Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
I am an American Welding Society Senior Certified Welding Inspector (SCWI). Formerly, I held the American Society for Quality Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE) certification. I did not maintain it as employers did not seem to be interested in my having it.
Worked for Cimarron, Inc as a Quality Engineer in support of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the US Air Force's Sentinel Missile Program. Cimarron provides engineering and technical support to Bechtel under their contract with Northrup Grumman Systems Corporation for the design, construction, and integration of the Sentinel launch infrastructure at locations including Vandenberg AFB in California, F.E. Warren AFB, in Wyoming, Malmstrom AFB, Montanna, and Minot AFB, North Dakota. The Sentinel Missile Program is a vital US Air Force project that will replace the U.S.A.’s aging ground-based leg of the nuclear triad -- the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). My duties as a Quality engineer on the project Included: • Developed and maintained project engineering procedures to ensure alignment with Bechtel corporate procedures, contract requirements, and applicable codes and standards. Applicable project codes and standards were extensive, including: ISO 9001, ISO 9100D, ASME AWS Codes, IBC Codes and others. • Participated in reviewing and checking designs, drawings, and data originated by other engineers or suppliers. • Coordinated quality reviews of deliverable packages before submission to North Grumman and the Air Force. • Performed self-assessments (internal quality audits) of the engineering department for adherence to Bechtel’s Engineering Procedures, Work Instructions, construction Procedures and other pertinent codes and standards. • Developed and presented training on procedures, miscellaneous policies, and instructions for engineering personnel. • Identified, prepared, and reported project engineering quality metrics and associated trends. • Prepare and issue engineering quality reports. • Coordinated Closed-Loop Corrective Action (CLCA) program project initiatives with project engineering personnel. • Analyzed processes and identify areas improvement. • Maintained project configuration management.
In this role I was responsible for developing and managing the Quality Management system for Gulf Coast Structural Steel Fabricators, a subsidiary of Echo Group. The primary market the company serves is structural steel for heavy industry with clients such as BP Oil, Exxon Mobil, Valero, Motiva and many others. As the first official quality management professional employed by the company, I was heavily involved in developing a world class Quality Management System (QMS) for the company. That project included creating a quality manual and a set of standard operating procedures, developing and delivering training for the QMS, Inspection personnel, and management, and preparing the company for AISC Certification. Additionally, I updated and rewrite all welding procedures and welder qualifications for compliance with AWS D1.1 and AMSE BPVC Sections 8 & 9.
In this role I held responsibility for the quality function for six shops – Southwest Steel in El Mirage, AZ and in Henderson, NV – SME Steel in West Jordan and Price, UT and Pocatello, ID – CoreBrace in Pocatello ID. Within those groups, reporting directly to me were three Quality Control Managers, a Training Manager and a Continuous Improvement Specialist. Additionally, each shop is inspected by numerous AWS Certified Welding Inspectors and ASNT NDT technicians for Ultrasonic Testing and Magnetic Particle Testing methods. In total, the QA/QC staff comprised approximately 40 employees. In addition, I held responsibility for the quality function for all erection job sites west of the Rocky Mountains. My primary responsibility was to ensure that the company had a solid quality program, well maintained procedures, highly trained and developed employees and the best quality fabrication to ensure the safety and wellbeing of building owners and occupants.
Initially, the role was Quality Manager only. Within the first six months of my employment with Myrex, I took on the challenge of creating a new safety program from the ground up. My department was renamed as the Health, Safety and Quality Department. As a part of this effort, I promoted an individual from within the company to be the HSQ Coordinator. Both I and the HSQ Coordinator attended OSHA CSHO (Certified Safety and Health Official) classes through University of Texas, Arlington. Simultaneously, we worked towards incrementally developing a robust safety program. This included: • A company-wide Emergency Response plan. • Weekly safety meetings and toolbox-talks. • Created a better more efficient training recording system for not only safety but for all training. This system decreased the paperwork the company was doing from several hundred pages per month to less than ten pages. • Created a Return to Work Program to provide an injured employee the opportunity to continue working on a light duty basis rather than staying home. • Performed company-wide Job Safety Analysis (JSAs) to identify safety concerns and address them as well as to produce the roadmap for developing OSHA compliant safety policies and procedures.