Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Affiliations
Languages
Timeline
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ROBERTO ORTEGA

Zionsville,IN

Summary

EXECUTIVE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATION, LEAN MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS 24+ years experience leading global multi-disciplinary teams in product development, launching and scaling products across multi- site manufacturing production operations. Building high-potential and results-oriented teams during growth, downturn and innovation in fast-paced and evolving marketplace Product Management Human Centered Design & Lean Startup Methodologies New Product Introduction Business Development Self- starter and highly adaptable in complex organizations & startups Strategic Planning & Execution Culture Transformation & Change Management P&L & Cost Reduction Cross Functional Leadership Lean Manufacturing Methodologies Quality System Implementation

Overview

26
26
years of professional experience

Work History

Director of Product

Aurora Innovation
01.2021 - Current
  • Led development and cross functional alignment of company-wide product roadmap and coordinated development and rollout.
  • Lead team of 6 PMs to define company-wide product roadmap, execution strategy and planning, including definition of autonomy capabilities, rider experience & operational controls
  • Activities include collaborating closely with cross functional teams to prioritize, define and gain commitment from hardware/software/systems engineering, legal, government relations and safety
  • Defined over 60 new autonomy features for self-driving on-highway and on surface streets
  • Develop tooling to support fleet health management, vehicle teleassist and OTA software deployment
  • Met strict deadlines, coordinating moving parts in product team and orchestrating well-designed flow.

Director of Product

Uber Advanced Technologies Group
01.2018 - 01.2021
  • Go to Market & Strategy - Ride-hailing
  • Lead team of 12 PMs to define go to market strategy for deploying self driving, including definition of autonomy capabilities, rider experience, operations and fleet management
  • Activities include delivering scalable self driving technology that works across multiple markets
  • Achievements:
  • Led development of company-wide product roadmap
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  • Completed Showcase program where we delivered over 300 rides in full autonomy in Pittsburgh
  • Developed framework for proving that our autonomy technology transfers across markets with similar road infrastructure
  • Completed No Vehicle Operator demonstration where we delivered end-2-end trips on the Uber network in a closed course.

Digital Product Manager

Caterpillar
01.2017 - 04.2018
  • Lead development, definition and execution of profitable growth initiatives to enable Caterpillar’s successful entry into adjacent growth spaces in the Construction, Energy & Transportation and Mining industry segments
  • Activities include heavy interaction with external customers and with internal sales, marketing, legal and engineering teams, with the goal to successfully commercialize new business solutions
  • Identified and pursued valuable business opportunities to generate new company revenue and improve bottom line profit.
  • Completed successful pilots of Cat Water Treatment technology Oil & Gas customer sites in TX
  • Established strategic alliance with two advanced construction technology startups
  • Established MoU between Caterpillar and Saudi Arabia government to explore adoption of advanced construction technology
  • Coordinated and drove customer VOC back to business units to advance business opportunities in area of responsibility.
  • Generated new business with marketing initiatives and strategic plans.
  • Performed client research and identified opportunities for account growth, account penetration and market expansion.

Design & Innovation Manager

01.2015 - 01.2016
  • Leverage human centered design to drive profitable topline growth for Caterpillar by enabling existing businesses in developing new products and services as well as catalyzing Innovation across the enterprise
  • Lead team of 18 direct reports (29 total) to deliver global growth initiatives, programs, framework, training, coaching and mentoring for over 100K employees, dealers and customers
  • Achievements:
  • Executed 38+ Growth projects with over 8 successfully commercialized
  • Launched Design & Innovation Center in San Francisco, CA, 1 month ahead of schedule and under budget by 70% ($1.1MM)
  • Identified, led and completed 44 business partnerships to build Caterpillar’s innovation ecosystem in the US.

Mississippi Remanufacturing Ops Manager, Operations Management

Caterpillar
01.2012 - 01.2015
  • Of the Mississippi facilities
  • Manage highly skilled teams that support
  • People, Quality, Velocity and Cost in four factories in Northeast Mississippi with approximately 1200 hourly employees and 120 management/salary employees
  • This included over 500 Remanufacturing Engine arrangements and over 2000 engine components
  • Achievements:
  • Spearhead Safety Culture project to achieve production employee engagement resulting in RIF of 0.36
  • NPI Revenue exceeded plan by $10 MM, on-time and on-budget
  • Achieved through point of use parts delivery system
  • Improved on-time product delivery performance from 85% to 94%
  • Reduced defects per unit to 0.00265, achieved a contamination control environment level 5 and implemented Built-in Quality
  • Improved profitability by 3% or $4MM in spite of a 4% volume decrease due to increased labor and indirect material efficiency gains.

Technical Services Manager

01.2010 - 01.2012
  • Responsible for leading team of 12 Engineers (36 total) to provide Technical Services Support for the Caterpillar Remanufacturing Facilities in
  • Northeast Mississippi
  • Facilitated NPI, Remanufacturing Salvage Projects, Capital and Capacity Planning, Quality Improvement projects,
  • Engineering Change Management, Facilities Maintenance, Environmental and Chemical Management.

Manager

Apple, Inc
01.2009 - 01.2010
  • Supply Base Engineering – Mac Enclosures
  • Lead Mechanical Enclosures engineering team in developing manufacturing processes, then scaling for high volume manufacturing in partnership with Asian contract manufacturers with a high level of efficiency, integrity and enthusiasm while striving to achieve excellence in all endeavors
  • Provide exceptional support, coaching and leadership in China focused on New Product development and ramp while meeting highest levels of cosmetic and dimensional requirements along with aggressive costs, launch and scale targets
  • Achievements:
  • Created synergies across Industrial Design, Product Design, Operations, Asia Manufacturing Partners, and Supply Chain in order to design and execute “breakthrough” achievements in 21.5” and 27” iMac and iPad Enclosures
  • Spearhead day-to-day team program activities as technical lead for Mac Desktop enclosures, Fixtures and Manufacturing Process development including the innovative iPad, iMac, Cinema Display, and Mac Mini
  • Delivered savings of approximately $750 K annually
  • 100% focused on customer satisfaction and achieving On-Time-Delivery by developing right-to-left program schedules and disciplined milestone phase gates
  • Risk assessment and mitigation by focusing on strategic goals and priority re-adjustment.

Production Superintendent

Pontiac Assembly
01.2005 - 01.2009

General Assembly Area Manager

General Motors Corporation, Lansing Grand River Assembly
01.1998 - 01.2009

Manufacturing Systems Engineer

General Motors Company
01.2002 - 01.2005
  • Documented system configuration, mapping and processes.
  • Supported system users, educating employees on troubleshooting and problem-solving protocols.
  • Proposed technical feasibility solutions for new system designs and suggested options for performance improvement of technical components.
  • Conducted end-user reviews for modified and new systems.
  • Collaborated with executive team to define business requirements and systems goals.
  • Verified compliance with applicable performance metrics and compatibility expectations.

Supervisor Mfg Eng

01.1998 - 01.2001

Education

Master of Science - Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering

Universidad Metropolitana

Skills

  • Leadership – 24 years leading cross functional global teams with engagement of 85%
  • Successfully led Product, Engineering & Operations teams from two to 1200
  • Expertise in Situational Leadership, Culture Change (Safety & Innovation), Conflict Resolution, Crucial Conversations, Building Highly
  • Effective Teams, using Vision-Execution-Legacy model, teaching, coaching and mentoring
  • Build and nurture value-based customer relationships
  • Product Management – Responsible for defining strategy, prioritizing programs and defining go to market initiatives to deploy self-driving vehicles
  • On the Uber network as well as trucking and goods delivery Created product roadmap for UATG and Aurora to enable credible path towards
  • Commercialization of self-driving technologies Communicated vision, plan and program definition across entire org, starting with C-suite
  • Design & Innovation – Human Centered Design methodologies, Lean startup using Business Model Canvas
  • Create value-based business
  • Relationships
  • Incubate Transformation and Adjacent Growth opportunities and also leveraged design & innovation in support of Core Growth for
  • Enterprise
  • Led Shark Tank Competition, Hackathon, Crowd source, Growth Challenge and Workshops
  • Manufacturing Leadership – Proven track record with functional management experience in all disciplines of manufacturing operations
  • Development of operations strategy and management of KPI metrics
  • Execution of lean manufacturing process improvements, utilizing Kaizen
  • Principles
  • Hands-on experience: Manufacturing & Remanufacturing Processes (including assembly, disassembly, Tooling/Fixtures, CNC
  • Machining, welding, finishing, CMM/OMM Inspection and assembly/joining methods)
  • Proficiency in Lean, PFMEA, DFM, DOE, SPC and GR&R
  • New Product/Process Introduction – Responsible for launch of over 2 new growth businesses & 60 Reman engines, components and assemblies
  • Manufacturing process design & execution of mechanical enclosures for iMac, Mac Mini and iPad
  • Led launch of Cadillac CTS, STS & SRX
  • Experience in creating and manage production line rate capacity changes to adjust corporate and market requirement shifts
  • Launched parts
  • Kitting strategy to reduce variation/waste with efficiency, quality and scrap reduction gains realized
  • Production/Engineering Management – Averaged 8% annual productivity gains through lean methodologies implementation
  • Accelerate
  • Design, fabrication, installation and validation of 20 manufacturing lines for heavy industrial, automotive & consumer electronics product lines
  • Introduce business case-based decision-making for capital investment, cost and P&L responsibilities
  • Restructuring, turnaround and resource
  • Capacity planning
  • Standardized Work and problem solving for Continuous Improvement
  • Product Expertise
  • Product Manufacturing
  • Product Team Leadership
  • Cost Control
  • Launch New Products
  • Customer Experience
  • Product Engineering
  • Portfolio Strategy
  • Benchmarking Process
  • Product LifeCycle Management
  • Business Case Development
  • Product Organization
  • Personnel Development
  • Product Roadmaps
  • Timelines and Milestones
  • New Product Information

Affiliations

Uber Executive Leadership and Strategy Program - Harvard Enterprise Accelerator Program – Haas School of Business – UC Berkeley Executive Design – D.School - Stanford University Paving the Road to Success – The Disney Institute Lean Methodology Leadership – Instructor Certification – Caterpillar

Languages

Spanish
Native or Bilingual

Timeline

Director of Product

Aurora Innovation
01.2021 - Current

Director of Product

Uber Advanced Technologies Group
01.2018 - 01.2021

Digital Product Manager

Caterpillar
01.2017 - 04.2018

Design & Innovation Manager

01.2015 - 01.2016

Mississippi Remanufacturing Ops Manager, Operations Management

Caterpillar
01.2012 - 01.2015

Technical Services Manager

01.2010 - 01.2012

Manager

Apple, Inc
01.2009 - 01.2010

Production Superintendent

Pontiac Assembly
01.2005 - 01.2009

Manufacturing Systems Engineer

General Motors Company
01.2002 - 01.2005

General Assembly Area Manager

General Motors Corporation, Lansing Grand River Assembly
01.1998 - 01.2009

Supervisor Mfg Eng

01.1998 - 01.2001

Master of Science - Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering

Universidad Metropolitana

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ROBERTO ORTEGA