Fluence is solving the problem of energy storage to aid conversion to renewable energy sources. I’m forming and leading a new cost-control team that spans the entire portfolio.

Fast Company: 2021 Top 10 Innovation

Fluence, which hit $1B in sales last year, has installed major energy storage facilities around the world, helping grids avoid the use of “peaker plants,” dirty coal-burning power generators activated when the grid needs extra energy.

Market definition role responsible for metrics like product growth, revenue and profit goals, roadmap and specification development, strategic account oversight, and global marketing strategy for VCSEL lasers.

• On-boarded two lead customers to new flagship laser VCSEL product line – $100M projected revenue over 5Y. Responsible for complete product definition, customer inputs, and performance-price roadmap for new-to-world technical offering.
• Eliminated inherent eye-safety risk (largest barrier to market adoption) by prioritizing component integration; reduced customer layout space 61%, increased product margin 19%.
• Introduced new go-to-market strategy; partnered with key sensor vendor, released an ‘approved reference design’ with custom packaged VCSEL laser – anticipated $10M in revenue over 2Y in consumer mobile space.
• ‘Pruned’ product line offerings, increased portfolio margin 11%; performed data analysis to identify and isolate products that didn’t align with growth-strategy or adjacent product pull-through. Managed legacy product EOL, maintained 100% customer line uptime.

Organized and led all product development functions for the Enclosures Division: New Product Design (NPD), Engineer-to-Order (ETO), and Product Cost Reduction (VA/VE).

• Overhauled Engineer-to-Order process with standardized Lean Six Sigma methods:
  • Reduced leadtime by 55%
  • Increased sales 36% YOY to $4M in Y1
  • Implemented quality gating system, improved first-time yields by 28%
• NPD champion, grew vitality sales ($35M sales, 29% growth) across four product lines.
• Define multigenerational product roadmaps for evolution of decades-old consumer lines.
• Executed DFM project to reduce 21% material and 38% labor cost on a $4M flagship line. 2 patents awarded, 2 pending.
• Created and implemented tiered engineering career path ladders, succession plans, individualized development plans, and organizational capability assessments.

Spearheaded material and labor reduction (VA/VE) projects with Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, and Product Managers. Established VA/VE team; implemented a change-based culture to long-dormant product lines.

• Strategic oversight for $4.0M cost-out P&L (3% COGS) across seven production sites.
• Key transition member during M&A process. Partnered with technical leads in other divisions to identify $2.4M in actionable synergy cost-out projects.
• Lean 6 Sigma integration; reduced COGS 1.5% through labor efficiencies without sacrificing quality or leadtime.

Design lead for a global project team, responsible for consolidating pressure regulator products obtained through acquisitions with legacy products to form a unified platform for the Oil and Gas industry. Led two Chinese design teams; mentoring, managing deliverables, driving consistent vision.

• Executed 6 year initiative to reorganize product architecture for mid-tier platform. Formulated the design and intellectual property (IP) process for new products resulting in 14 patents awarded.
• Converted legacy offerings from 20 disparate designs to unified portfolio with 6 high-margin designs: $21M increase in globally served markets, 63% supplier reduction, 54% component reduction, 28% margin increase.

Outsourced several flagship product lines to off-shore assembly houses. Responsible for the transfer of all processes, intellectual property, and on-site qualification of all manufacturing methods.

Implemented fail-safe methods to meet customer’s stringent expectations for aesthetics and quality.

Responsible for designing circuit board assembly tooling; reduced both cycle time and handling defects.