thinking globally.
Worked for the Mechanical and Textile Engineering Department.
FEA FOR CERAMIC PARTS. For a very large Multiclient Study, I wrote the FORTRAN code for calculating the probability of crack initiation in ceramic parts, modeled in either 2D or 3D.
CAD/CAM FOR NC KNITTING MACHINES. Created C-based PC software for designing and simulating textile patterns and generating the machine instructions for a circular knitting machine.
DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY (DFA). Working with the inventor of a new device for public hygiene, we analyzed its design and proposed modifications that would reduce assembly costs.
2D and 3D FEA: Performed finite element analyses on a variety of parts. Analyses included thermal shock tests. Used the NIKE (LAWRENCE LIVERMORE) series of programs.
University of Massachusetts at Amhert
Research Assistant / June 1981 - July 1985
(Amherst, MA)
The most brilliant men that I have ever had the honor of working for and learning under were Geoffrey Boothroyd and Peter Dewhurst. Their influence and approach towards treating manufacturing as a science that can be studied, systematized, and ultimately modeled started me on a path that I walked along for the next 30 years.
While studying for my Masters and PhD, I worked for Geoffrey Boothroyd and Peter Dewhurst as a Research Assistant.
OPTICAL SENSORS FOR PART ORIENTATION AND FEEDING. Worked on the use of pulsed IR sensors mounted above a conveyor belt to scan prismatic parts as they sped by. By processing the sensor signal, one could determine conditions on the part surface and use various techniques to get the parts into their desired orientation.
PROGRAMMABLE PART FEEDERS. Designed and built microprocessor-based controllers connected to sensors mounted to conveyor belts. These controllers could be taught the desired part orientation and then the controller would move actuators to get the part into the correct orientation for pickup by a PUMA robot.
Boothroyd Dewhurst Incorporated
DFA Consultant / September 1985 - November 1985
(Wakefield, Rhode Island)
Here I had the opportunity to work for Drs. Dewhurst and Boothroyd on a couple of product redesign projects before going to Battelle. Sent out on week-long missions to lead DFA-based product redesign workshops using BDI's proprietary analysis software. The product redesigns that came out of the company's (Federal Instrument and Brown & Sharpe CMM Machines) were considered a great success.
