I am currently employed at Avient where I am responsible for process improvements and implementation of capital projects. As part of my work on process improvements, I analyze process data with Excel and Minitab to find largest impacts on performance and downtime. I also track downtime hours to identify the largest causes of inefficiencies as well as review deviations in process data to determine causes of quality defects.
Once a possible improvement is identified, I work to implement changes that can increase production rates or increase yields. This may involve changing production procedures or machine settings. After procedure changes are made, I will ensure that operators are trained on the updated instructions. I will also work with the technology group in cases where a formula change to a product may offer the potential for improvements. Once a change is identified as a possible solution, I will track the new production rate and yields to confirm that a change is effective.
I was employed at Custom Processing Services where I completed process improvement projects. I completed a plant re-piping project to change the supply of compressed air to the equipment and ensured that the dry air was supplied to the equipment where it was required. I also assisted with safety projects and created modifications to equipment in order to run product safely and reviewed potential products to verify that the product could be processed safely and created equipment modifications as needed. I also served as an internal auditor for the ISO 9001 and 22000 certifications.
I worked as a Production Engineer at Altadis USA managing employees across multiple departments. I worked on creating new SOPs and work instructions as well as worked as an internal auditor for ISO 9001.
During my time at East Penn Manufacturing I worked on creating improvements to the various types of welding in the manufacturing process including resistance welding, plastic welding, and gas welding. I also worked on projects to better detect defects created in the manufacturing process.
While at East Penn I was able to develop a method of better detecting shorts in batteries. I had the opportunity to work with Chroma in Taiwan to help develop new equipment for short testing batteries. With the ability to analyze multiple aspects of the test results with the Chroma 19311, I was able create a new method of analyzing for defects in batteries. I wrote the PLC programming that determined whether a battery shorted, contained excess moisture in the plates, or was simply not tested. This information was relayed to the operators and significantly made it easier for the operators to identify actual defects. You can read more about the Chroma 19311 by following the link below.
Chroma 19311I had the privilege to work with East Penn's partner plant in India. I led a technical team consisting of a variety of diverse experts that were able to reduce the scrap and downtime that the partner plant was facing. I traveled multiple times to India and had the opportunity to see different parts of the country.
I also led a cross-functional team to help obtain new business contracts and got to work with various car manufactures during their audits of our process. Much of the work consisted of creating FMEAs and Control Plans as well as updating specifications and work instructions. I also worked on process and equipment validations, and provided the information from these validations to our customers to obtain new business.
My other responsibilities including leading projects for process improvements as well as presenting those projects to upper management for approval and review. I worked with operators on a daily basis and was able to speak at one of our training presentations for all of the quality assurance employees.
I graduated in 2013 with a Chemical Engineering degree from Penn State. As a side project, I started this website in order to provide more information about my career as well as to teach myself more about web development.