Projects
Mad Fiber:
Bicycle Wheel Production Improvement.
Situation
The carbon fiber wheel consisted of 5 components:
(a) 2 Side Walls (Fiber Glass Brake Strips)
(b) Carbon Fiber or Aluminum Rim
(c) Carbon Fiber Spokes
(d) Carbon Fiber Flange
(e)Aluminum hub assembly.
Task:
-Presence of FOD in parts after cure
-Missing plies in layup.
-Misaligned fiber glass Brake strips
-Incorrect orientation.
-Undersize cutouts.
Action:
-Documenting (standard operating procedures), providing lint free materials and other clean room practices into the assembly process.
-Creating ply shape verification/reference templates.
-Eliminating tribal knowledge by training and documenting layup techniques with images and video.
-Adding visuals to work instructions to aid in orientation issues. Suggested overhead laser guides for ideal solution.
-Designed/introduced machined cookie cutters and more effective measurement techniques to achieve correct ply size.
Result:
By appropriate communication of my new ideas throughout each phase and collaborating with each component work station lead. I was able to improve product quality and production time by 40%.
Exotic Metals:
Improved Metrology and Quality
Situation
Tool and die department depended on bench inspection instruments and CMM to achieve engineering dimensional requirements and verify Form, Fit, Function.
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Task:
-Inconsistent results during in process and final verification.
-Lack of structure and Revision control of CMM programs.
-Constant tooling Re-work due to fit-up issues during testing.
-Inadequate instructions and non existent poke-yoke to prevent inverse assembly while using tooling.
-Ability to use entire available inspection envelope on CMM.
-Unreliable SPC, MSA due to use of personal unregulated inspection instruments.
Action:
-Creating detailed control plans with digital inspection sheets to guide machinist during inspection.
-Introduced standardized naming convention and Rev-up of any changes in program while preserving the original as the master. Creating a template with CAD work holding and video instructions.
-Standardized use of collision detection with model of part on assembly tooling during final inspection to identify and eliminate fit-up issues. updated SOP and work instructions.
-Involved more quality team presence during DFMEA/PFMEA activities to provide proactive feedback. Review dimensional requirements and identify gaps in assembly.(Include Poke-yoke)
-Researched and implemented looping and star probe set-ups to increase probe access in loop setup. (Star probe also prevented damage of more valuable CMM head components).
-Researched and introduced Bluetooth enabled measurement instruments that collected more reliable and repeatable data for use in SPC, MSA and Ppk analysis.​
Result:
By collaborating with different teams, I was able to instill a Quality mindset in the tool and die department without sacrificing production. Using data driven analysis to identify processes that were not robust and focusing on improving them. Reduced time spent solving problems by use of industry recognized quality methodologies for RCCA (5Whys, 8D, Cause-Effect).
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Supplier Quality Development:
Improved Supplier Performance
Situation
While transitioning from development to high Volume Production, we needed to ensure that a certain low performing supplier was capable of achieving total customer satisfaction understand requirements, had the capacity to effectively mitigate risk and implement robust quality control actions.
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Task:
-Redevelop relationship after multiple issues and maintain communication on a weekly cadence.
-Assist supplier in standardizing manual and automated inspection practices.
-Achieving dock to stock with minimal quality and OTD issues.
-Coach supplier on industry recognized quality methodologies for RCCA and risk mitigation.
Action:
-Treated everyone with respect and collaborated respectfully. Understood when to separate business from leisure. Introduced documentation of meeting outcomes and shared future action items, owners and due dates in an organized RAIL for accountability.
-Helped set-up virtual document source inspection through company portal and set expectations while assisting the supplier to meet them. (Eliminated documentation related NCRs)
-Created templates with detailed information drop downs to assist the supplier in correct data entry. Assisted in corrective action review and provided constructive improvement feedback as needed.
Result:
Improved supplier scorecard by 30% through elimination of reoccurring non conformances and solid corrective action with read across . By coaching, providing great feedback and working together as a team the supplier was more willing to engage on a regular basis which enabled them to improve overall and was awarded additional long term contracts.
Raytheon & Avtech-Tyee:
Recreated live Dynamic Supplier Performance Dashboard
Situation
When Covid-19 hit, we could not travel to suppliers regularly, monitoring supplier performance was done differently within separate business units on different platforms. We had to standardize in order to be more efficient and find virtual solutions.
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Task:
-Collaborate with leaders of different business units while creating a new supplier management dashboard that presents live useful data.
-Research and find the single best platform to use between Power BI, Excel or web App. (Consolidate as much as possible)
-Document all changes and draft an informative step by step procedure that can be adopted across all BUs.
-Train leadership and team members use of new dashboard and troubleshooting.
Action:
-Hosted weekly meetings with structured agendas and goals. All outcomes were documented in a RAIL and all action item owners held accountable to a reasonable deadline.
-Contacted platform subject matter experts through linked in, investigated cost, accessibility, technical support and all other options. Decided to draft on Excel and move to internal HTML site in the future.
-Acquired a tech writer for support in drafting the procedures and held change control board meetings with all stakeholders to review and digest feedback.
-Complemented the procedure with screen recorded step by step interactive video to assist with training and troubleshooting.
Result:
The dashboard provided live Bi-weekly supplier performance snapshots on a bulleting board and allowed different business unit leaders to easily slice the data virtually and deep dive when needed. Each team was able to make better data driven decisions with reduced resources and share successful solutions with suppliers virtually.
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Blue Origin:
Lock Wire to Safety Cable Transition
Situation
As development was slowly transitioning to production, solutions were needed in standardizing and simplifying procedures for hardware securing devices internally and at suppliers.
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Task:
-Gather supporting data that demonstrates benefits of the transition.
-Eliminate FOD caused by lock wire fragments during repair or replacement.
-Improved access to tight areas during assembly
-Reduce technician training.
-Eliminate Injuries
Action:
-Collaborated with leadership from all assembly departments to discuss transitioning to new technology and receive feedback before commitment.
-Teamed up with QA internally and externally to collect enough non conformance data, scrubbed it for wire fragment FOD related issues. Decided to implement the use of Safety cable only in the Standard Operating procedure draft.
-Sourced a few reliable suppliers of the complete installation set and verification equipment.
-The low profile gun used in cable assembly allowed for access to very tight areas during engine assembly.
-Training for Cable is a short 4 minute video VS lock wire which
requires years of experience.
-Elimination of cut wires and overhanging sharp pigtails by using ferrules. Collaborated with Safety team in tracking historical injury reports.
Result:
Rolled out a new simplified operating procedure that was embraced internally and at suppliers. Drove more suppliers to adopt the new technology based on effectiveness. 100% reduction in injuries related to wire cuts. Increase in production due to the reduction of training required and implementation of the new 4 step system.
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New Product Introduction:
Rod Assembly Development to Production
Situation
The existing NPI process had various gaps that caused issues downstream. We needed to develop something more streamlined through all phases that produced good quality parts consistently and could be adopted company wide.
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Task:
-Develop a product management tool that steps through the 6 phases with visibility across all teams. (VOC/Define, Feasibility, Develop, Validate, Implementation, Evaluation ).
-Incorporate APQP methodology into NPI.
-Manage D/P-FMEA, Control Plan and MSA in a software that could be integrated into existing PLM system.
-Introduce effective tool for SPC and Cpk to predict future defect rate and manage effectiveness of implementation.
Action:
-Created a dynamic Excel template that captured the beginning and later transferred to Trello product management tool.
-Drafted detailed OP and work instructions to guide team members through APQP.
-Introduces FMEA-PRO8 tool to manage part family/ process oriented FMEA.
-Sourced suppliers and tested various tools for SPC that came with advanced measurement tools. Purchased Win-SPC software.
Result:
By implementing a more standardized flow using effective methodologies, I was able to improve the NPI process outcome, the product had a significantly lower defect rate compared to others.
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