Michael Laurin
Engineer
Pittsfield,MA
Summary
Prolific innovator and manager with executive level experience. Final recipient of the prestigious DAN FOX award for product innovation for my work on glass laminates, Freezer Film, and Film Insert Molding. A great fit in many organizations at several levels.
Please note my phone is not working. Please provide interview details to my email address mikelaurin36912@gmail.com. Thank you!
Overview
34
34
years of professional experience
1
1
Prolific Inventor and innovator
1
1
Almost one patent for every year of service.
Work History
Sales Associate
Advanced Auto Parts
09.2023 - 05.2024
- Assisted customers with locating parts they needed for their vehicles
- Installed batteries and windshield wiper blades
- Assisted with the development of planograms to display product as desired by corporate
- Assisted with pricing changes for product on the floor.
Commercial Diver
Aquatic Roots
06.2023 - 09.2023
- Joined a team of commercial divers to assist with the weed removal at beaches throughout the Berkshire County area and beyond
- Assessed dive locations determining which weeds were native vs invasive and where we would focus within the swim area
- Supported divers from the surface in kayaks when not diving
- Installed benthic barriers where needed at multiple locations.
- Ensured we followed a safe dive plan on each dive and monitored vitals before and after each dive.
- Maintained and checked diving equipment for functionality and safety prior to each dive.
Thermoforming Operator
Chegra
06.2022 - 09.2022
- Worked at my former Technician Gary's thermoforming shop doing any and all projects that came in
- Did a substantial amount of bathroom surrounds and ramps for pinball machines
- Assisted Gary with a set of fixtures that allowed us to line bend a part to an exact angle.
Consultant
Panasonic Corporation of North America
01.2021 - 07.2022
- Evaluated client needs and expectations, establishing clear goals for each consulting engagement.
- Consultant for Film Insert Molding focused on operational excellence of the vendor Sunningdale working for Panasonic
- Assisted with daily meetings to discuss areas needing improvement
- Identified key areas to focus on like masking removal away from the mold and deionization of the film insert prior to loading in the tool to cut down on dust and other debris on the components
- Traveled to the Singapore facility where I worked with the team to implement the daily meeting
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to successfully deliver comprehensive solutions for Panasonic.
- Managed client relationships through regular check-ins and updates on project progress.
- Evaluated staff performance and provided coaching to address inefficiencies.
- Traveled to the Malaysia facility on a separate trip and helped to determine that the Malaysia facility was better adapted to long term production compared to the Singapore facility.
- Entire production area in controlled clean room environment.
- There were still some issues, helped to identify areas that were not clean and that could contribute to poor quality molded parts.
- Through our efforts at both the Singapore and Malaysia facilities, helped the team raise the yield from a low of 5% to approximately 98% through continuous performance optimization and a focus on operational excellence.
- Delivered outstanding service to clients to maintain and extend relationship for future business opportunities.
- Provided ongoing support to clients post-implementation, ensuring long-term success of implemented solutions.
Energy Infrastructure Program Manager
Celanese
03.2020 - 10.2021
- Worked for Surabhi Varshney on her team of program managers
- Was specifically tasked with evaluating the energy infrastructure space and how the Celanese products fit into this space
- Focused on solar, wind, and the storage units for both systems
- Established strong relationships with key stakeholders, ensuring support for program initiatives.
- Used contacts at Tesla to get some great insight into how Tesla builds their energy storage units
- Got to the point of sampling materials for the majority of the applications within the energy storage units
- This ranged from bus bars to inverters
- In total there were over 500 applications where Celanese materials were sampled into
- In addition to working on energy infrastructure, worked on a project with Sonoco to create an industrially compostable and paper recyclable replacement for single use plastic containers
- I was able to produce prototypes where I pressure formed our acetate film with an adhesive system on it into pressed bowls made from sugar cane pulp
- The result was a bowl with a fabulous vapor barrier on its surface
- The best part about it was that it could be industrially composted or paper recycled
- Unfortunately my new manager was not aware of the massive success of this product, and I was laid off in the fall of 2021.
Americas Commercial Technology Manager
Corning
02.2019 - 01.2020
- Americas Technology Manager focused on the proliferation of cold form technology and development of the translation package for this proliferation
- By using a vacuum buck we could curve the glass as needed and then complete the lamination with the display technology desired by the OEM
- My team and I were able to sign up Volvo and BMW for technology transfers
- Unfortunately the team ran into issues being able to consistently pass the head form impact test needed for displays in the interior of a vehicle cabin
- These issues culminated in me being laid off in January of 2020.
Staff Engineer and Manager
Tesla
09.2016 - 01.2018
- Staff Engineer and engineering manager at Tesla focused on several diverse projects including Solar Roof, high efficiency Wheel covers, in mold decoration, and Film Insert Molding with long fiber injection
- For solar roof, played a key role in developing ways to produce the show and tell shingles that would be mounted on the roofs for the demonstration
- Developed the lamination method to produce several hundred tiles that demonstrated the London Tile look
- Used a similar process to make the formed rounded terracotta tiles
- In total, I worked with a small team to produce all of the hundreds of tiles demonstrated in the fall of 2016
- For the high efficiency wheel cover project, worked with one of the product design engineers to develop a skin of film that could be used in exchange for a less efficient wheel hubcap design
- The goal was to make a hubcap that would provide extended range for the vehicle
- We were able to develop a design using a sail material laminate that provided an increase of 5% to the range of the vehicle
- There were two programs where I assisted in leading small engineering teams
- One program was focused on pad printing of interior components for the vehicles
- The other program was focused on developing an in house foam seat to replace the expensive Recaro seats we were using in the vehicles
- There were several in mold decorated (IMD) components that I was involved with while at Tesla
- One in particular was the door handle application
- Here brought the project to some friends I had worked with while at GE Plastics and SABIC
- Canyon Graphics was able to quickly turn some prototypes around and demonstrate the concept to the design team with me
- Last major program at Tesla was to look at using long fiber injection onto film to make structural panels and eliminate the need for paint lines
- To this day, I believe this technology has major merit and I would love to work with a company to bring it to reality
- It essentially combines Film Insert Molding(FIM) with long fiber injection which provides a much more structural component compared to standard injection molding
- The film skin gives you the car color and the long fiber injection gives you the structural component
- Throughout my experience at Tesla, I was involved substantially in sourcing activities and would travel a significant amount to Mexico to visit Saint Gobain a major glass supplier for Tesla windshields and side drops
- On one trip there was a major level 7 earthquake
- Spent several hours on the phone to relay the situation to our manufacturing teams and to buy time for the St
- Gobain leadership to meet the Tesla demands.
Chief Scientist and Technical Development Engineering Manager
SABIC - Saudi Basic Industries Corp.
01.2008 - 09.2016
- Built up a team of engineers and technicians to evaluate new film and sheet NPIs with a specific focus on developing thin glass and polycarbonate structures
- One of our first applications was for the windows on the doors of the London Underground
- These components required us to pass a test where our panel was placed in close proximity to a panel of heaters that was set at 2000 degrees C
- By using our clear flame smoke toxicity (FST) sheet we were able to pass the test
- The reason was simple, The FST sheet would char along the edge of the laminate and hold all the molten plastic within the sandwich construction
- The London Underground team and their vendor Bombardier were extremely excited about the technology because it would allow them to open and close the doors much faster than they could with conventional windows
- Our windows provided a 30% weight savings and a similar time savings to open and close the doors
- Unfortunately, despite having an end customer aligned with their fabricator the product was never produced because the SABIC leadership did an about face at a meeting with Corning, our partner
- The SABIC leadership wanted to have Corning manage the lamination of the products despite having developed the entire process in house by me and my team and having a qualified vendor waiting in the wings to start producing the laminates
- This meeting at Corning essentially ended the relationship with Corning and all of the other concepts like glass insert molding where we developed a machine to laminate glass to film were shelved
- As I drove home that day I called my friend Mike Pilliod who had become a manager at TESLA and who had called me the week before.
Product Manager
GE Plastics Specialty Film and Sheet
01.2004 - 12.2008
- Developed new products related to IMD/FIM
- These included products such at True to Form which was a low stress polycarbonate film, T2FOQ which was an optical quality version of the T2F product, multiple attempts at a formable hard coat product using T2FOQ as the base film and several films that provided a higher pencil hardness value which was an OEM test that held us back on several applications in the field
- Many of our applications for this process were in the automotive realm or were heavily influenced by automotive
- Products like T2F were specifically designed for the automotive bezels with tight graphic tolerances
- In total, my team and I developed over 15 NPIs and generated well over 15 million in new sales.
EX-Pat Field Development Engineer
GE Plastics
01.2003 - 12.2003
- Worked with the Pacific field team to develop more than 80 vendors in the Pacific who were capable of the In Mold Decoration (IMD) or Film Insert Molding (FIM) process
- Traveled extensively despite the SARS epidemic that occurred that same year
- Despite SARS and the need to change plans often to accommodate customers and OEMs the assignment was a major success and set our team up well for lots of IMD/FIM business.
Field Engineer and Engineering manager for GE Structured Products
GE Plastics
06.1999 - 12.2003
- Assisted customers and field team with applications related to the specialty film and sheet products
- Lead a team of engineers to conduct trials including New Product Introduction (NPI) trials
- Each week I would get on the phone with my team to discuss any needs they had and have the various team members chime in with suggestions
- In many cases we were able to solve issues on the weekly call
- At this time I had a major focus on building the infrastructure needed to be successful with in mold decoration or Film insert molding(FIM)
- I would visit vendors and work with OEMs to evaluate their capability to do the process
- In many cases it was a matter of general housekeeping that held them back from success
- My team and I were able to build a team of vendors who could print, form, trim and in many cases injection mold to produce a FIM part
- We had over 50 vendors located throughout the globe that we could confidently take an OEM to for production quality parts
- In the fall of 2002 I was asked to travel to China on 4 separate occasions within the span of 2 months
- I actually became a top spender for Travel and Living expenses T&L
- As a result, I proposed that GE move me to the Pacific and in January of 2003 I moved to Shanghai to be an expat in China.
GE Plastics Corporate Leadership Program Participant
GE Plastics
06.1992 - 06.1996
- Performed in various roles from doing FEM analysis on components to developing a snap fit design guide for the field application development team
- Developed the second surface in mold decoration technology for the structured products team
- This technology is still used today in automotive interior clusters and switches
- Developing this technology made me a tooling expert, printing expert, trimming expert, and forming expert in several forming technologies.
Engineering Co-op
General Electric Plastics
06.1990 - 09.1991
- Developed test protocols for various products and applications
- Conducted application testing and failure analysis on applications and components.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA06.1994
Skills
- Customer Service
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Time Management
- Problem-solving skills
- Listening Skills
- Multi-tasking strength
- Problem-Solving
- Excellent people skills
- Reliable and punctual
- Exceptional customer service
- Relationship Building
- Outgoing Personality
- Verbal/written communication
- Cash Register Operation
- Stocking and Receiving
- Cash Handling Accuracy
- Client Service
- Conflict Resolution
- Sales expertise
- Product Sales
- Customer Needs Assessment
- Complex Problem-Solving
- Sales Strategies
- Meeting deadlines
- Merchandising knowledge
- Upselling
- Professional Demeanor
- Retail Store Operations
- Adapt to diverse groups
- Sales Training
- Strategic Planning
- Sales Development
- Building rapport
- Merchandise Display
- Product Recommendations
- Sales Goals Attainment
- Display Setup
- Point of sale operation
- Negotiation Tactics
- Relationship selling
- Business Development
- Product Promotions
- Persuasion techniques
- Promotional support
- Fraud Detection
- Sales Forecasting
- Dispute Mediation
- Contract Preparation
- Client Account Management
- Plastics and Glass product knowledge
- Sales Pipeline Management
- Expert in In Mold Decoration(IMD) and Film Insert Molding(FIM)
- Honest and Dependable
- Strong Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Attention to Detail
- Reliable and Responsible
- Customer Assistance
- Organization
- Adaptable and Flexible
- Creative Thinking
- Goal-Driven
- Team Leadership
- Decision-Making
- Flexible Hours
- Excellent Written and Verbal Communication
- Product Knowledge
- Engaging with Diverse Customers
- Building Customer Loyalty
- Safety and Cleanliness Standards
- Sales and Promotions
Timeline
Sales Associate
Advanced Auto Parts
09.2023 - 05.2024
Commercial Diver
Aquatic Roots
06.2023 - 09.2023
Thermoforming Operator
Chegra
06.2022 - 09.2022
Consultant
Panasonic Corporation of North America
01.2021 - 07.2022
Energy Infrastructure Program Manager
Celanese
03.2020 - 10.2021
Americas Commercial Technology Manager
Corning
02.2019 - 01.2020
Staff Engineer and Manager
Tesla
09.2016 - 01.2018
Chief Scientist and Technical Development Engineering Manager
SABIC - Saudi Basic Industries Corp.
01.2008 - 09.2016
Product Manager
GE Plastics Specialty Film and Sheet
01.2004 - 12.2008
EX-Pat Field Development Engineer
GE Plastics
01.2003 - 12.2003
Field Engineer and Engineering manager for GE Structured Products
GE Plastics
06.1999 - 12.2003
GE Plastics Corporate Leadership Program Participant
GE Plastics
06.1992 - 06.1996
Engineering Co-op
General Electric Plastics
06.1990 - 09.1991
Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst