Expertise

• Glass expert for glass manufacturing technology: Flat glass, fiber glass and specialty glass, such as high index of refraction glass.
• Glass fractology and glass forensic engineering.
• Development and manufacture of specialty glass products including glass microspheres for electronics manufacturing, medical applications, and reflective safety products, including high index of refraction glass beads.
• Oxy-fuel combustion systems for glass melting.
• Turn-key glass plant design, construction and start-up.
• Forensic engineering/glass expert witness for glass and ceramic failure mechanisms.
• Advanced furnace design for glass melting and annealing.
• Combustion system design and engineering, including expert for advanced oxy-fuel combustion systems.
• Glass compositional development, particularly for fiber glass and glass/ceramic beads.
• Glass manufacturing field service and hands-on process optimization.
• Continuous quality improvement in glass manufacturing through statistical process analysis.

Experience

Project Manager and Consultant 2006 - Present

• Special burner designs for oxy-fuel combustion system.
• Glass expert witness for litigation matters: Glass failure analysis, glass handling, glass manufacturing engineering and specialty glass technology.
• Responsible for research and development, business management, project engineering, sales and marketing for an international engineering company specializing in turnkey glass manufacturing facility design and construction.
• Design and construct combustion systems, control technology, glass forming equipment, and sensors.
• Manage capital projects exceeding 200 million dollars.
• Supervise international work force consisting of consultants, engineers, managers and professional staff as well was hourly work force.
• Work with vendors and subcontractors and manage flow of project capital and material.

Manufacturing Process Consultant 1996 - 2005

• Served as glass expert and technical consultant to University of Missouri.
• Designed, constructed, and operated a pilot-scale continuous glass melting furnace to test advanced materials for glass manufacturing.
• Designed advanced sensors and combustion equipment for a research program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
• Provided technical design and consulting services to major glass companies in the U.S. and abroad.
• Designed turn-key glass factory in Brunei to manufacture glass micro-spheres for reflective safety products.
• Glass expert witness for glass handling, glass product liability due to breakage, and glass and brittle material failure analysis.
• Performed fractology examinations to determine cause and origin of fractures.
• Over fifty active litigation cases with equal proportion of defense and plaintiff case work.

Plant Engineer, Flex-O-Lite, Inc., Paris, TX 1998 - 1999

• Manage operations, production, and maintenance for a 100,000 square foot production facility producing glass micro-spheres.
• Designed new furnace and combustion systems to improve efficiency and increase production over 50%.
• Implemented oxygen combustion system to reduce NOx emissions and increase throughput. Reduced total production cost by 15% by streamlining manufacturing without adding any new equipment.
• Developed new glass compositions and increased quality of all major products.

Senior Engineer, MO-SCI Corporation, Rolla, MO 1996 - 1998

• Manage production and research for a specialty glass company producing glass products for the defense and aerospace industries, bio-medical implants and devices, nuclear research, advanced electronics, and reflective safety products.
• Worked on production of TherasphereTM irradiated glass microspheres for treatment of liver cancer.
• Led design team to test feasibility of glass microspheres for explosive identification in cooperation with U.S. federal law enforcement.

Production Engineer, PPG Industries, Meadville, PA 1994 - 1995

• Manage batch house operations producing over 2 million pounds of mixed batch per day.
• Maintain raw material inventories and coordinate product changes to produce five different flat glass compositions for automotive glass applications.
• Responsible for special projects including test runs of new compositions.
• Furnace maintenance and tin bath operations support including emergency procedures and safety and ergonomic assessments.

Combustion Engineer, Combustion Tee, Apopka, FL 1992 - 1994

• Managed research and development and designed new burners and combustion systems for advanced glass melting and furnace control.
• Lead engineer for oxygen-enriched air staging system to reduce NOx emissions from glass furnaces. (Now a widely used technology.)
• Designed "Cleanfire" oxygen/gas and oxygen/oil burners that became an industry standard in the 1990's.
• Provided capital equipment proposals and global customer technical support.
• Performed field service and technical troubleshooting to customers in all segments of glass manufacturing (flat glass, lighting products, containers, fiberglass, specialty and TV glass.)

Technical Development Engineer, AFG Industries, Victorville, CA 1991 - 1992

• Managed plant technical development to test and implement new production equipment and control strategies.
• Supervised QA lab and provided daily quality control reports to senior management.
• Performed daily analysis to determine cause and origin of glass defects.

Honors & Publications

• Member, American Ceramic Society
• Research Staff Consultant, Department of Ceramic Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla, 1996 - 2001.
• Staff Technical Consultant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, 2001 - 2002

Education

BS, Ceramic Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla