Portfolio Samples

Amish to Additive Manufacturing

Another lifetime ago, I was learning carpentry from an Amish master carpenter.

The Amish are famous for not using technology, but their wood working is among the best that has ever been. A lot of times they use wood instead of nails for instance, because over time the wooden fastener will swell and subside like the rest of the wood keeping everything tighter for much longer.

You can even use different wood for your fasteners in order to change the timing of change in the fastener vs. the main structure.

Fast forward quite some time, I apply this knowledge to design a new business revenue stream AND allow for much improved customer support.

The parts we sold could be up to TENS of meters long, much too long for 3D printing or "additive manufacturing" to be able to handle. (Unless you are reading this in the future, in which - "Good on you!")

Applying those same lessons in wood joinery from long ago, we were able to "Legolize" the very large parts into segmented but 'printable' part sizes which would be assembled into the very parts by assembling the joints.

This also enabled very remote customers to get faster reliable support as well as making us much more competitive in high tariff markets.

This even enabled a digital library subscription revenue stream in addition to revenue for each part 'printed'.

This application of knowledge from diverse fields is one of my most favored skills.

Intellectual Property protection using Blockchain technology

In a global corporation, there are many people innovating and inventing, and the fact that legal protections are not coordinated between the countries, using the Copyright process in some countries does not necessarily allow proper protections.

At the request of the legal division and in collaboration between the Legal, R&D and operations groups we developed a process of creating public records, recorded on multiple Blockchains, that allowed incontrovertible proof in courtrooms of the date of creation, prior to submittal for copyright protections in the countries that offer those protections.

Documents are created internally with major versions of software for instance by the R&D group. They send a copy over to the Legal group who keeps a reference copy. They also create a hash and submit it to multiple public blockchains. Then using the verified timestamps of each blockchain, stored with the original document, have everything needed to prove the date and time and contents of the document without releasing anything other than the hash.

Digital Safety Check - Step 1

The field technicians worked in extremely hot (average of 120 degrees F,) engine rooms and sometimes with very little sleep, water, or possibly airflow if inside the engines.

Acknowledging the mentality of people to push through physical discomfort and ignore or be unaware of the signals of the body, we looked for an objective manner to assist in ensuring the safety of our people. And thereby less rework, less preventable mistakes.

One of the solutions (Step 1) was to use Apple watches or Fitbits that would set off an alert when the heart rate went too high. A later version of the solution (Step 2) would use a safety boot form factor (http://www.solepowertech.com/,) which included self-powering by walking and added sensors. This was waiting for the final product from a vendor currently in field trials with the military and potential customers.

We had to try to find a reliable indicator of distress for dehydration, heat stroke/heat exhaustion, low blood oxygen levels, and fatigue.

Among the constraints were:

not allowed to be on hands - fingers/thumbs
not allowed to be around chest/waist
not allowed to be on back (backpack)
must be waterproof due to sweating
must be able to work without connectivity, even to a phone
must be secure and ensure privacy

It was determined that the heart rate was one of the easiest indicators of these conditions while also being able to be customized to the individual. Allowing instant alerts of sustained upper range heart rates would allow for mandatory hydration and cooling off breaks based on the individual's physical needs. This could be measured from a watch type device without impacting any off limits 'real estate' on the body.

These would be supported by management, and allow for re-negotiation with customers related to providing safe drinking water & sleeping arrangements for field technicians.

(Example test done with Apple watch)

48 year old, Apple Watch, Pulse oximeter, thermometers.

Official temperature / Feels Like temperature : 91 / feels like 102 with humidity (32.8C / Feels like 38.9C)

At 9:18 am we started working on the roof, we stopped working at 11:24

Within 30 minutes on the asphalt roof a thermometer read 140 degrees F (60degrees C)

At 9:18 we got on the roof and my starting heart rate was my standard 74 beats per minute. It should be noted that due to outside factors, my blood oxygen level was at 90 (which is LOW).

15 - 9.07 KG weights were being carried up a ladder and placed across the roof in various spots.

10 - 14.51KG weights were also carried by me to various spots around the roof.

I also had to get under the tarp which was significantly stifling and lift the weight of the water on top the tarp off. This was about a 20 minute operation. By the end of this stage, my heart rate was 160 beats per minute, I was sweating profusely and was starting to feel light-headed.

(Roughly 10:30 am at this point)

I sat for five minutes on the roof and my heart rate slowed to 127 beats per minute, but I was still breathing fast and shallow.

Resumed working and from this point to me stopping at 11:24 my average heart rate was 177 with a top rate of 185 beats per minute.

During this time I continued to get shakier, I could not easily recall facts which I have known for years, my vision was pulsing with my heartbeats, and I felt very dizzy. In order to duplicate the current working conditions our engineers are placed in I continued to push through and continue working with only a five minute break to consume 6 oz (.18 liters of water) before continuing for the rest of the hour.

During this five minute break (at 10:57, I sat in the shade under the roof and immediately noticed that I was “cold” and had goosebumps on my arms. This is very unusual for me, especially as I don’t get goosebumps IN FINLAND during the WINTER without a jacket on!

At this point my heart rate had gone down to 145 beats per minute – 5 minutes rest in shade.

After this five minutes of rest I went back to work and carried more weights onto the roof and continued pushing myself. At no time during this had I stopped sweating.

However I was visibly shaking in my extremities and was having severe vision issues. (dimness/tunnel vision) To counter-act this I took extra precautions of moving extra slowly, always with two hands doing whatever I was doing and staying sitting or as low as possible. During this time a throbbing headache began.

When I came down off the ladder at 11:24 my heart rate was 184 beats per minute. Against conventional medical wisdom and advice I stripped down and jumped into my pool which is at 30 degrees C (86F). I ensured I scrubbed the top of my head, the back of my neck, under my arms, my groin area and behind my knees while underwater to try and rapidly lower my internal temperature. I stayed in the pool less than three minutes and was trembling with “cold” when I stumbled out of it.

I immediately went inside to the air conditioning (set at 76 F / 24.4C) and lay down on the floor with my legs elevated to ensure extra blood flow to my head until the throbbing and dizziness subsided. I sipped approx. 1 liter of Gatorade while laying like this. After 15 minutes laying like this I ‘felt’ good enough to slowly walk to our bathroom where I got in the shower and using a wash cloth and rubbing alcohol continued to wipe the back of my neck, under my arms, my torso sides, behind my knees and groin areas. This is a first aid technique which simulates extremely fast (sweating) evaporative cooling to assist in lowering core body temperature.

It is currently 13:10, my vision feels normal, my heart rate is 102 (high for me, normal resting is high 60s, low 70s) and my blood oxygen level is 98. I have been sitting since 12:11 resting and trying to recover.

The Apple watch DID alert me every time my heart rate went over 180. I simply chose to ignore it as a normal engineer without this feedback would do.

Thus ends the sample test.

Stored only locally versus stored on shared drive

Promotion (Trade Promotions) Planning Quick Win

Today many global CPG firms still have their account managers plan and manage promotions using spreadsheets locally on their laptop.

They do this because, firstly the ease of using Excel and local files allows them to work with retail partners anywhere with skills they already have. Secondly there is very little Change Management needed.

However, it makes it difficult (and time-consuming) to get a corporate or holistic overview of the total efforts and plans for trade promotions.

A quick win successfully implemented was to shift the local usage of spreadsheets to a folder synchronized with a secure cloud storage solution such as SharePoint (already owned and in use) to allow for a centralized location of ALL local spreadsheets.

This then enabled a quick implementation of a Machine Learning model to analyze and process all the global trade promotion plans while not changing the local behaviors of the account managers.

Allowing for a phased approach to implementing a global TPx approach while having the analysis TODAY instead of months down the road.

Leased laptops vs iPads with cell service

In 2011, we were trying to save money and I was asked to look at any way we could lower the cost of outfitting our sales and field technicians while at the same time increasing their ability to work.

The field technicians required more expensive laptops that had serial ports in order to interface with the equipment on the engines for diagnostics and configuration changes. In most countries around the world, these laptops were leased for a period of three years. In the US, tax laws made it advantageous to purchase and then replace the laptops every three years, usually selling them to employees after being securely erased.

One of the side problems was that field personnel didn't want to carry two laptops; the work one with limited permissions, and a personal one that they could entertain themselves with during down time. This was affecting morale more than anyone wanted to admit.

A solution was found that enabled them to be issued iPads with limited cellular service paid for by the company. Any overage charges were to be paid for by the employee, or they would have to show proof that it was work related.

This allowed employees to have games, movies, music and other apps for their entertainment and personal business, while at the same time providing a secure work enclave. It did require crafting a special cable for the 30-pin dock connector to serial port, allowing for interfacing to the engines.

When scaled up to the global workforce, significant upfront and yearly savings were realized.

There was also a marked increase in employee morale from those surveyed that the loadout was lighter but more reliable for all their needs, and not just those of the employer.

Small overview of pivot to enhance D2C offerings to consumers, lowering emissions - costs - and losses.

CPG Business Model Transition

Large CPG firms that sell almost everything you see in the grocery stores, spend up to 30% of their yearly budget on Trade Promotion activity - such as Buy One, Get One (BOGO), or coupons for an amount off, etc.

Looking at the history of trade promotions, this was caused by the retailers, such as your local grocery store (who often only make ~3% profit,) placing ads in the local papers and then charging the cost of that ad to the CPG firm that makes the ice cream or other product.

By utilizing:

The Internet, connectivity and web storefront
Smartphone apps, such as QR code reader
Existing infrastructure, logistics and warehousing specifically
Local job creation

The large CPG firms could pivot to include a higher D2C (Direct-to-consumer) business model cutting costs, lowering waste, increasing energy efficiency, lowering emissions, and actually increasing the amount of profit for retailers such as your grocery store.

Remote Monitoring via International Fax

In 1999 the Internet as we know it today did not exist. If you were in a remote area, satellite Internet was extremely expensive, (over $60/minute for a 33K dial-up modem speed at best,) and the reach of high-speed connections or cellular connection did not exist outside research labs designing the technology.

With the large diesel engines manufactured for power plant applications, there were roughly 3,000 parts in each engine, and could be up to 50 sensors per engine in addition to the sensors for the plant and the exhaust stack. All of these were monitored in real-time locally and had a local system for alerting the operators to any critical alerts. However, we wanted to operate these plants from afar for optimized running and support with minimal local support.

Each day at midnight the monitoring system would create a new text file with the sensor readings. These files would be up to 100+ MB in size, in a time when 3.5 inch floppy disks that held 1.44MB were in wide use.

One of the plants was a mine at the tip of Argentina, which was a full 10 hour day's drive from the nearest airfield which was several hours away from Buenos Aires. This was REMOTE! Dial-up modem connections would routinely crash and need to restart with another international call at very high cost. We were lucky to get 10K baud rates.

Remember we are working with Windows NT at the time here....

Using batch command files and PKZIP and an OCR program, a fax/modem at the plant, another fax/modem at our local Argentina office (About 12 hours travel away from the mine,) I designed a system that would take the text file from the previous 24 hour period, convert it to a new text file consisting of the binary content of the original text file, compress this new text file using PKZIP into a new binary text file, then dial up the Argentina modem and fax over this third text file. This was received digitally, and because faxes were more tolerant of line noise and needs to reconnect, we could operate on lines down to 300 baud.

Once this file was received, we ran this text file consisting of 1's and 0's through an OCR program and converted it to the zip file it originally was. This zip file was then transferred across the existing corporate network back to Annapolis, MD, USA where it was unzipped and converted back to the original text file with sensor readings.

We imported this file into our copy of the operator's system and could see up to midnight of the day before everything happening in the remote plant. This then allowed our experts to go over all the sensor readings and trends to see what could be changed onsite (via a quick phone call typically) to optimize the fuel consumption safely for the mine.

Sustainable e-Fuel production on a marine platform

There are many ports cities around the world which have a troubling pattern of high emissions impacting the quality of life of it's residents and also impacting the health of the local workers.

In an effort to both address the above issue and to lower costs/increase revenue streams, I led a team that designed a mobile platform solution which took advantage of the high humidity and high CO2 rates near ports to create a sustainable solution.

By tapping into the kinetic energy of a floating vessel with a permanent anchor point on the sea-bed floor and building on the research from ETH Zurich (ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2019/06/pr-solar-mini-refinery.html) we designed a method to re-use an older maritime platform and allow for the creation of synthetic fuels, (also called "e-Fuels"), which depending on the owner of the vessel would either allow the port to create a new revenue stream or a corporation to lower costs.

All while lowering the particulate emissions in the surrounding region's air quality.

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