Mike Esmond
Summary
Accomplished Hardware Development Executive, specialized in leading diverse design teams to unify and enhance hardware development processes. Skilled in aligning and integrating cross-functional teams, with a strong emphasis on fostering collaboration and improving operational efficiency. Expert in Hardware PCBA Development, with a comprehensive background in design, layout, SIPI, and validation, demonstrating a consistent record of delivering successful outcomes.
Overview
34
34
years of professional experience
Work History
Sr. Director Hardware Development
Western Digital
11.2020 - Current
- Successfully unified the hardware development processes across three design teams (HDD, eSSD, cSSD), fostering synergies that led to reduced resource needs, enhanced consistency, increased quality in deliverables and improving design quality through converged checklists and Design guidelines, achieving an outstanding 85-95% PCBA success rate on first attempts
- Led a transformative hardware staging initiative, uniting systems, PTDI, PDE, and ASIC teams. Proactively managed risks in thermal, mechanical, structural, and ASIC packaging domains, resulting in innovative PCB form factor designs with reduced layer count and costs. Pioneered early mule development, furnishing crucial data for TCT, thermal, and structural analysis, elevating POR design robustness and efficiency.
- Spearheaded a Component Resiliency Initiative, aiming for an ambitious 80+% common component usage across designs. Introduced a 'Shift Left' strategy to streamline development and qualification processes, effectively identifying component issues early. This approach optimized component selection, addressed sourcing challenges, and significantly reduced costs through decreased unique part numbers and boosting volume while supporting a unified corporate sourcing strategy.
- Established an automated design workflow using the WDITR tool, ensuring consistency, accountability, and high-quality hardware design with cross-functional sign-off
- Drove hardware design tool convergence across HDD and FPE, resulting in 20% less support effort for a unified company-wide toolset versus the previous two-tool flows. Achieved 10-20% time savings with concurrent schematic design capabilities and BIC tool integration.
Director Electronic Design
Western Digital
07.2015 - 11.2020
- Manage world wide "Center of Excellence" of PCBA electronics design for WDC Enterprise HDDs & SSDs.
- Overall Strategic and Product responsibility for HDD Electronics.
- Prevented multiple factory shutdown scenarios due to MLCC shortages by leading integrated efforts between hardware, SQE, and procurement to qualify new alternate suppliers and components. This initiative enabled the company to ship over 3 million units of HDD enterprise drives, securing critical revenue.
Sr. Manager Electronics Validation
Western Digital
12.2012 - 07.2015
- Manage PCBA electronics validation, SOC Host, memory and Power LSI validation and design teams
Sr. Manager, Systems Engineering
Marvell Semiconductor
04.2011 - 12.2012
- Manage the Validation, EVT, Applications and Hardware teams to support the Marvell 10GBASE-T PHY product line.
Director of Validation
Solarflare
07.2008 - 06.2011
- Led the Device Validation Test (DVT) team and the System Level and Firmware Validation team, overseeing all aspects of device and system validation processes
Manager of HW & Validation
Mindspeed
07.2001 - 07.2008
- Managed the validation of high-performance analog devices and supporting hardware, leading diverse teams across multiple technologies
Test Engineering Manager
Conexant
07.1996 - 07.2001
- Oversaw device verification testing (DVT) for VLSI design and developed test hardware and software solutions
Member of Technical Staff
Rockwell International
07.1990 - 07.1996
- Specialized in analog design for data acquisition and sensor systems, focusing on Analog Signal Processors, Focal Plane Array electronics, and solid-state sensors
Education
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA06.1990
Skills
- Team Building and Motivation
- Collaborative Leadership
- Process Optimization
- Culture Transformation
- Strategic Thinking
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- Product Development
Timeline
Sr. Director Hardware Development
Western Digital
11.2020 - Current
Director Electronic Design
Western Digital
07.2015 - 11.2020
Sr. Manager Electronics Validation
Western Digital
12.2012 - 07.2015
Sr. Manager, Systems Engineering
Marvell Semiconductor
04.2011 - 12.2012
Director of Validation
Solarflare
07.2008 - 06.2011
Manager of HW & Validation
Mindspeed
07.2001 - 07.2008
Test Engineering Manager
Conexant
07.1996 - 07.2001
Member of Technical Staff
Rockwell International
07.1990 - 07.1996
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering
San Diego State University
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