Christopher Kerns

Experience

• 

  US Army

  Jan 2000 - Jan 2006

  UH-60 Crewchief

  UH-60 Helicopter Repairer, Crew-chief, Doorgunner, Flight Instructor, Squad Leader, and Paratrooper

• 

  GE Aerospace

  Nov 2005 - now

  -Materials Leader for CFM LEAP Engine assembly for the GE Aerospace Durham assembly site. Responsible for on-time delivery, inventory reduction, material and manpower scheduling. -Managed during a period of growth that saw output double.-Managed, at shop level, a separate campaign to process engines returned from customers for retrofit after quality escapes-Collaborated daily with other cross functional representatives companywide, including senior executives, to meet production goals, solve problems, and to build continuous improvement-Tasked with helping coach 9 production teams (total of ~180 technicians), as well as the broader facility team to meet core operating priorities: EHS, Quality, Delivery, Cash, Cost and Culture-Functional leader supporting the GE Aerospace Lean transformation, using tools such as Kaizen, and establishing a pull system with warehouse operations to improve part and data flow. Show less PROCESS AND QUALITY ENGINEERING-New Product Introduction for the CFM LEAP engine for GE Aerospace at assembly as well as follow on performance improvement programs-Collaborated with design engineering to maximize producibility and cost reduction of the LEAP engine prior to going into production and after -T64 ERIP program supporting GE Lynn and FRCE at MCAS Cherry Point -First Article Inspection-Production floor layout for full LEAP Engine Assembly at Durham site-Project management experience-Provided Technical expertise in Assembly, Balance, Grind operations including setup, maintenance, calibration, troubleshooting and training-Technical Writing from scratch using assembly drawings and best practices taking Human Error Reduction into account to improve first time yield -Preliminary Review Certified for evaluating and managing nonconforming hardware-Root cause analysis and corrective action to reduce escapes to customerAIRCRAFT ENGINE ASSEMBLY-17 years of experience, many as a team lead, in all aspects of assembling GE and CFM aircraft engines, including LEAP, CFM, GENX, CF34-10 Show less

  • Supplier Quality Engineer

    Jul 2023 - now

  • Lead Manufacturing Specialist - Material Plan and Execution

    Nov 2021 - Jul 2023

  • Assembly and Test Technician

    Nov 2005 - Nov 2021