Jevgenijs Kitajevs

Experience

• 

  SIA “Latuss Sardze” (SIA - Society with limited liability)

  Jun 2007 - Aug 2007

  Assembler

  SIA "Latuss Sardze"Worked in a team with assemblers and were responsible for installing alarm systems. Developed team working skills and the ability to work under pressure following instructions, which were given by supervisor in order of meeting tight deadlines.

• 

  Marton’s Inns and Taverns.

  Jul 2010 - Nov 2010

  Sales + Service

  Bar “Pitcher and Piano.”In cooperation with other bar staff provided customer service to the nightclub customers.This work strengthened my communication skills in very busy environments. As well as, gained experience in doing hard work during night shifts.

• 

  Tata Steel Europe

  Jul 2011 - Jun 2012

  Industrial placement

  Processing Optimisation department:• Halo Project – Halo type defects elimination on steel strips:Using invented cross analysis method determined causes of the halo type defect formation and solved the reasons of t halo formation using an experimental approach.Assessment & Compliance department:• Triangle project – “Triangle” Business Management System (BMS) performance review and its performance improvement:Through the analysis of BMS survey results and conducted interviews of BMS managers in 18 departments identified 4 major problems with the system. Resolved those problems on time by planned restructuration of Triangle BMS which passed an external audit. Successfully proposed further improvement actions for Triangle BMS restructuring to top management team.• “CE marking” project – preparation of Initial Type Testing (ITT) report for CE standard accreditation:During initial meeting convinced team members to accept the majority of my proposals for working on ITT. Despite the lack of time and numerous problems during ITT preparation, the project was accomplished on time, and it successfully passed an external audit. • Steel Normalising project – root causes identification of previous steel normalising trials failures and evaluation of possible solutions:At my initiative, identified the causes of steel normalising failures by using Failure Mode Effect Analysis, which used analysed data acquired from key testing engineers. Then, in collaboration with some members of the project team, produced new work procedures for future steel normalising trials and convinced the project leader to take those procedures into account. Show less

• 

  Decathlon UK

  Jul 2013 - Oct 2013

  Sales

  Convinced our customers to choose appropriate products based on their needs and sold those goods, and dealt with all required paperwork. In cooperation with team members, in planned manner, assembled bikes before a sale and repaired bikes for our customers.

• 

  The University of Manchester

  Oct 2014 - Jun 2017

  In communication with lecturers organised and planned laboratories (e.g. ceramic processing lab) and tutorials (e.g. crystallography tutorial) for undergraduate students. Helped (e.g. giving hints, asking suggestive questions) students to understand or explained to them specific scientific concepts. During labs, was responsible for the safety of up to 12 students and delegated tasks to up to 3 other teaching assistants. Attended workshops to learn in details how HardCat asset management system works. Under the direction of Decant manager was stocktaking School of Materials assets using HardCat asset management system and have done that in planned, timely and safe manner. Created and optimised School of Materials HardCat asset database.

  • Teaching Assistant

    Nov 2014 - Jun 2017

  • Decant assistant

    Oct 2014 - May 2015
• 

  Jaguar Land Rover

  Sept 2017 - Oct 2019

  With teams of volunteers, 3 to 12 members per team, consolidated technical and strategy information into presentation decks on a range of topics received from Product Engineering (PE) Director, and his 1st line. During each project was responsible for:• Project scoping & its advertisement to JLR graduates to enlist them to a project team.• Project team forming with project leader nomination, if project leader wasn’t me.• Creation of project plan and st oryline structure. Division of R&R among team members. Topic research through academic means, or by speaking to JLR technical experts.• Chairing team meetings, where project progress & future steps were reviewed.• Presentation compilation & polishing for senior management from content prepared by the team members along agreed storyline prior to its submission.• Deck presentation to director of high impact work, like the ones listed below.Examples of high impact project worked on (some decks can be provided as example of work):• (08.2018 – 02.2019) Blockchain technology & Distributed ledger – Analysed the technology, condensed the key information and created an introductory deck for senior management. Also suggested some key areas where this novel distributed database technology can be used by JLR. This deck was widely used by JLR for teaching purposes. • (12.2017 – 04.2018) Battery cost & complexity analysis – Analysed and compared the cost & complexity factors of battery cells & car Electrical Drive Units (EDUs). • (07.2018 – 03.2019) Battery assembly cost & complexity analysis – Analysed and compared the cost & complexity factors of electrical (BEV) car battery assembly system. Based on knowledge acquired, advised PE director to change, or scrap a selected BEV car program, which was done 1 year later. This work was highly acclaimed by Electrification director and CEO. Show less With 4 co-leads improved Graduate experience in JLR through collaboration with HR leading to update of Apprentice & Graduate handbook and creation of Apprentice & Graduate web-portal. Also, recruited 293 graduates to sign up for AGF projects during share fairs. Supported and coached (e.g. help with recruitment, resources, marketing within JLR) 4 of the following AGF projects & 3 project leaders / workstreams - INSPIRE magazine; Wellbeing project; OFYF 2019 conference; Engineering podcast. Final result all this work, where I coached 4 project leaders & interfaced 3 more project leaders, collaborated with 4 AGF co-leaders and HR stuff, was better onboarding process for 2019 graduate & apprentice intake and ensured successful functioning of all projects handed over to by previous AGF leaders. Show less Project worked on:• Evaluation of root causes of stamping issues in production – JLR experienced multiple issues with stamping of AC 600 sheet aluminum causing production delays. T&PPG MQA team was looking into those issues. Supported the team by historical cross-analysis of supplied AC 600 sheet Aluminum’s Rp0.2 and Rm, both pre-level and post level values, and graphical representation of analysis results vs historical time. In combination of material testing and press trials the data analysis has proven that AC 600’s properties were changing over time pointing towards quality control issues of JLR’s supplier. This enabled JLR to get rebates from our supplier. Show less Project worked on:• Design feasibility and unification – As part of continuous complexity reduction and cost save exercise through enablement of economies of scale, led design simplification of two forgings and their design unification across multiple car lines.After reviewing the design of similar parts, created the list of cross car line requirements and then assessed those parts against them, identifying shortcomings of the design in terms of torque relaxation and heat affected zone analysis. After numerous consultations with part owners and subject-matter experts in torque relaxation and welding areas, modified the design of both parts in CAD CATIA V5 to allow their use across car line. My optimized design was verified by simulating parts behaviour model in CAE. The optimized design allowed JLR to reduce number of parts used from 4 to 2 enabling saving of £75,000. The design helped to identify and solve the issue with sustained torque relaxation in heat affected zones that otherwise could have led to failure of parts in service Show less Project worked on:• Raw material sourcing for new Defender’s Body-in-White (BiW) – As part of procurement process, led the preparation of RFQ pack for material sourcing for Defender BiW from various suppliers. Ensured 100% correctness of data in Defender’s BiW part tracker through collaboration with body program & core engineering and manufacturing engineering. As well as, by thorough cross-checking of BiW tracker with part lists from other engineering teams and suppliers. After correcting discrepancies in data, issued RFQs to various suppliers that allowing to pass sourcing gateway on time saving program from delays.. Saved JLR from possible increased material cost, if all errors were not corrected later, caused by unidentified approximately 1.5% of errors in materials tracker. Show less Project worked on:• Ultra-high strength steel pre-development – as part of continuous light weighting trend in automotive industry tasked with researching the opportunity to introduce ultra-high strength steel(s) to JLR. After consultations with JLR’s steel suppliers and conducting data analysis, held numerous discussions with material’s department internal customers assessing the benefits and risks of introducing higher strength steel to new JLR car models. Assessed project risks through SWOT analysis following by creation of business case for the project. Successfully alignment all key stakeholder and passed their reviews, as well as senior management review by 1 month ahead of schedule which aided towards faster project progression.This helped JLR progress ultra-high strength steel pre-development project further and ahead of the schedule. • New Al alloys pre-development – supported Dr. David Carrick in his pre-development project of introducing new Al alloys to JLR that offer better stamping processing & expanded design windows promising better material utilization and further car light weighting opportunities. Through academic paper analysis found out that these alloys don’t convey any production / maintenance / corrosion problems (i.e. no issues with alloying element diffusion across multi alloyed material boundaries) for JLR and conveyed that information to Dr .David C. helping him to progress the project further by around 10% faster. Show less

  • Leader of Our Future Your Future (OFYF) 2019 conference organisation commission

    Apr 2019 - Oct 2019

  • Leader of Engineering Leadership Briefings

    Oct 2017 - Aug 2019

  • Apprentice & Graduate Forum (AGF) Co-Leader

    Jul 2018 - Jul 2019

  • Materials Graduate Engineer (Placement in Tooling & Press Parts Group MQA)

    Aug 2018 - Sept 2018

  • Materials Graduate Engineer (Placement in Body Structures)

    Apr 2018 - Aug 2018

  • OFYF 2018 (internal tech. conference) Fact-Holder

    Jan 2018 - Jun 2018

  • Materials Graduate Engineer (Placement in Global Product Sourcing)

    Jan 2018 - Apr 2018

  • Materials Graduate Engineer (Placement in Body-in-White Materials & Corrosion)

    Sept 2017 - Dec 2017