Work Experience
Owner’s Engineer, Startup Coordinator, MWH Americas Aug 2012 – present
Construction of new hydroelectric plant for AMP in Smithland, KY
Project/contract administration/oversight for mechanical, electrical and turbine/generator equipment and systems.
Owner’s Engineer, Startup Leader, Hemlock-Semiconductor Aug 2010 – Jul 2012
Construction of a new polysilicon manufacturing plant in Clarksville, TN
Led a commissioning/startup team including engineers, consultants and technicians. Coordinate with construction and site teams during construction completion. Manage turnover activities and startups. Represent site to verify correct & complete installation.
Engineering Manager, Saturn Machine, Sturgis, KY Mar 2010 – Jul 2010
Projects in coke oven industry, locomotive rebuilds, transfer machines, coke oven guides
Sr. Mechanical Engineer, Duke Energy, Union, KY Jul 2009 – Mar 2010
Project manager & lead engineer for several capital projects in a coal-fire utility power plant
Sr. Mechanical Engineer – Project Associates, Evansville, IN Apr 2007 – Jul 2009
Consulting engineer for several industrial clients such as aluminum and utility power plants, roles & responsibilities varied from project manager to lead engineer to ACAD designer
Sr. Mechanical Engineer – Alcoa, Warrick Operations, Newburgh, IN & Lebanon, PA
Aug 2000 – Apr 2007
Capital project manager & lead engineer for several plant upgrades & process improvements, hands-on project & process work from concept to completion, worked with many teams both inside & outside the company to develop solutions and execute them, lean manufacturing
Plant Engineer & Maint. Supervisor – Henry Molded Products, Lebanon, PA
Apr 1997 – Aug 2000
Managed design and install of new production line and process improvements, handled plant engineering and design issues, supervised plant maintenance team
Project Manager & Design Engineer – Merrill Air Engineers, South Portland, ME
May 1988 – Apr 1997, Turnkey projects, industrial ventilation & dryer projects in pulp & paper, molded pulp and trash-to-energy plants, many roles at a small company, everything from concept to completion including designs, equipment selection, ACAD drawings, supervising installations and executing startups
Maine PE – held from 1992 to 2001 when it expired
Education
Summa cum laude, UMaine, Orono, Maine, 1984-1988, BSME
Some Projects, Experiences and Key Words
✓ Hydroelectric Plant: Administer construction and startup of new hydroelectric plant, includes Voith turbine and generator equipment and balance-of-plant mechanical and electrical systems.
✓ Chemical plant: Startup of utility buildings at a multi-billion dollar new chemical/process site, includes steam boilers, cooling towers, chemical treatment, chilled water, HVAC, fire protection, safety showers, fire protection, building systems, etc.
✓ OEM manufacturer: Coke oven industry – loco rebuilds, transfer machines, coke oven guides, etc.
✓ Power plant: Projects included 2-2 BFP Outlet Valves, Ash Pond Pyrite System, SCR Dilution Air Coils, Front Wall Slope Tube Replacement, Baghouse Study reviews, Station Radio system, East Boiler House Drainage, 2-2 WS Strainer, Stormwater/oil separator, Cooling Tower replacements, etc.
✓ PAI: Projects at Alcoa, Alcan, Indianapolis Power & Light, RiverView Coal, Warrick Power Plant; project management, design, costs, manage designers, ACAD, etc
Coal conveyors & truss enclosure, mechanical components, drive, take-up, etc.
Ingot furnaces, design of tilting holder, flux rack, and move of 1 million lb assembled furnace to final location (outage critical path)
Cooling towers, estimates, design, rental towers, outage plan, process load study
Misc. – pallet clamp, feedwater piping, drum filter replacement, platforms, rotary furnace, etc.
✓ Alcoa, IN: Finishing Area project manager & mechanical engineer for capital projects.
CPL6 “Hotcool” Boxes – eliminated 90% of the oven drips on the sheet, oven process manager
CPL5 Scrap trim system – increased capacity and stopped scrap jams
Misc. projects – VOC removal system for coating storage, pack/ship stretch wrappers, Litho line placement, conveyor automation, coating oven studies/energy savings/venting upgrade, FISC system study, slitter baller safety, core handling and packaging, coil handling, etc.
✓ Alcoa, TN: Project manager & mechanical engineer for capital projects including a $6 million “super” slitter installation, plant boilers, machine guarding, fall protection, trim systems, coil handling, weekend maintenance supervisor, etc.
✓ Henry Molded Products: Handled all engineering and maintenance issues in the plant including production flow, machine layouts, utilities, warehousing, material handling, etc. Designed and installed a major production line addition which included stock preparation systems, electrical substation, pulp molding machine, tunnel dryer, process systems, etc.
✓ Project engineer & manager at Merrill Air: Provided turnkey industrial ventilation and oven/dryer projects for the paper industry and molded pulp industry. Responsible for all aspects of the projects including concept designs, proposals, cost estimates, PO’s & invoices, detailed design, ACAD drafting, installation supervision & start-up.
Single point-of-contact for client and teams, clear communication, timely decision making with team buy-in, provide clear scope and objectives for the team, lead effective meetings, multi-discipline coordination, contractor management, operational interfaces
Interface with project controls to provide clear & achievable benchmarks for cost & schedule
Work with vendors and procurement to coordinate bidding, purchase, testing, delivery, startup of materials and equipment
Present projects to management, simplify complex issues, develop cost comparisons, help the team see reality and make decisions, commissioning and startup, FEED, gated process, Hazop, risk assessment, lean, six sigma, process engineer, constructability review, management of change, P&ID, PFD, FAT, NCR, RFI, HSE, field verification, define turnover process and system sequence, develop commissioning procedures and staffing plans
Engineering manager – contract & in-house, facility layout – site & production equipment
Design, specify & size equipment & systems, concept, preliminary and detail design
Propose energy savings, analyze system solutions, lead team discussions, get buy-in
Develop concept solution, write proposal, manage design, perform drafting – on boards and ACAD, select equipment, select contractor, oversee fabrication, installation & startup
Startup lead, project manager, project engineer, lead mechanical engineer, process engineer, plant engineer, design team leader, ACAD designer, drawing checker, maintenance supervisor, cost estimator
Projects & experiences
Hydroelectric turbine and generator, specialty chemicals, green site, brown site, utility power plants, steel industry coke ovens, aluminum industry, consulting engineer, pulp and paper, molded pulp, trash to energy, coal prep conveyors, pollution control systems
Utility & building systems – steam, condensate, boilers, reverse-osmosis, chemical treatment, cooling towers, service water, HVAC, chillers, instrument air, fire protection, safety showers, life safety, air make-up, ventilation
Coke oven locomotives, transfer cars, door machines, seals
Boiler feedwater pump outlet valve replacement, ash pond pyrite system, SCR dilution air coils, front wall slope boiler tube replacement, pollution control baghouse study, station radio system, intake water strainer replacement, stormwater/oil separator install, cooling tower equipment replacements
Coal belt conveyors, truss enclosure, drive, take-up, pulleys, tilting ingot furnace, flux rack, move 1 million lb. assembled furnace, cooling towers, estimates, design, rental towers, outage plan, process load study, pallet clamp, slurry pipe, feedwater piping, drum filter replacement, platforms, rotary furnace
Oven explosion venting, rework oven for wax melt process, hotcool boxes to stop oven drips, oven process manager, scrap trim system for increased capacity, VOC removal system for coating storage, pack/ship stretch wrappers, Litho line placement, conveyor automation, coating oven studies, FISC system study, slitter baller safety, core handling and packaging, coil handling conveyors, plant boilers, machine guarding, fall protection, aluminum & paper trim systems
Molded pulp production line addition with stock preparation systems, electrical substation, pulp molding machine, tunnel dryer, and process control systems
Molded pulp product tunnel dryers, paper machine hoods. Fourdrinier exhaust systems, ceiling sweep ventilation, dust collection, odor control, pneumatic product conveying, waste trim conveying, turnkey solutions
Equipment & key words
I’ve worked with a wide variety of systems and equipment over my career. Typically they were custom, industrial systems for 24 hr/day operations. Here are some key words:
team, manager, concept, preliminary, detailed, turnkey, engineer, procure, construct, mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, chemical addition, pollution control, process, site, construction, fabrication, commissioning, startup, consulting, contractor, project, FEED, management of change, risk assessment, building codes, ASME, ANSI, NFPA, API, permits, ACAD, computer proficient, effective communication, clear scopes, schedules, project controls, budget, capital approval, PID, PFD, FAT, RFI, NCR, discrepancy log, inspection, trust but verify, interface, operations, maintenance, turnover, inter-disciplinary coordination, solution, manage project, team lead, manage design, manage contractors, manage construction, manage startup, workflows and processes, site coordination, storage sphere, distillation tower, pressure vessel, pressure relief, stress analysis, process safety, equipment, piping, pipe rack, above ground piping, underground piping, fire water, sprinklers, boiler, compressor, pump, manual valve, actuator, fan, blower, vacuum pump, pulverizer, power plant, steam distribution, condensate return, steam coil, oven, air make-up unit, pipe sizing, condensate pump, flash vessel, steam trap, burner and combustion system, gas fired, coal fired, packaged boiler, FD fan, ID fan, economizer, heat exchanger, flue gas recirculation, SCR, FGD, electrostatic precipitator, fly ash, bottom ash, ash handling, flow accelerated corrosion, aluminum slitter, soil borings, complex foundations, spread footer, piers, concrete, rebar, sole plate, caisson, pile, structural steel, equipment frame, roof curb, coal conveyor, platform, feed water piping, ash hopper, cooling towers, furnace, drum filter, slurry pipe, dewatering, insulation and jacketing, corrosion under insulation, storm water drainage, intake water system, strainer, servo hydraulics, air make-up (steam, hot water, glycol, gas, electric, thermal oil), dust collection, mill ventilation, humidity and odor control systems, conveyor, scrap conveying system, dryer hood, material handling, tunnel dryer, molding machine, pulping process, level control, electrical substation, combustion system, slitting line, coating line, incinerator, solvent and water based coating ovens, time studies, aluminum furnace, cooling tower, belt conveyor, ergonomics, machine guarding, core cutting, instrument air, compressed air, service water, VOC removal, hot water heating, fire protection, distributed control, PLC control, MCC, MVC, profibus, device net, local disconnect, lock out and tag out, lighting panel, instrument panel, NEMA motor & enclosure ratings, safety, machine guarding, ergonomic issues, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, kaizen, visual factory, 5S, autonomation, SMED, WIP, building codes, certificate of occupancy, rough-in inspections, final inspections, city water, chlorine and coliform testing, safety shower station, fire alarm system, duct and building smoke detector, emergency lighting, potable water, backflow preventer, flow meter, three phase power, safety signs, E-stop, fire extinguisher, respirator, burner, fan, ductwork, damper, louver, actuator, electric heater, coil, heat exchanger, chiller, condenser, HVAC, conveyor, instrumentation, smart transmitter, wireless transmitter, pressure switch and transmitter, thermocouple, RTD, servo drive, HMI, vacuum pump, mold, motion control, drive, pump, piping, tubing, platform, foundation, insulation, refractory, insulated panel, crane, manipulator, stretch wrapper, scrap chopper, scrap baller, cyclone, air slide, baghouse, cartridge collector, scrubber, hydraulic equipment, pneumatic equipment, process control, correlation study, prototype, lab scale trial, small scale trial, slipstream trial, batch process, continuous process, people paced, equipment paced, industrial ventilation, turnkey system
