Vaughn Drozd

• Manage the Failure Analysis accept/reject process to evaluate importance of product quality issues being reported by customers to provide in depth failure analysis reports and lead corrective action
• Created and led project to facilitate existing field return process to drive root cause corrective action for the reduction of FY 2024 high-cost install and warranty assembly failures(Top X).
• Travels to customer ion implantation fab locations to audit installation process (Tier 0-2), documenting product quality issues found, implementing process improvements, and reducing workmanship inconsistencies
• Lead 8D projects to determine root cause for repeating failure mechanisms of high value assemblies failing at customer ion implantation fab locations
• Bridge gap between customer reporting and supplier preventative/corrective action implementation
• Develop methods and parameters for analyzing and testing assemblies when failing
• Manage global purges process of all global stock locations for our business unit, creating purge criteria, containment actions, and corrective action for quality driven initiatives

*Created all training material, templates, and process documentation to emulate the process for future use

• Collaborate with suppliers, reliability engineers, and supplier quality engineers to critique functional and electrical tests, as well as packaging criteria
• Coordinate with supply chain, design engineers, and third tier vendors to initiate gross margin initiatives for material cost reduction.

• Perform Gross Margin, First pass yield, and 8D projects required to support and improve new and existing products
• Executed the transition from old to new supplier for ion implanter frame and harnessing to increase build quality while reducing high cost and rework hours: performing first article inspection audits, collaborating with supplier technicians and AMAT technicians to properly document new build process. -Second frame received after co-build was “nearly perfect” as quoted by upper management
• Led and published software automation project that eliminated daily waste of 2 labor hours for Manufacturing Engineering that would typically be spent manually uploading work/build order numbers into the build log. The project was proposed with financial impact statements, growth assessment presented, and cross functional team was created after the project was approved. Worked with back end software engineering to create automation criteria and it was finalized to integrate the software into existing work instruction and build log tracker (iOMS).

*Project cost saving for the company = $13,000 per quarter, including overhead but excluding opportunity cost.

• Establish new suppliers and perform First Article Inspections
• Collaborating with Supply Chain and Quality Department to track manufacturing build quality
• Determine root cause analysis for issues that arise during assembly and/or test of systems; drives correction actions; provides failure analysis report as required
• Design and implement the use of new vacuum test stand fixtures for various assemblies to be tested for functionality under vacuum pressure
• Lead 8D improvements for sensitive electronic assemblies that play a pivotal role in the functionality of ion implanters
• Conduct control builds to estimate manufacturing cost, standard labor hours, and make recommendations for tooling, process requirements, and logistic changes for duration of the implanter build. Design improvements were performed using DFx principles to drive cost changes.

• Update M&ST Quality team of ongoing production scrap, including the femoral casting product that we fabricated and specialized in; Developed and used Excel Macros to report waste and defects
• Conducted 8D root cause investigations for eliminating root cause of defects. Formed a team and utilized operator/technician interviews and fish bone diagrams as pivotal tools for the investigation to understand undocumented factors creating defects
• Utilized a blue light scanner to confirm the origin of non-conformity: compared actual dimensions of the casting between each process step, against the 3D model to see dimensional high and low spots
• Implement work instructions (JBS) and train operators to prevent over-grinding on prosthetics

-Reduced Product Production defects by 25.45%

• Perform Dimensional Capability Analysis for protective caps on a machined surface that revealed a large percentage of machined surface protective caps being out of specification for critical features

-Reduced Product Production defects by 12.10%

• Organization of raw material stock, finding new distributor for repurposing material.

• Routinely analyze aerospace casting defects and collaborate with the quality department to improve processes to lower scrap rate
• Utilize SolidWorks to design a wax injection Testing Die used to calibrate injection molding machine parameters
• Measure in-house particle size of casting sands and create SPC chart to convey the difference in grain size received contrasted to distributor specification to investigate root cause of casting defects
• Used Minitab CPK/PPK Capability Analysis to determine that material received deviated from specification, which created defects in our process
• Design/Implement custom foam setters for wax parts to prevent deformation derived from sag and shrink while the parts cool after injection molding
• Evaluated labor hours lost and material lost due to misplaced tools and implemented RFID equipped Snap-On toolboxes into the post process department to maintain traceability of expensive fixtures
• Assisted in future state projects: Automating the shell room (dip and dry process for casting), including the selection of dipping robots, and removed injection dies from the facility and organized into off site storage locations for future state projects

-Redesigned the layout of the wax injection room and die storage space of the facility using AutoCad

• Design and 3D print drying fixtures for assemblies to decrease handling time between coats of slurry; Cycle time reduction.
• Liaised with internal teams to complete design, production, research, process flows and documentation.