Expert Details
RFID, Operations Management, R&D Strategy, Project Management, Supply Chain & Logistics
ID: 722421
California, USA
Expert developed automated equipment for production processes using custom designs and robotic systems since 1982. Expert was Chairman of Motorola's High Speed (component) Placement Equipment MCOE for two years, where best practices were shared and suggested vendor/equipment lists prepared. Over 500 pieces of equipment were purchased over that period. Expert helped develop the first ball grid array (BGA) bumping robot for the industry. In the past several years, Expert has overseen development and implementation of 15 pieces of automated equipment from thin IC packaging, RFID card lamination, automated RFID card test handler, programmer, marking system, automated coil-winder and Nd-YAG laser bonding, and smart label interposer robot cell using flip chip to paper substrate.
Expert's work as Director of Operations at Motorola Indala, and later as General Manager of Indala, yielded production of >1,000,000 RFID and wireless reader devices per month. Most of the products had a manufacturing cost below $1.00. Extensive optimization of materials, processes, automation, supply chain, and ongoing support was performed on a regular basis to ensure the leanest possible operations. Within eight months as Director of Operations, Expert improved the gross margin percentage from 22 to 37% while improving quality and delivery.
Expert has published numerous papers on solder interconnect technologies and received several patents in this area. His background in metallurgy adapted well to research into surface mount interconnect design for reliability and in creating the design and processes for BGA soldering. This led to other work in low temperature solders with low modulus and high strain-rate capability for severe environments. Metallization schemas to support interconnect cost, processes, and reliability are well known to Expert.
Expert has managed electronic manufacturing operations for 13 years. In all cases, he has fully understood the finances behind operations and worked within the confines of product/business P&Ls to deliver favorable results. He has managed diverse organizations that have implemented new enterprise software, tackled severe quality/shipment issues, implemented process re-engineering for order to cash, and revamped ABC costing for products. With the fundamental technical understanding, Expert was able to provide leadership where team participation was able to deliver great improvement to business goals.
Expert has experience in plant operations when he managed facilitation of several new surface mount and final assembly factories for Motorola. Proper planning and execution led to minimum downtime and disruption to production operations. Budgets were always met. Along with this experience, Expert created a new manufacturing facility for smart cards, where 25,000 square feet were constructed and populated with equipment and elaborate security designs that met specifications of Visa and MasterCard.
Expert began doing PCB assembly with surface mount packages in 1982 and later grew that experience into a leadership role to the rest of Motorola. Expert's research into solder joint reliability using FR4 vs. polyimide (with less TCE) saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. Expert was principal designer for inverse reflow interconnect design for heavy components which used surface tension to prevent falling off during upside-down reflow. Expert also developed design guidelines for BGAs within Motorola, and championed the board level assembly of these devices. His expertise includes PCB manufacture, finishes, solder masks, tolerances, balanced designs, heat sinking, and panelization. Expert created many of the reflow profiles for primary ovens and reflow equipment for board level assembly while co-developing many of these devices.
Expert served in positions of Technical Operations Manager, Tag Design & Development, Director of Operations, and VP and General Manager of Motorola Indala, and later of Indala. Indala was a pioneer in RFID and mainly focused on producing tag and reader products for the industrial market (asset tracking, warehousing, inventory, etc.) and access control market (employee badges, parking passes, etc.). Expert developed the world's first 100% dye sublimatible employee badge at ISO specification thickness of 0.76mm. Expert implemented OTP tags to Indala and built production/order fulfillment systems for tag programming, testing, and marking for customers. As Director of Operations, Expert also led the Smart Label tag development team in material, interconnect, process, and equipment matters which enabled high-speed production of RFID labels with silicon die attached to paper substrates.
As General Manager of Indala, Expert further demonstrated his total grasp of RFID business operations by leading the group to 26% EBIT to revenues.
Expert was manager of Motorola's Smart Card Division card and packaging development program and later as Director of Operations for 3.5 years. During that time, Expert developed interconnect and card designs to enable "combi-cards" having both RF and contact interfaces. He forged relationships with suppliers for production of inlays and IC packages. Later, Expert created a new smart card factory in Scottsdale, AZ for Motorola which included card milling, programming, personalization, test, and laser marking with a capacity of 17M cards/year. Concurrently, Expert was also a lead member of the team that set up a joint venture in Beijing, China to produce smart cards. He is very familiar with smart card applications and security schemas, and implemented processes and equipment for 3DES and PKA cards.
Expert's work in surface mount assembly at Motorola was instrumental in enabling a revolution that gave consumer electronics the ability to go portable. Expert is familiar with all facets of SMA including substrates, PCB, PCBA, solders, adhesives, designs, metal systems, solder masks, component designs, placement equipment, ICT, functional testing, reflow processes, and reliability.
Expert consulted for Earthlink, Inc. involving cost reduction, CEM sourcing strategies and negotiations in China, and new product feature definition for a desktop, home Internet appliance.He consulted for Smartrac USA involving development and delivery of a desktop RF reader/writer and interface GUI for contactless smart cards. Expert prepared for an expert witness in a patent infringement case with the Hutton & Williams law firm in the 11th District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in March 2003. The case involved the novel features and construction of a credit card.His experience with the Advanced Manufacturing Technology group of Motorola in Plantation, Florida involved trips to Motorola's major worldwide development and manufacturing sites to teach and train top level people on the use of ball grid array (BGA) soldering, placement, and verification technology. Expert was sought after by many groups including Compaq Computer in 1991 for the introduction of ASIC BGAs to replace tab processed devices. Expert has consulted with several firms developing or implementing RFID technology in the UHF and microwave spectrum, including R&D strategy, IP, product design, and organizational re-structuring.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1982 | Degree: B.S. | Subject: Mechanical Engineering | Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 2002 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: President | Department: |
Responsibilities:Expert engages in management consulting on RFID, smart labels, contactless smart cards, IC packaging and processing, product cost reduction and supply chain management. He can manage a small-medium cap business from technology, operations, strategy, and sales. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2001 to 2002 | Employer: Assa Abloy/HID Corp/Indala | Title: General Manager and Vice President | Department: Indala |
Responsibilities:He was the General Manager of a $29M revenue business and directed activities through a merger and acquisition to reflect 24% EBIT to revenues. The main business was physical access control readers and cards/badges/tags using RF Identification. His direct reports were: manufacturing, R&D, inside sales, customer service, HR, facilities, accounting, and product management. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2000 to 2001 | Employer: Motorola, Inc. | Title: Director of Operations | Department: Motorola Indala |
Responsibilities:Expert was responsible for operations organization, RFID, tag packaging and smart label R&D, and automation. Groups included supply chain, manufacturing, shipping/receiving/logistics, inside sales, customer service and facilities. He was responsible for improving gross margin from 23% to 37% through aggressive outsourcing and manufacturing efficiencies, while creating manufacturing into more of a distribution-like entity. Quality improvement and customer satisfaction were important concerns with on-time delivery improvement from 65% to 95% in eight months. For smart labels, he brought manufacturing online that consisted of sophisticated robotics in reel-to-reel format using flip chip attachment of a redistributed IC. Six new tag and reader products were introduced with short cycle time, lower costs, higher reliability, and performance exceeding the competition. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1997 to 2000 | Employer: Motorola, Inc. | Title: Director of Operations | Department: Worldwide Smartcard Solutions Division |
Responsibilities:He led the development of the world's first dual-interface smart card (RF and contact) along with the manufacturing operations that included software programming using secure encryption technology. Expert also created a start-up manufacturing operation in Scottsdale, AZ with $11M in capital and 45 personnel. Thin IC packaging and card reliability were accomplished through industry-leading designs, materials, processing, and reliability assessment regimen. He also was the chief business operation person who set up a Chinese smart card joint venture in Beijing with $20M cash infusion. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1994 to 1997 | Employer: Motorola, Inc. | Title: Technical Operations Manager | Department: Indala |
Responsibilities:Expert's responsibilities were to establish a robust manufacturing operation after Motorola acquisition: creating equipment and manufacturing lines for thin profile IC packaging, industrial tag packaging, and a fully dye sublimatable credit card size tag. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1982 to 1994 | Employer: Motorola, Inc. | Title: Jr. Engineer - Principal Engineer | Department: Communications Sector |
Responsibilities:His initial responsibilities were process engineering in backend radio assembly. As a member of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology group, Expert focused on solder joint reliability for IC packages and design for reliability. In addition, Expert was responsible for developing BGAs on organics, reel-to-reel processing, and also the world's first patented chip scale package (SLICC). He managed a highly automated surface mount and final assembly production line and improved throughput by 2.4x, cost by 0.3x, and quality by 2.7x in nine months. He was the Chairman of Motorola's High Speed Placement Equipment Center of Excellence committee for two years. Expert was also inducted into an elite Motorola scientist organization called Science Advisory Board Association (SABA). Expert gave many technical papers in conferences on IC packaging reliability, quick turn packaging, BGA's, CSP's, PCB construction and layout, and automated testing systems for reliability assessment. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1979 to 1981 | Employer: Norfolfk Southern Railway | Title: Co-Op Student | Department: Research and Test Department |
Responsibilities:Expert's focus was assisting the metallurgical department in the investigation of properties and performance where extensive microsection analysis was required. He operated all test equipment. |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
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Years: 1991 to 1991 | Country / Region: Weisbaden, Germany | Summary: Expert worked with radio development engineers to design in BGAs on their products. In addition, he taught manufacturing engineers the critical processing and know-how for surface mount assembly of BGAs. |
Years: 1990 to 1990 | Country / Region: Tel Aviv and Arat, Israel | Summary: He worked with radio development engineers to design in BGAs as well as EMI/RFI shielding design on their products. In addition, he taught manufacturing engineers the critical processing and know-how for surface mount assembly of BGAs. |
Years: 1994 to 1994 | Country / Region: Manilla, Phillipines | Summary: Expert worked with Three-Five assembly facility through production startup of the Nextel/iDen LCD display board assembly. In that capacity, he oversaw failure analysis of product, made process and material improvements, and followed up with PCB and component design changes which allowed high quality products. |
Years: 1999 to 1999 | Country / Region: Beijing, China | Summary: Along with his general manager, Expert performed the initial interviews and selection process with candidate joint venture (JV) companies. He followed up this activity with JV negotiations and preparation of incorporation/agreement information for the Chinese government and Motorola. He prepared the entire staffing, expense, sales, and staffing plans for the JV and then drove the internal financial models for Motorola. While in China, he identified a replacement general manager for the joint venture. |
Years: 1993 to 1993 | Country / Region: Dublin, Ireland | Summary: Expert spent several weeks in Motorola's Dublin facility introducing new radio products, equipment, and processes into their factory. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
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Expert has been an active member of IEEE, IMAPS, SMTA, IEMT, and ASME. He has participated in meetings and standards meeting in all of these organizations. |
Licenses / Certifications |
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Expert received his EIT (Engineer in Training) in Georgia. |
Professional Appointments |
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Expert has been appointed to several honorary positions throughout his career including: Motorola's Science Advisory Board Association (SABA), Motorola's Chairman of High Speed Placement Equipment Committee, Motorola's Technical Operations Council, Patent Review Board, and IEMT Conference Chairman for the 1988 Kyoto conference. |
Publications and Patents Summary |
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Expert has been published in numerous conference proceedings outside and inside of Motorola. In addition, he has been issued 10 U.S. patents ranging from surface mount soldering technology to IC packaging design. |
Additional Experience
Expert Witness Experience |
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Expert prepared for an expert witness in a patent infringement case with the Hutton & Williams law firm in the 11th District Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in March 2003. The case involved the novel features and construction of a credit card. |
Vendor Selection |
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He has performed numerous vendor selection functions over the past 20 years including PCB fabrication, solder suppliers, component suppliers, IC packaging, EMI/RFI shield, LCD modules, plastic injection molding, contract manufacturing, semiconductor fabs, and outsource services. |
Marketing Experience |
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Expert performed extensive service to Motorola SPS and Computer Group with meetings with customers on the benefits of using ball grid array packaging technology. Expert also gave numerous papers and met with many customers on Motorola Indala's new card and tag products, as well as smart labels. |
Other Relevant Experience |
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He has expertise in bringing high technology development projects to fruition from R&D into production, while also providing P&L and financial analysis along the way. Expert developed a reputation as a trouble-shooter throughout the corporation. Also, he was selected for Motorola's Leading Edge training for managers which spanned a one-year timeframe and involved well-known/highly acclaimed speakers. Expert also has received extensive internal/external training from Motorola in: management, leadership, robotic control systems, successful negotiations, finance, six sigma, quality, reliability, C programming, DOE, etc. |
Language Skills
Language | Proficiency |
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French | Expert can perform elementary communication (speaking and reading) in French. |
Fields of Expertise
electronics manufacturing, electronics manufacturing automation, high volume, low cost product assembly, interconnection technology, operations management, business process management, plant operations management, printed circuit board assembly process, radio frequency identification, smart card, surface-mount assembly, assembly, automated RFID, organization strategy, technology operations management, business strategy, board level technology, cross-functional team, finance, vibration program management, team building, business management, printed circuit board material, snap-fit, printed circuit board testing, distribution management, radio technology, chip-to-package interconnection, supply chain management, printed circuit board connector, electronic tape measure, electronics reworking, plastic integrated circuit packaging material, electronics manufacturing equipment, electronic grade, design verification testing, product testing, standard operating procedure, product design variation reduction, inventor management, corporate strategic planning, technology innovation, electronics nondestructive testing, electronics manufacturing quality control, nanotechnology, advanced material, laboratory management, electrically conductive material, production process, design for manufacturability, printed circuit board laminate, printed circuit board cleaning, printed circuit board, research and development management, integrated-circuit packaging process, identification process, defect electronics science, strategic planning, design engineering, electronic circuit, engineering management, industrial engineering, unit under test, screening, quality management, planning, manufacturing, management decision-making, environmental chamber, electronics testing, electronic device reliability