Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Hobbies
Timeline
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Nicholas Schwengler

Sycamore,IL

Summary

Successful Continuous Improvement Engineer with expertise in developing metric-based process solutions resulting in improved efficiency and decreased downtime. Driven to work hand-in-hand with management, operations, and maintenance to create long-term solutions to improve performance

Overview

5
5
years of professional experience

Work History

Continuous Improvement Engineer

Covia Corp
06.2023 - Current
  • Managed development and implementation of lean and continuous improvement manufacturing initiatives across production environment.
  • Hosted 13 weekly A3 problem solving meetings utilizing root-cause analysis and 5-Why to correct mechanical and process inefficiencies
  • Reduced downtime due to preventative maintenance in key production area by 52%
  • Identified annual margin loss of $7,000,000 of product that could be reclaimed and shipped
  • Maintained and improved plant downtime tracking process across all plant production areas to identify root causes of downtime
  • Created incentive program to improve average use of downtime tracker from 77% to 90%
  • Designed and implemented daily and weekly metric-based performance meeting structure across all plant departments to improve plant communication and alignment
  • Performed daily plant GEMBA walk inspections to identify and correct citable safety issues


Maintenance Engineering Technician

Nufarm North America
01.2022 - 06.2023
  • Managed scheduling, planning, and coordination of all maintenance work with in-house technicians and outside contractors
  • Led data-driven continuous improvement in formulations, packaging, and maintenance departments
  • Performed RCA on multiple major plant reliability issues including centrifugal pump fire, hoist failure, and excess wastewater generation
  • Assisted in designing liquid packaging line that would double output, reduce headcount by 70%, and improve reliability
  • Led transition of maintenance department to new CMMS software
  • Created downtime tracking and weekly review to identify sources of waste, develop actions, and report to upper management
  • Implemented 'Right First Time' tracking in packaging area to identify quality issues.

Engineering Technician

Northrop Grumman
10.2019 - 12.2021
  • Independently managed custom fabrication shop and team of up to 4 people
  • Designed and built custom shop floor equipment requested by engineers to support NG manufacturing floor
  • Set due dates and balanced build timelines by considering business impact, urgency, and project importance
  • Managed relocation and redesign of fabrication shop layout
  • Created parametric labor hour estimation tool to accurately predict hours required to manufacture new product

Industrial Engineering Intern

Northrop Grumman
05.2018 - 08.2018
  • Learned and applied Lean manufacturing techniques on Boeing 'One-Piece Frame' forming process
  • Reduced XL Frame forming time from 150 minutes to 100 minutes by creating time-bound standard work
  • Reduced annual labor costs by $500,000 by identifying ply-carrier jamming issue

Education

Mechanical Engineering -

Weber State University
Ogden, UT
05.2021

Aerospace Engineering -

University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign
Champaign, IL
05.2019

Skills

  • Lean Manufacturing Principles
  • Corrective Action Planning
  • Root Cause Analysis
  • A3 Problem Solving
  • Downtime Tracking
  • Maintenance and Reliability

Hobbies

  • Rock Climbing, Backpacking, Woodworking, Vehicle Restoration

Timeline

Continuous Improvement Engineer

Covia Corp
06.2023 - Current

Maintenance Engineering Technician

Nufarm North America
01.2022 - 06.2023

Engineering Technician

Northrop Grumman
10.2019 - 12.2021

Industrial Engineering Intern

Northrop Grumman
05.2018 - 08.2018

Mechanical Engineering -

Weber State University

Aerospace Engineering -

University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign

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Nicholas Schwengler