Self Consultant

Years Employer Department Title Responsibilities
2005 to 2011 (Undisclosed) Manufacturing Engineering Development Manufacturing Fellow He was mentor, coach, trainer and project manager for manufacturing technology improvement.
1989 to 2005 (Undisclosed) Manufacturing Engineering Development Manufacturing Engineer He was project manager for manufacturing technology improvement
2002 to 2009 North American University Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Teaching “Machining and cutting tools for aerospace industry" for Master's Degree, implemented in production and supervising Master Theses for students in scholarship program in aerospace company for more than 10 years.
1976 to 1988 European University Mechanical Engineering Professor Teaching "Metal Cutting and Cutting Tools" for more than 10 years and other disciplines related to manufacturing engineering as well as conducting R&D projects in manufacturing field.
1972 to 1976 Automotive European Company Engineering & Production Designer & Manufacturing Engineer He has designed automotive components, designed and R&D for manufacturing processes

Year Degree Subject Institution Honors
1983 Ph.D. Eng. Metal Cutting and Cutting Tools European University Magna Cum Laude
1999 MS Engineering Management North American University
1972 BA Manufacturing Engineering European University Magna Cum Laude

Associations/Societies: OIQ
Licenses/Certifications: Value Engineering Modul I & II
Professional Appointments: Manufacturing Fellow
Awards/Recognition:
Expert was distinguished with several professional awards at different levels such as at the company, at the corporation and at the international level. He was the winner of the “Word Exhibition of Achievements of Young Inventors - Bulgaria 1985”, with his first invention. Based on all his achievements in the manufacturing field, he became in 2005 a “Manufacturing Fellow” of the aerospace corporation for which he was working 22 years.
Publications and Patents Summary
Expert is author and coauthor of: 26 papers and 5 manuals & technical guides, 13 patents (8 in aerospace & 5 in automotive) and over 30 patent applications, some of them still on going.
He developed a personal creativity method and a personal theory on surface generation, materialised by a synthesis matrix similar to Mendeleev's table in chemistry. He developed new manufacturing methods including associated machine-tools and cutting tools.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
Expert has extensive knowledge and experience in the applications of metal cutting and cutting tools and in research in manufacturing technologies. He has worked and taught for more than 38 years on manufacturing R&D projects including topics such as manufacturing process improvement, process control, cost reduction including product design and manufacturing system improvement, set-up time reduction, tool life improvement by cutting tools design optimization, process optimization, and cutting parameters optimization, design for manufacturability, mistake-proofing, and world class manufacturing (WCM).
Expert works with plant personnel to establish corrective actions in the areas of product quality, process capability, equipment up-time and hardening. Expert correlates measurable to the effectiveness of proposed corrective actions and develops “best practice” approaches.

MANUFACTURING TROUBLESHOOTING
Over the years, Expert has acquired the ability to identify the "root cause" of manufacturing problems in the least amount of time. He has extensive experience on machining troubleshooting at the technical level, the business process level, and at the cultural level. He has designed and delivered training modules on machining troubleshooting techniques and best practices.

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Expert's expertise includes assessing the utility of state-of-the-art technologies, evaluating a technology's place on the technology life cycle curve and its ability to produce a sustainable competitive advantage, and searching for new technology paradigms for next-generation manufacturing. He has experience with a wide range of manufacturing technologies (i.e. heat welding, RF welding, laser welding, ultrasonic welding, gluing, cutting, punching, web conveyance/slitting/winding/rewinding, embossing, decorating, and automated process control).

QUALITY
Expert has more than 20 years experience in aerospace quality improvement and quality control. Working in Integrated Product Teams (IPT), he can help to well define the key characteristics of complex parts, based on their functionality, their produce-ability, ensuring in this way a high quality product, excellent quality control and the lowest manufacturing cost. Inspection method development for complex parts using CMM's, vision systems or non-destructive inspection techniques, data collection and deep SPC analysis are areas where the Expert leads in adding value. Expert has led “Quality Clinics” involving multi-disciplinary teams by performing Deep Root Cause analysis and recommending corrective solutions and actions.

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT
Expert has 38 years of experience in MANUFACTURING at all levels of responsibility from a production engineer to a project manager and Manufacturing Fellow, working in one of the word aerospace leader company. He is versed in all aspects of the business – process development, projects, engineering and production including new models' introduction, capacity, quality, safety, cost and customer delivery current requirement and forward planning. Based on deep analysis of the existing data, using a variety of tools (Pareto, Elephant Charts, Statistical Process Control (SPC), etc., Expert works with management and plant teams on finding new solutions, on the evaluation and implementation of advanced technologies, on efficiency improvement, waste reduction and productivity improvement, by evaluating, adapting or changing manufacturing process, cutting tools, machine-tools, or different other equipments. Expert can help in documenting all new findings by issuing technical documents, reports and presentations, which are very useful for the organization to build their best practices system.


EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT
Expert dedicated more than 30 years to manufacturing R&D activity, developing new manufacturing processes for complex and complicated automotive or aerospace components, aiming efficiency and productivity improvement, higher quality and lower manufacturing cost. He has developed processes for a full range of manufacturing complexity and a variety of aerospace products. Applying “out of the box thinking”, Expert can help multidisciplinary teams to develop new manufacturing methods and processes, by introducing new machines or equipments, new tools, new fixtures and new inspection methods, capable to improve quality and productivity, in order to save time and money. Applying "design for manufacturing" philosophy, he contributed on new product development for turbine engines.

COST REDUCTION / PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Expert has extensive knowledge and experience in process analysis and process optimization. He was involved in the design, manufacturing and application of a variety of special cutting tools such as: special reamers, ball end mills, broaches, gun drills, deep hole drills, combined cutters, etc. He is an expert in cutting tools tests, including: design of experiment, test performing, technical reports, recommendation of best solutions for process improvement, in production follow-up and data collection, etc. Based on data collection and deep analysis of the actual process results, Expert can help engineers, process planners and operators to understand the root cause of their manufacturing issues of the actual process and coach them to find right solutions by optimizing the machining process including: cutting parameters, cutting tools, fixture and set-up optimization in order to reduce manufacturing cost. Expert has a lot of experience working with cutting tools and machine-tools suppliers on process optimization, performing machining tests, writing test reports and proposing recommendations for manufacturing process improvement. Guiding the team to establish the root cause and to elaborate the appropriate correction plan are other areas the Expert may contribute for added value. Expert correlates measurable to the effectiveness of corrective actions and develops “best” approaches.

SET-UP TIME REDUCTION
Expert has developed the manufacturing process for several very complex and complicated aerospace components, having very tight tolerance requirements. One of the key of success on these projects was related to the set-up. He developed a new philosophy “one single set-up” process, allowing meeting the engineering requirements, increasing productivity and reducing manufacturing cost dramatically in many cases. One of the examples is related to the development of a process on which, the number of set-ups was reduced from 16 to one (requiring a special machine-tool) or from 16 to two using standard machine-tools. This change had a huge impact on part quality, on productivity and on the manufacturing cost. Choosing the appropriate machine-tool and designing an appropriate fixture the set-up time was reduced by 90%. He utilizes a creative and systematic approach to develop new products and processes. From defining and developing through testing and finalizing the concept he uses a variety of tools to create, analyze prototype and test.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Expert can help engineers to design your project and bring your ideas from concept through completion. His entire career has been spent on the manufacturing, development and design of mechanical products and processes. He started as a designer of automotive components, worked as a process engineer, got a PH. D. in metal cutting and cutting tools, taught this discipline for many years and worked in manufacturing R&D in aerospace for more than 20 years joining forces with engineering for new product development, on product improvement based on value engineering, design for manufacturing, and design for cost. Expert utilizes a systematic approach to develop new processes and for new product development. He has several patents on new design of different components and led multi-disciplinary teams to bring these ideas from dream to reality, building prototypes, testing them, making corrections and finally, finishing with a high performance and lower cost product. Identifying the product key characteristics and the manufacturing key characteristics of any part is and additional added value that Expert can provide, in order to increase quality, to reduce cost and delivery time.

METAL CUTTING AND CUTTING TOOLS / METAL MACHINING
With a Ph. D. in “Metal cutting and cutting tools”, teaching these disciplines for more than 10 years in a university, and working in this field for more than 25 years in the automotive and aerospace industry in manufacturing R&D, Expert has extensive theoretical and practical knowledge in metal cutting and cutting tools for different processes such as: turning, milling, reaming, drilling, deep hole drilling, broaching, etc. With personal contribution in the cutting tools theory and with many years of experiments and tests for a variety of applications, he can help engineers, planners and operators to have a good understanding of the phenomenon, find the right solution. Machining troubleshooting, cutting tools tests to evaluate their performances, technical reports and documents are additional areas of support that Expert provides. Expert has extensive knowledge and experience in design, design for manufacturing, make, inspection and tests of a variety of special cutting tools, used in aerospace industry for complex shapes with tight tolerance requirements e.g. special ball end mills, special reamers, special dun drills, special deep hole drills, etc. He developed and invented several new cutting tools, characterized by better performances on part quality, productivity, tool life and reduced overall cost. Working with different cutting tools suppliers in developing new cutting tools, choosing the best tools and the optimum cutting conditions, he build a very good relationship with the representatives of the majority of the main cutting tools suppliers, allowing him to facilitate the collaboration between his customers and the cutting tools builders, reducing in this way the problem solving time and accelerating the implementation of new solutions

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
In the last 15 years in the “Globalisation Era” Expert was very active in technology transfer in the new joint ventures (JV's) in East Europe and Asia. He participated to implement existing technologies on the new plants, training the personal and coaching them for maximum efficiency. For new products made in these JV's, he led joint development teams in new process development and in the line reorganization and equipment acquisition. He was very active in coaching the JV's teams in manufacturing R&D, by training, and participating to process improvement, tests, tool proving for several projects.

INNOVATION
Expert has a record of success in innovation on product development as well as on manufacturing technology. He is a very creative problem solver, with the ability to identify and deeply understand root causes of operational issues of complex products, systems or manufacturing processes. Utilizing a creative and systematic approach based on deep analysis, “out of the box” thinking, brainstorming and creativity methodology, he demonstrated an outstanding capability on problem solving and innovation. His patens obtained in one of the most innovative fields, as aerospace, prove his ability to innovate and to find new reliable solutions for complicated and complex systems. The talent, the attraction, the passion and the motivation for innovation and invention pushed him to discover new ways to do things from a very young age, as a beginner (having a patent in the first year as an engineer) up to the end of his carrier (having some patent applications still in process for approval). Process simplification through cycle time reduction and defect elimination has been a key area of Expert's experience for many years. He has experience as a "hands on" R&D process engineer and a corporate trainer on “Metal cutting and cutting tools”.

Expert has a life experience in innovation, patentability and patent application. Every project he touched, new ideas, new solutions were found and developed and some were innovations, some were inventions and patents were obtained. He can guide and help others to find new solutions, and more than that, to push the limits of the existing inventions and apply for new patents. His patents are related to manufacturing methods, manufacturing processes, to different products, different cutting tools, machines, etc. Open minded, visionary, enthusiastic, perseverant and hard working are few characteristics of Expert, which can be shared with younger engineers in order to make progress in any industry.

Expert is recognized as a changing agent, majority of the projects on which he was involved were considered as game changers. He developed his own creativity method, which allows generating in a systematic way considerable variety of potential solutions improving the innovation effectiveness. With his enthusiasm and passion for innovation he is able to motivate others to be open to new ideas, acting as an innovation catalytic agent in development of new ways to design and make new products. Sharing his innovation experience and his vision with others, may be very beneficial for any company.

TRAINING
Expert has an extensive experience in education and training acquired by teaching in an European University 12 years for a manufacturing engineering program “Metal cutting and Cutting Tools” and other disciplines related to manufacturing, giving classes for 6 years in a North American University for a Manufacturing Master program on “Machining and cutting tools for aerospace industry” and conducting and supervising Master Theses for students in scholarship program in aerospace company for more than 10 years. He also gave training for manufacturing engineers, process planners, and operators working in aerospace industry for more than 5 years, in North America, East Europe and Asia. He has a “hands-on” training philosophy. Starting with deep understanding of the fundamentals, to practical applications and examples, he is capable to train at any level, developing solid and reliable knowledge in the manufacturing field, adapted to the customer needs and requirements. Based on his remarkable experience in education, he has prepared very visual presentations, including videos and pictures to illustrate in a very understandable manner the complex phenomenon of “Metal cutting” as well as other different machining related aspects. His style of explanations in a very logical and understandable way for any level of participants, explains the very positive feedback and evaluation from his audience.
The efficiency of the training Expert is capable to offer is very well illustrated by the comments of one of participants (a tool maker) who sad after the training: "I understood and learned in 3 hours of this training more than in 30 years - by making cutting tools every single day ".

Expert has outstanding skills in identification of the customer training needs, and he is capable to provide and adapted training. Working with the management, he spot what is the most important knowledge required for the team in solving their issues and he oriented his training in the right direction. His philosophy is “problem solving oriented” for different processes or projects. Before training, he works with management and participants to prepare an analysis of the actual situation, and “business case study”, which will be presented at the beginning of the training by participants. Starting from this “business case study” approved by the management (including objectives, and budget), he works with the team to solve their problems, by understanding the phenomenon, the root cause, brainstorming for potential solutions and preparing an action plan to solve the problem. He likes to assist the customers in their development and to coach them up to implementation into production. It is very important for him to evaluate the Return Of Investment (ROI) for each training, because in his opinion, only if there is a measurable gain for the organization, the training meets its objectives. Working in this way the customer satisfaction is guaranteed. The objectives of each project may be related to process improvement aiming: quality, safety, environment, productivity, cost, etc. He is very flexible to adapt his training to the real customer needs. He has ability and skills required to develop talents, to motivate the participants and create a positive and enthusiastic team climate and create effective training programs.

COACHING & MENTORING
As a “Manufacturing Fellow”, Expert was more than 5 years as corporate and individual mentor and coach, working with younger engineers, process planners and operators, teaching, coaching and mentoring them in a variety of projects or career planning. He acted in this position in North America and for joint ventures (JV's) in East Europe and Asia. As an expert in Root Cause Analysis, Problem solving, Training, and Innovation he has very good examples, based on 38 years experience in manufacturing field and futuristic vision, to motivate people, to push to the limits and create new challenges for others.
Expert has a global vision on the need and requirements of the training program for the entire personnel of a company, based on his extensive experience with large automotive and aerospace companies as well as with different universities. His vision aims to introduce a very effective and “pay back” training concept program, including “Training Return of Investment” (TROI), motivation for education and skills development by “Monopoly Principle Training” (MPT) and a “Universal Skills Scale” (USS) for all employees regardless their level of education and field of activity. Shearing this vision with management, HR and training department personnel, he can coach and help to improve the efficiency of any training program.