Ronald G Baars

Ronald G Baars's Experience:

• Continuous Improvement and Continuing Education Activities at

  January 2016 - Present

  This represents a grab bag of personal effort to improve and grow as a person as well as a sharpen and direct my technical skills. With Software I have been learning GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, Audacity, OBS Studio and FreeCAD. I also enjoy learning new things with MS Office tools like Access, Excel and Powerpoint. I also work with Google's office tools. With programming I am learnig Java, LUA, Python and VBA for Excel and Powerpoint. I also work to improve myself by learning from the people around me and from other credible information sources.

• Materials Manager at ÖSSUR

  October 2018 - July 2020 | Albion, Michigan

  This role represents a continuation and expansion of my exciting and challenging journey with Ossur. As the Materials Manager I am tasked with continuing many of my leadership responsibilities in terms of Leadership Development, Safety, Training and Information Technologies. With this role I have the opportunity and mandate to aim more directly at Materials Management. This means I will with the director and other leaders to develop processes, that enhance our facilities response to materials flow challenges. This includes purchasing, supplier relationships, receiving, raw material availability, warehouse management, item master/data steward and shipping. strengthen our facility's leadership team and stay energetically involved in the progress and day to day activities of our Facility. The skills I have developed , enhanced and maintained while in this role include Safety Team Management, Inventory and Inventory Team Management and Training Management Group Leadership. I have also acted as a Quality Representative including involvement in internal and external audits. I have also acted as an on sight IT person to resolve computer and software related issues and coordinate with a global IT team for more challenging issues or to support implimentation of global intiatives. I have acted as an item master for more that 700 parts provided by over 100 suppliers. I have also supported our employee empowerment/ideas program. This job also includes supervisory and people leader responsibilities. These responsibilities involve working with human resources on challenging issues and developing proficiency with setting goals, encouraging and cultivating a positive a productive culture and providing career paths for those who work for me.

• Operations Manager at ÖSSUR

  January 2017 - October 2018 | Albion, Michigan

  This role represents a continuation and expansion of my exciting and challenging journey with Ossur. As the Operations Manager I work with the director and other leaders to develop processes, strengthen our facility's leadership team and stay energetically involved in the progress and day to day activities of our Facility. The skills I have developed , enhanced and maintained while in this role include Safety Team Management, Inventory and Inventory Team Management and Training Management Group Leadership. I have also acted as a Quality Representative including involvement in internal and external audits. I have also acted as an on sight IT person to resolve computer and software related issues and coordinate with a global IT team for more challenging issues or to support implimentation of global intiatives. I have acted as an item master for more that 700 parts provided by over 100 suppliers. I have also supported our employee empowerment/ideas program. This job also includes supervisory and people leader responsibilities. These responsibilities involve working with human resources on challenging issues and developing proficiency with setting goals, encouraging and cultivating a positive a productive culture and providing career paths for those who work for me. This part of the role involves experience with workday, creating and improving Job descriptions, strengthening role development, managing individual contributors and managing people leaders.

• Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Össur

  May 2016 - January 2017 | Albion, Michigan

  In this role I contributed to process development and improvement efforts including equipment up grades, testing and other activities related to sustaining products currently manufactured in our facility and new product development efforts. I Enhanced, Extended and Executed a facility wide Master Validation Plan. I also contributed to new tool development to improve facility throughput and decrease rework and scrap. Along with other members of the engineering team at our facility I provided technical guidance to Research and Development engineers on a new ankle design. I initiated process reviews and guided process improvement activities including more than 15 separate validation activities. Lead Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility Studies (Gage R&R) in support of validation activities. Gained proficiency in the use of Microsoft Dymanics NAV (Navision) ERP software In this role I obtained additional proficiency and experience in the use of multiple softwares including Solidworks, Microsoft Office products etc. I also obtained experience with FDA regulations and other regulatory requirements related to class 1 and class 2 medical devices. The most exciting part of this role is the experiences gained by operating in a global company with manufacturing locations in Iceland, Mexico, Asia, Europe and the US and sales locations all over the world. It is rewarding to have the opportunity to enhance the success of our facility by participating in a dynamic dialog with competent and innovative coworkers in support of a technically challenging product.

• Engineering Apparatus Group Lead at Spartan Motors Inc

  January 2015 - December 2015 | Charlotte, MI

  In this new and exciting role I was responsible for the training and development of a new engineering group. This is a part of a company wide continuous improvement effort that involved significant process development. Spartan Motors decided to create a new apparatus design team at their corporate headquarters and I was the lead of that group. I brought trans-formative thinking and process to the role for Phase 1 of the Startup. In this phase of startup we designed and built out nearly 40 vehicles that were inherited from a backlog at another facility. We proved that with a minimal team of engineers with little to no previous apparatus design experience we could develop new product, deliver challenging one of a kind vehicle designs, support and train production, develop processes including a functional product structure, and improve levels of documentation at a pace unprecedented in the history of the industry for a first year startup. Accomplishments Picked and trained a Charlotte based Fire Apparatus design team. Participated in a small team of specialists to define a Fire Apparatus Product Structure. Complete Phase 1 of the Startup effort which was to build out orders taken previous to the Startup that were originally intended for build in another facility. Identified as an Emerging Talent (Only 22 out of 600 plus employees were identified for this special future leader training program.) Skills Used Engineering Management (Managed a Team of 4 Engineers) Product Structure Development Resource Planning and Forecasting Project Planning and Budgeting Process Development Product Structure Development Scalable Business Practices Solidworks 2012 & 2014

• Cab Group Project Engineer at Spartan Motors Inc.

  July 2014 - January 2015 | Charlotte, MI

  In this role I acted as a New Product Introduction and Project Engineer as an important part of the cab design team. This included several small support efforts for custom fire truck cab designs and well as a more significant effort that involved working at another location for several months. I was one of two engineers that were chosen to support a critical schedule recovery effort that involved being a lead design engineer for several custom fire apparatus. I was also chosen for a return trip to continue supporting this effort. Accomplishments Completed Several Fire Apparatus designs while working in another facility. Project Manager on several Cab and Fire Apparatus related projects. Skills Used Solidworks 2012 (500 hours)

• Head of Engineering at RJ Electricar LLC

  March 2009 - April 2014

  RJ Electricar LLC is a startup company that has the goal of creating low cost electric vehicles and other lower cost, modular and alternative energy solutions. As this company is currently without a revenue stream and I believe in the cause I offer my services pro bono. To learn more you can go to http://rjelectricar.weebly.com/ .

• Weight and Project Engineer at MotivePower Inc

  October 2010 - February 2014

  This position involved responsibility for weight and balance of several current locomotive projects including locomotives for Australia and Canada. As the weight engineer for MBTA, CBH and GO Transit Tier 4 Repower I have been able to apply systemic thinking to develop weight assessment tools and processes that will help project and design engineers more easily predict and define locomotive component weights and centers of gravity in the future. I have also learned a lot about locomotive systems and how they interact as well as participated in more than 100 hours of varied locomotive and design related training. With this company I have also had other exciting experiences including a key process development roll on a Build Integration Team (BIT), Pilot Lead role for an Australian locomotive as well as being a design engineer for the main control cabinet in a new high speed passenger locomotive design.

• Process and Mechanical Design Engineer at Idaho National Laboratory

  March 2010 - October 2010

  This position involves responsibility for the development and design of several systems in a nuclear waste processing facility. These systems include a feedcanning system which has 9 sub-systems and a bakeout system which includes 3 subsystems. To fulfill these responsibilities I have been trained in DOE 1189 safety processes as well as Autodesk products like Inventor, Plant 3d and Navisworks. I have also been instrumental in the development of Block Flow, Process Flow and Plumbing and Instrumentation diagrams (BFD,PFD,P&ID) and performing Technology Readiness assessments (TRA) to determine system Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and identify Critical Technology Elements (CTE's). These endeavors have also involved giving presentations to Idaho DEQ, DOE-Idaho as well as DOE-HQ, writing test plans and many other exciting challenges of a fast passed dynamic environment.

• Project & Product Design Engineer, Engineering Lead at Boise Mobile Equipment

  April 2004 - January 2010

  This position involved responsibility for the development and design of several hundred fire trucks. As a project engineer I was integral to the definition of each truck for more than 5 years. As a part of this I developed several important systems that increased the efficiency with which we distilled and translated the information from the Sales Department and turned it in to production drawings. After drawing release I also supported Manufacturing until vehicle delivery and supported Warranty and Parts Sales departments after delivery. Experience gained includes new product design, functional space and weight claim analysis, supplier management, packaging design, project management, 7500+ hours with Solid Works 2005- 2010 as well as other knowledge gained from working in an industrial manufacturing environment.

• Project Engineer & Research Lead at Alternative Energy Research

  January 2002 - March 2009

  This is an ongoing personal interest project that involves research to create opportunities for individual households, businesses and communities to become more energy independant. One major design project is to develop low cost electric vehicles. Some of the other projects included developing alternative wind and solar power collection techniques as well as increasing awareness of energy related issues.

• Project & Product Design Engineer at Exact Research Inc.

  September 2001 - October 2003

  This position involved responsibility for the development of several projects from the concept stage to marketing and packaging concerns. As a design engineer for Exact Research and ConectL, which were under the same ownership I helped develop plastic golf cleats for Calloway, Bridgestone and others. I also worked on a golf shaft alignment process for improving performance of high end carbon graphite golf shafts. Experience gained includes new product design, cosmetic and functional design analysis, circuitry design, impedance and continuity testing, supplier management, packaging design, project management, working with people in other countries like the UK, Mexico and China, 2000+ hours with Solid Works 2001- 2003 as well as other knowledge gained from working in a productive and creative working environment.

• Project & Product Design Engineer at ConectL Corporation

  September 2001 - October 2003

  This position involved responsibility for the development of several projects from the concept stage to marketing and packaging concerns. As a project engineer for ConnectL I was instrumental in bringing several new products to market. As a design engineer for Exact Research and ConectL, which were under the same ownership I helped develop plastic golf cleats for Calloway, Bridgestone and others. Some of the designs I developed for ConnectL include a retractable cell phone charger, a retractable USB cord and several housings for it, retractable CAT5 & CAT6 cables and other similar products. Experience gained includes new product design, cosmetic and functional design analysis, circuitry design, impedance and continuity testing, supplier management, packaging design, project management, working with people in other countries like the UK, Mexico and China, 2000+ hours with Solid Works 2001- 2003 as well as other knowledge gained from working in a productive and creative working environment.

• Product Design and Research Engineer at T.W. Blasingame Inc

  August 2000 - September 2001

  This position involved a whole range of responsibilities from component design for a variety of drafting and design projects as well as Information technologies work. It also included customer interaction, cost analysis of new purchases and review of project cost and feasibility analysis. It was a position that required versatility and productivity. Experience gained included exposure to various design projects including multiple component designs for modern steam powered locomotives and the ability to interpret the customer's requirements. Other areas where I gained knowledge were in computer hardware and software, as well as 400+ hours with AutoCAD and 900+ hours with Pro/Engineer 2000i2.

• Mechanical and Project Engineer at SCP Global Technologies

  January 1998 - 2000

  This position allowed extensive experience analyzing and solving typical engineering and design problems for this company in the semi-conductor process equipment industry. The responsibilities involved design and project management for several robotic and mechanical projects. Some examples included several caster assemblies as well as a chemical facilities box where I was the mechanical engineering lead. Some other examples include a Cassette Management Robot (CMR) and an Interchamber Robot (ICR) where I was responsible for the ordering of components for prototyping as well as the component's design and performance and was the project lead. Experience gained included 2500+ hours of Pro/Engineer plus Pro/Engineer training by PTC, ANSYS training by JLR and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing ( GD&T ) Training by James D Meadows.

• Product Development Engineer at Aristocrat Truck Engineering Inc

  March 1997 - December 1997

  This position allowed experience working with hydraulic hoists and many other parts of dump truck bodies. One of the resposibilities was to submit new hoist designs to the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) for approval. This involved doing the geometric and hydraulic analysis and stress and strain analysis of the hoist and submitting this information on the NTEA paperwork to get hoist approval.

Ronald G Baars's Education:

• Stratford Career Institute

  2000 – 2003
  Diploma

• Indiana Institute of Technology

  1993 – 1997
  Bachelor's Degree
  Concentration: Mechanical Engineering

Ronald G Baars's Interests & Activities: