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%. Strong IP protection prevents commoditization.
• 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.
• Launched new VCSEL laser into automotive space; new in-cabin sensing platform with planned 10Y roadmap, 60%+ contribution margin. Satisfied demanding internal and external automotive audits with difficult customer.
• Avoided 8% margin erosion by creating product cost-out roadmap for a commodity product that aligned with negotiated customer price reduction targets.
• ‘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: 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 2015.
  • Implemented quality gating system, improving first-time yields by 28%.
• NPD champion, grew vitality sales ($35M sales, 29% growth) across four product lines.
• VA/VE material-reduction project leader – demonstrated history of aggressive cost-out philosophy:
  • $500K incremental bottom-line decrease in 2015
  • $750K in 2016
  • $920K in 2017
• Direct oversight of domestic and international engineering departments; responsible for all new product releases, cost-out activity, and sustaining engineering to support manufacturing.
  • 3 domestic production plants
  • 4 product lines
  • 8 direct, 15 indirect reports
• 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.
  • 3 direct, 6 indirect reports
• 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.
• Organized and presented financial projections models to Executive staff.
• Chaired action committee to evaluate low-performing manufacturing sites; performed deep-dive analysis to find inefficiencies. Average annual savings of $350K per location.

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.

• 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
• Led two Chinese design teams; mentoring, managing deliverables, driving consistent vision.
  • 9 indirect reports
• Performed complex FEA; eliminated tooling revisions, reduced time-to-market.
• Presented product concepts in Design Reviews with peers, suppliers, and Executive leadership.
• Verified new product releases with statistically controlled Pilot Runs; confirming sustainability.

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.