Professional experience
Mar 2021 to present
JLS Automation
Define what robotic packaging systems need to do with customers, then coordinate mechanical, electrical and software teams through build, testing and commissioning. Oversee capital equipment programs worth more than $40M.
Role overview →- Technical lead on programs from single machines to 16 machines across 8 packaging lines
- Write the scope of work and set each machine's configuration: robots, cameras, tooling, conveyors and the interfaces to other vendors' equipment
- Lead design reviews with our engineers, vendors and suppliers
- Commission and install at customer plants, including programming in B&R Automation Studio, Cognex In-Sight and LMI 3D vision
- All in high-sanitary food production: raw and cured meat, frozen protein and snack food
| Layout | DraftSight (AutoCAD) |
|---|---|
| Controls | B&R Automation Studio |
| Vision | Cognex In-Sight, LMI 3D |
| Robots | Codian delta robots, FANUC multi-axis arms |
2026
Carton Forming and Loading Test Machine
A portable, skid-mounted robotic carton cell that doubles as a product test machine and a trade show demo.
2025
Sausage Collate and Load
A robotic cell gang-picking cooked sausage links into a thermoformer, where the hardest problem was getting sticky product to flow.
2025
Snack Stick Collate and Load
Eight robotic lines gang-picking twelve meat sticks per cycle into a thermoformer, proven out with a structured reliability study.
2024
Bulk Beef Patty Case Loader
Eight robotic cells on four shared frames loading frozen beef patties, standing on edge, into bulk cases.
2024
Combo Pack Cartoner Loader
A six-robot vision-picking line loading four combo-pack products into cartons, then cases, then pallets.
2024
Snack Stick Cartoner Loader
Three linked robotic systems taking meat sticks from a 22-lane thermoformer through cartoning, case packing, and palletizing.
2023
Bag Case Loading System
Vision-guided robotic cells case-packing more than thirty bagged frozen food recipes across three lines, with logic to protect an upstream freezer.
2023
Hot Sauce Bottle Case Loading Robot
A robotic case packer for nine bottle and case formats, which I took over mid-project after an acquisition and carried through acceptance.
2023
Lunchmeat Bag Case Loading
Two vision-guided robotic cells case-packing thin, flexible lunchmeat pouches, where getting the grip right took a new tooling approach.
2022
Beef Stick Thermoformer and Cartoner Loader
Twelve delta robots and an X-ray taking loose beef sticks into a thermoformer and on to a cartoner, at up to about 900 pieces per minute.
2022
Cookie Tub Case Loading with Case Erecting
A full secondary packaging line for cookie dough tubs, from case erecting through robotic packing, sealing, and palletizing.
2022
Frozen Chicken Bag Case Loading
Two dual-head robotic cells packing about twenty bag recipes into cases, with a shared vacuum system built for the whole line.
2021
Meat Tray Bagging System
A vision-guided robot arranging wrapped meat trays into the multi-tray patterns a vacuum bagger needs, across about fifteen SKUs.
Mar 2018 to Mar 2021
CHL Systems
Designed custom process and conveyance equipment for food, agriculture and pharmaceutical plants. Later led design groups while still designing.
Role overview →- Twenty projects across eight industries, from dairy conveyance to railcar fall protection and pharmaceutical bottle handling
- Took projects from site survey, concept and quoting through shop trial fit and installation
- Worked with the in-house machine and weld shops on nearly every design
- Led project design groups while carrying my own design work
- Helped design the DriveWorks configurator for standard conveyors, and built a design calculator for standard equipment
| CAD | SolidWorks |
|---|---|
| Design automation | DriveWorks |
| Analysis | SolidWorks Simulation |
2021
Chip Processing Line Relocation
Turning a chip line move into a redesign, with a divert chute that lets any line feed either type of slicer.
2020
Bag Singulation and Pacing Conveyance
Merging two lanes of filled pet food bags into one evenly spaced stream for a check-weigher and X-ray, using only belt speeds.
2020
Bottle Conveyance Line
A pharmaceutical bottle line with pivoting sections to keep the plant passable and formed Lexan covers to keep open bottles clean.
2020
Cooker and Chiller Discharge Conveyors
Two pet food transfer conveyors that pin into either of two configurations and strip down quickly for washdown.
2020
Yogurt Tub Conveyance System
Dairy conveyance with a fail-safe roller gate that lifts on a fire alarm so the fire door can close.- 2019 Chocolate Bar Case Unloading Concept A quoted concept that inverts full cases of chocolate bars and releases them onto a chute, instead of picking bars out one at a time.
2019
Confectionery Pilot Line Conveyor
A nearly hundred foot marshmallow pilot line conveyor with depositors and a sugar bed, designed into a space still under construction.
2019
Fat Percentage Blending System
A ground beef line that recirculates fat-rich trim and blends two streams to run just under the regulated fat limit.
2019
Incline Meat Auger Conveyor
An inclined screw conveyor chosen over a belt because raw meat slides back down steep belts and screws are easier to clean.
2019
Induction Sealer Line Integration
Adding rotary accumulation around an existing corner of a pharmaceutical line so short stoppages stop shutting down the whole line.- 2019 Scale and Bagger Loader Platform An elevated, bolt-together platform for a multihead weigher, designed to fit through the building's doorway in pieces.
2018
Adjustable Chub Clamping System
A continuously adjustable, dial-set clamp retrofit that let a single-product meat line run several chub diameters.
2018
Chocolate Pump and Separator Skid
A self-contained, jacketed skid on casters that screens unrefined grains out of warm chocolate.
2018
Corn Conveyance and Distribution System
An overhead conveyor loop that carries corn over a full plant floor and drops it to sixteen stations below.- 2018 Dumper Guarding Safety Upgrade Three layers of safeguarding, including a mechanical locking pin, around a nearly one ton hydraulic dumper in a raw meat plant.
2018
Frozen Block Separator
A hydraulic machine that replaced a jackhammer job nobody could keep staffed, and went on to become a standard CHL product.
2018
Medical Device Sterilizing Line
A thirteen-station heavy pallet line through explosive-atmosphere sterilizing chambers, which I took over mid-project and commissioned.
2018
Pharmaceutical Bottle Lifter
A sanitary clamp and lift bar that let a machine lift heavy, awkward bottles of liquid so operators no longer had to.- 2018 Rail Car Fall Protection Upgrade An engineered 54 foot horizontal lifeline over a rail car cleaning area, replacing a safety line nobody could vouch for.
- 2018 Steam Cooker Outfeed Slicer A four-bar linkage guard that folds out of the way so a 150 lb knife assembly can be lifted safely for sharpening.
May 2017 to Mar 2018, plus a 2020 engagement
Hart Mechanical Contractors
Designed skids, platforms and enclosures with the in-house machine and weld shops that built them.
- Designed structural, sheet metal and hardware assemblies in Inventor, SolidWorks and AutoCAD
- Drew for water jet cutting, forming, welding and machining in carbon steel, stainless and aluminum
- Ran FEA on refrigeration enclosures over 1,000 sq ft under snow and wind loads to IBC and customer requirements, and revised the designs from the results
- 2020 Tank Access Platform An access platform for a process tank in a room with under four feet of headroom, designed for a former employer who asked me back.
2017
Arsenic Removal Filtration Skid
A stainless skid and piping package that turned a customer's filter vessels, pumps, and valves into one transportable water treatment unit.
2017
Centrifuge Piping System
A valve and instrument manifold on its own stand, piped into a customer's centrifuge.
2017
Dry Mixer Counterbalance Lid
A replacement mixer lid that always wants to close, solving a fall hazard, a dust problem, and loading access at once.
2017
Rooftop Refrigeration Skid Enclosure
A rooftop equipment enclosure whose wind and snow analysis caught a racking collapse before it was ever built.
| CAD | Inventor, SolidWorks, AutoCAD |
|---|---|
| Analysis | Inventor Simulation |
| Fabrication | Water jet, forming, welding, machining |
May 2014 to May 2015
BorgWarner Morse TEC
Prototype assembly, dynamometer testing and precision measurement on automotive cam timing hardware.
Role overview →- Ran dyno and end-of-line testing on prototype cam phasers and reported the results to the product engineers
- Reviewed GD&T on prototype prints, assembled prototypes and measured parts in the metrology lab
- Wrote teardown reports on tested and competitor phasers
- Started converting a chain life rig to run long-duration phaser durability tests
- Worked with the European engineering group on durability testing and an FMEA report
Role overview
Variable Cam Timing Co-op
A year in automotive product engineering, testing and measuring prototype cam phasers and designing the stations to build and test them.
| CAD | Creo (Pro/E) |
|---|---|
| Testing | Dynamometers, end-of-line test stands |
| Measurement | Manual and CNC CMMs, profilometers, thread, pin and block gauges, analog and digital vision measuring systems |
| Drawings | GD&T |
| Analysis | FMEA |
Jun 2012 to Oct 2012
Baum Precision Machining
Ran manual and CNC machining centers producing precision parts.
- Set up and ran three- and four-axis CNC mills on aerospace aluminum, stainless and carbon steel parts
- Designed and machined fixtures for high-volume aerospace and medical device production
| Machines | Vertical 3- and 4-axis CNC mills, horizontal mills, tombstone pallet horizontal mills |
|---|---|
| Inspection | Metrology equipment |
| Materials | Aerospace aluminum, stainless and carbon steel |
May 2011 to Dec 2011
PH Tool
- Ran CNC mills, lathes and surface grinders, and inspected parts with CMMs, vision systems and profilometers
- Designed fixtures for NDT test block production that raised throughput by 30%
| Machines | CNC mills, lathes, surface grinders |
|---|---|
| Inspection | CMMs, vision systems, profilometers |