Jerome Latchana

Experience

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  Ontario Public Service

  Jun 2003 - Aug 2008

  Junior Data Analyst (Summer Intern)

  • Assisted in the development of a Web Enabled Reporting System that Family Health Teams use to track expenditures. • Developed business requirements documentation and presented business cases to providers.• Provided analytical support to system developers and conducted project risk analysis of mitigation strategies.• Developed Microsoft Excel cost models and benchmarks to assist in evaluation of projects and initiatives.

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  General Motors

  May 2007 - Aug 2007

  Manufacturing Supervisor, Co-op

  • Ensured streamlined operation of an assembly section by addressing and resolving quality, throughput and safety issues. Managed 60 unionized employees and handled disputes as well as interpersonal problems.• Oversaw redesign and retooling of equipment for the GMT-900 platform model year change and hybrid model.• Improved production rates, reduced safety incidents and scrap costs through Practical Problem Solving solution models, standardized work and people involvement over the term length. Show less

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  General Motors

  Sept 2008 - Sept 2009

  Mechanical Engineering Intern

  • Subject matter expert for hydrogen fuel cell initiative. Managed and supported daily operations, implemented PM schedule, responded to downtime, oversaw engineering re-works and determined viability of fuel cells.• Managed implementation, rework and throughput of material delivery production processes. Created database of spare parts lists, developed PM schedules, coordinated work for skilled trades, and engineered and implemented solutions to various safety and throughput issues that were adapted by other North American plants.• Designed a hitch mechanism for material delivery tractors. Created parts in AutoCAD, performed stress, strain, bending and weld strength calculations, and conducted prototype fabrication and testing with CNC machines in GM's machine shop.• Attended daily safety and throughput meetings to discuss work initiatives and resolve issues from all plant departments. Show less

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  University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)

  Sept 2009 - May 2010

  EcoCar Engineer-in-Training: Powertrain and Chassis

  • Collaborated with Automakers and the Government to design and convert a Two-Mode Hybrid Saturn Vue into a fully electric vehicle to compete with Universities across North America and achieve more fuel efficient vehicles.• Designed CAD and managed fabrication of half shafts, motor mounts and Traction Inverter Module brackets. Applied Finite Element Analysis to newly designed half shafts, differential case and custom fabricated motor mounts.• Prepared a detailed Engineering Progress Analysis Report for EcoCAR leaders and sponsors and participated in vehicle testing. Show less

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  General Motors

  May 2010 - May 2014

  • Performed competitive vehicle assessment by conducting a variety of simulated real world based automotive test procedures related to vehicle development in HVAC, Powertrain, Chassis, Electrical and Body systems using a climatic wind tunnel, 4-post and multi-axis shaker platform, dynamometer, and cold cell chambers. Concurrently tested and led failure analysis of multiple prototype vehicle platforms of all fidelity in real world tests on a variety of test tracks.• Installed and configured of monitored channels though Ipetroniks and ETAS data acquisition that included temperature, flow, pressure and frequency data. Created high speed auxiliary CAN databases integrating auxiliary DBC channels with vehicle OBD-II channels in Intrepid Vehicle Spy. Also used Vehicle Spy to backwards engineer bus transmitted message ID’s to capture CAN and Flexray data above J-1979 spec including aero-shutter operation, individual wheel speed sensor and a variety of other transmitted message data. Analyzed data post test.• Developed a power-train test procedure to validate positive crankcase ventilation system icing during cold weather and short drives for high compression, forced induction gasoline and diesel engines. Developed vehicle prep procedures and a universal instrumentation package and performed different drive cycles at various temperatures to develop test procedure and failure modes. Validated results both real world on road and simulated in climatic wind tunnel tests.• Investigated vehicle issues, and analyzed ECU data and DTC codes as well as node/ECU Simulation and data acquisition & engine calibration using CAN2000 and Vehicle Spy. Problem solved engineering concerns related to all areas of vehicle quality and durability.• Collaborated with design teams to identify component design flaws and collect necessary data. Presented findings to various engineering design and test communities and created reports detailing the vehicle’s overall performance. Show less Lead body-in-white process engineer for 2014 Chevy Impala, 2013 Cadillac XTS, and Buick Regal / Chevy Camaro mid-cycle enhancement closures including analyzing product designs for the best method of manufacture as well as the financial planning and engineering design, construction & verification of multimillion dollar assembly systems for new vehicle launches.• Led body-in-white vehicle door quality including fit & finish, panel flushness, hem flange jewel effect and closure to body gap tolerance through use of GD&T measurement techniques, white light scanning, perceptron scanning and 3-D electronic coordinate measurement scanning.• Optimized vehicle structural design and build quality by modifying body-in-white processes and participating in dampener patch location studies to increase door closing sound quality.• Led several process engineering initiatives related to vehicle quality, safety, and throughput including AutoCAD & Unigraphics design projects resulting in six figure cost savings. Provided technical support to engineering functions, suppliers, plant personnel and others to implement projects, reduce costs, improve method and product quality to support build programs.• Directed and traveled to material and strategic suppliers in Ontario and Michigan to meet goals, resolve concerns and coordinate input from internal and external customers. Show less Responsible for numerous manufacturing engineering initiatives: • Trim plant maintenance lead for the 2011 Equinox launch team. Oversaw modifications to equipment, tooling and processes and coordinated the maintenance requirements to allow build during the launch phase with plant customers.• Participated in the design and installation of new tooling locators at the Trim to Chassis 3-rail lift to resolve vehicle mis-loads onto VAC carriers.• Used Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis to perform stress and strain tests on various specimens and to develop new tooling assemblies and equipment at the General Motors Canadian Regional Engineering Centre.Responsible for numerous industrial management duties: • Several special assignment roles including department safety audit lead as well as task instruction sheet and safe operating procedure development.• Directed a team of unionized skilled trades employees including overseeing and enforcing safe operating and equipment lock-out practices. Handled payroll, performance, training and development.• Coached first line responders through equipment failure resolution and assisted in brainstorming and issue resolution of equipment and process failures. Implemented short & long term engineering solutions for prevent-ability to improve vehicle quality, throughput, plant safety and costs.• Managed weekend work planning and developed validation action plans to identify and address start up issues as well as preventive maintenance plans on new equipment installations. Show less

  • Engineer: Vehicle Testing & Competitive Benchmarking

    Oct 2012 - May 2014

  • Vehicle Closures Process Engineer: Body-In-White Design & Integration

    Jun 2011 - Nov 2012

  • Industrial Maintenance Manager, Engineer

    May 2010 - Jun 2011
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  Tesla

  May 2014 - Sept 2019

  Key Accomplishments: Led Integration, testing and validation of chassis and powertrain controls firmware on both the vehicle and sub-system level to ensure the controls functions and vehicle system interactions were correct.Led and grew a team that enabled members to thrive by providing guidance, mentoring, coaching and training on chassis controls system integration and firmware for embedded controllers.Develop chassis controls firmware architecture to support level 2+ autonomy + industry first chassis features. Responsible developing CAN/UDS communication protocols, functional safety, redundancy, diagnostics, regulatory, and DFMEA. Authored and managed system specifications and requirements. Firmware Integration: Oversaw initial firmware and hardware integration of chassis control systems. Included integrating firmware repositories for OTA updates. Led the bring-up of engineering mules and the implementation of conceptual systems onto existing platforms. Continuous improvement over product life cycle (regression testing, bug fixes, platform updates).Implementation of manufacturing self-tests for continuous quality and throughput improvements in the production process.Chassis controls firmware version control using tools such as Git, Bitbucket, Jenkins, etc.Developed strong relationships with suppliers to build and integrate industry first software concepts.Subject matter expert for debugging and root-causing complex firmware integration issues.Conducted instrumented vehicle testing for acceleration, braking, steering, ride and handling, certification testing on all proving ground surfaces. Led assessments of reference vehicle chassis systems including subjective/objective benchmarking of chassis controllers.Management of 100+ vehicles, instrumentation, mules/prototypes, test locations; collaborator on web fleet tools.Prototype vehicle training programs, created and enforced fleet guidelines, incident investigations, supplier loan agreements. Show less • Test Management: Support vehicle validation tests involving reliability & durability, structural, powertrain & endurance, dynamics & performance, crash, NVH, homologation and component level testing. Performed reference vehicle assessment tests related to full functional assessments, performance and trailering.• Test Development: Modified test procedures to incorporate powertrain damage caused by trailering based on damage profiles created from exiting test data sets as well as customer usage data and statistical analysis.• Root Cause Analysis: Functional engineer for firmware and vehicle systems related to powertrain, battery and charging, active safety and autonomous driving, vehicle dynamics, as well as user infotainment and 12 V body controllers.• Quality Control: Managed software updates to vehicle test fleet and flashed development application, bootloader, and board specific files to vehicle ECU's. Learned Linux based commands to interact with vehicle operating system to modify configurations, debug software update problems, and root-cause issues after part update/swaps.• Stakeholder Management: Worked cross-functionally with engineers and managers across entire the organization including executive level, program management, development, integration, system and vehicle testing, and service.• Process Improvement: Integrated test automation and created a web system to better track test results and data. Led a series of training courses for engineers and technicians on system integration and firmware. Show less

  • Sr. Engineer, Team Lead - Chassis Controls Firmware Architecture & Integration

    Dec 2015 - Sept 2019

  • Engineer: Vehicle Testing (Software, Firmware, Infotainment)

    May 2014 - Dec 2015
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  Apple

  Sept 2019 - Jun 2024

  Staff Engineer - System Integration, Motion Attributes

  Key Accomplishments: Product (motion) and systems attribute definition, Systems Integration and Bring-up, Leadership Concept Demonstrations (Including CEO), Motion Simulators involving AR/VR and large scale displays + image generation, Product BenchmarkingSystem Integration: Lead software integration, bring-up, verification and QA of a highly complex and technical systems / platforms. Requirements and V&V definition for system/control features, operations design domain definition. Debug complex issues and implement solutions to improve robustness and scalability.Functional Safety: ISO-26262 including requirements, hazard and risk evaluation and application of ASIL processes.Plan, orchestrate and execute numerous complex dynamic demonstrations to showcase concepts to CEO executive leadership team which enable/influenced key decisions.Motion Simulation: Integrated 6DoF motion & 16K 360° 3D visual simulator to support full scale product development. Procurement, facilities planning and integration of assets over $15M including VR & AR.Developed image generation systems for low latency multi-view 3D rendering and media playback capable of handling a 13ch mosaic including optical management and autocal using 3D models and UV maps.Python: scripted interfaces to translate and process virtual world physics, position, and ego UDP data streams for in house applications, CANbus and Matlab/Simulink motion consumer which replaced $90k of previous hardware.Content creation: 3D graphical real-time ego, asset, environment rendered and ray traced using game engines and scene editors (BeamNG, rFpro, Unity, Unreal, Blender, Notch) for use with closed loop input devices. Included integration of AI based traffic assets. 360° and VR180 video production & post processing using Mistika VR, Adobe Premier, Final Cut Pro.Led motion attribute and KPI definition to define targets and V&V use cases.Provide mentorship, training, technical guidance to engineers and technicians. Show less

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  Ford Motor Company

  Jun 2024 - now

  Lead Engineer - Chassis E/E Systems, Firmware Integration (Ford Advanced EV)

  Lead integration engineer for E/E, software and architecture including the following chassis systems on next-gen EV products:- Vehicle dynamics controls- Brake Assist- Steering (EPAS)- Park Brake (EPB)- TPMS