Business culture was not open to change and innovation. Faced with ingrained philosophies with regard to component assembly methods, supply chain, and procurement.

Redesigned product line to overcome issues with regard to cost, quality, manufacturability, shipping damage and overall customer experience. Enriched performance and feature sets, methodized assembly to reduce time and motion, employed Six Sigma techniques to improve quality and developed packaging materials that reduced transit damage by several orders of magnitude. Eliminated requirement for capital expenditures for replication equipment, simplified service and added features to facilitate field upgrades while still reducing cost. Cross-trained employees to allow in-house manufacture with a minimum of dedicated assemblers.

Product cost was reduced by 50% and product footprint by 40%. Shipping weight was diminished by more than 60%. The product redesign produced improved performance, a richer feature set, elimination of quality issues and a better customer experience. Won confidence of executive management through results that exceeded expectations and became a key player for special projects and organization-wide operational management.

Recruited specifically to move forward patent claim for small plasma energy torches used for the destruction of bio-hazardous material. Needed to overcome a "not invented here" attitude as well as philosophical design issues and differences that prevented the product from meeting patent claim. Faced with engineering impasses and ingrained attitudes not conducive to results.

Demonstrated the root cause of failure as something other than the prevailing engineering focus while enlisting the aid of the engineers and technicians with predisposed opinions. Created challenging atmosphere that improved the working environment and overall demeanor of the team.

The teaming created a product that actually delivered against patent specification. The internal result was a more cooperative team and better working relationships.

Recruited by the Head of Product Development to assist in design of a critical care patient monitoring system for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), which was one year behind schedule.

Gained the Department Heads’ confidence by presenting a budget and timeline for accomplishing the task employing the internal team and outside contractors. Completed all budgets and due diligence to provide a working prototype in 60 days and a pilot run of 100 units 60 days after prototype approval.

The working prototype hardware was in place four weeks later and the software that was developed internally ran for another eight weeks. After the prototype was accepted, 75 units were delivered two weeks later and the remaining 25 units two weeks after that. The last 25 units were spares and evaluation units not directly required for the pilot program. Project was completed on time, which resulted in promotion from Engineering Manager to Plant Manager.

Company was experiencing shrinking margins on hardware-based sales and strong competition at the price level. Introduced services that allowed the company to be a one-stop shop or total solution house. Partnered with independents to provide prompt, professional service to clients and a valuable profit center to sub-contractors.

Propelled sales growth to over 30% annually. Sales margins increased due to the actual cost of hardware becoming a non-factor as customer confidence grew based on reputation for on-time delivery. Able to leverage new profit centers in software support, network services and data storage and recovery. Developed a competent labor pool without the associated payroll expenses and increased hardware sales generated by an unpaid sales force (the contractor’s existing client bases).

Company was looking for new revenue streams that would be margin-rich and complement existing products and marketplace needs, without increased operational costs or capital outlays for inventory.

Introduced training program for subcontractors and all customers. Upper management was resistant due to fear of loss of control at the subcontractor level, as well as security issues with regard to facilities usage by clients and subcontractors. After inspection, realized there was major upside and no true security risk to this proposal. Used existing under-utilized facility to create a small learning center that addressed the user's desire to learn specific applications. Used outside contractors to provide training as we developed the client base through the company’s ongoing operations.

Facility was booked for more than 20 hours per week, providing outstanding 75% margins. The increased traffic and introduction of subcontractor clients favorably impacted other profit centers within the organization. This initiative provided a substantial profit base for more than two years, contributing to company’s 30% growth as well as increased traffic and afforded additional hardware, software and accessory sales.

Recruited to new company with limited credit history. The company’s ability to identify credible vendors and develop lines of credit was becoming problematic.

Generated immediate credit and competitive pricing for raw materials through previous vendor relationships developed throughout career. Managed these relationships very closely initially to instill vendor confidence. Substantial savings, up to 50%, were realized. Negotiated 30-day credit terms, which was very difficult to achieve in this industry. Also, improved delivery of raw materials for production and components for day-to-day operations.

Furthermore, in some cases the opening credit line was $100K, as compared to COD. Results were positive all around as the company developed good credit and established a supply chain that was cooperative and welcomed their business. Developed reputation as go-to person for many other operations-related issues.

A better process was needed to accurately bid/expedite the bid process while also tracking jobs during the production process. The intended benefit was to have better understanding of costs associated with production while enhancing communication with customers and improving the overall customer experience with the organization.

Created a team that addressed the bid process, the mechanisms used to derive the man-hours per job, the ability to track the job as to where it was on the shop floor, number of hours expended (on or off schedule), ECNs and quality issues. Discovered the requirement for difficulty factors to adjust time allowed. Demonstrated the need for a more dynamic shop floor with regard to time and motion on long running jobs. Created manufacturing cells for prototype work and identified cell and cell member strengths and weaknesses.

Created credibility and goodwill with clientele to enhance a $20M revenue stream. Cut bid response time by 50%. Inclusion of the floor supervisors’ and mechanics’ input allowed adjustment of the internal bid system and provided support for productivity bonuses. The accuracy of the bid system improved ten-fold, as did the ability to accurately supply order status and delivery schedule information to the customer. Improved internal communications, as well as customer communication.

Company wanted to review manufacturing operations and develop "lean manufacturing" processes. Ongoing quest for increased productivity and efficiency as related to costs and quality needed to be addressed and the goals for improvement met. Breaking traditional operational methods caused great discomfort for both staff and line, even though all felt it was necessary.

Developed internal teams for specific operations including sheet-metal fabrications, electronics assembly, machining, plastic and fiberglass assemblies, cabling, welding and other specialties. Then developed cells that were capable of dividing and recombining, as required, that could bid (in man-hours) for the job orders as they were released to the shop floor. Bid system was used in conjunction with a productivity bonus for completing the job under the hours bid. Bonuses were awarded on a quarterly basis, which increased employee confidence and dispelled fear of negative impact on wages. Cells reformed and realigned, and the opportunity to earn greater wages through greater profits as a result of productivity was embraced by the line and cultivated by management.

Productivity bonuses became a very powerful motivational tool, resulting in a huge boost in performance and morale. Consistently completed more jobs in fewer man-hours resulting in greater profitability. In some cases, man-hours were reduced by as much as 50% on long run-time production orders and even greater gains were realized for prototype work. Initially 40% of the jobs were completed in less time, ranging from 10-40% for repeat work and 25% for new work.

The CEO proposed a wireless solution for a $3M client that was promised to be implemented within a week. The expectation created was clearly beyond our core competency, as it involved technologies with which we had little or no depth. The opportunity recognized by executive management was immense and the customer relationship was such that delivery on the proposal was a mandate and not an option. Project was initially placed under the management of others that failed to grasp the importance of its success as related to our continued and profitable relationship with the client.

Took over project after others could not confidently provide a workable engineering solution. Created a team and assigned responsibilities with regard to providing definition of what our core competencies could deliver. Developed a design solution with a high probability for success with assistance from internal team and engineering contractors. Implemented the installation of a secure wireless network with Internet access.

Recovered from a potentially vulnerable customer situation and retained a $3M revenue stream. Two weeks and $60K later, they had a workable secure wireless solution between two locations more than eleven miles from each other with sustained data rates of 54Mb. Although it was cumbersome and complicated to implement, it worked the first time out.