Rodney Jacobs

Experience

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  Lithonia Lighting

  May 1991 - Aug 1998

  Design Engineer

  Lithonia Lighting, an Acuity Brands company, provides a broad line of lighting fixtures for the commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential markets.– Designed lighting products with sustaining engineering in mind. Handled all software-related systems.– Performed software installation and upgrades, hardware management and maintenance, network installation and upgrade support, software training classes, server upgrades, and data back-up, as well as mainframe production data and production order preparation and printing. Show less

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  Blue Bird Corporation

  Sept 1998 - Aug 2005

  New Product Designer

  Blue Bird Corporation is an American Bus manufacturer best known for its production of school buses.– Designed key components including bus chassis, i.e. frame rail designs; cross member design; drive lines; exhaust systems; FEAs; and iron cast components including shock absorber brackets; tow hooks; bumpers and bumper mounting brackets. Worked on school buses, commercial buses, and the Wonder-Lodge RV products.– Researched, procured, and designed suspension systems with placement and mounting of the Hendrickson and Ride Well suspensions using CATIA 3D modeling. – Demonstrated technical troubleshooting strengths in pinpointing and resolving equipment malfunctions. Planned and executed design strategies that minimized the implementation of cycle time and cost.– Identified cost and risks at the component and sub-assembly level to meet defined cost targets.– Instrumental in the first monocoque body design. Monocoque, also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, like an eggshell.– Blue Bird » 2005 WANDERLODGE M380– Blue Bird » VISION Diesel School Bus Show less

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  Cooper Lighting Solutions

  Dec 2005 - Nov 2020

  Cooper Lighting provides lighting, LED, and control solutions to commercial, industrial, residential, retail, and utility markets. Revenues are $1.8 billion. As of March 2020, it is a business unit of Signify.– Led a team of 14 engineers and technicians. Also managed 30 people at Prestec, our tool and die division, including the Plant Manager, design engineers, tool makers for six years.– Established appropriate links with manufacturing engineering and quality to monitor the production processes and identify and prioritize problems that developed in production.– In 2017, team launched 12 new products. This drove double-digit sales growth in 2018, the best growth in the $1.8B lighting division.– Assisted in determining design-related issues and assisted with design changes.– Monitored thermal testing and reliability testing as well as design of the product to achieve wet location and IP testing requirements for special applications for product improvements in future designs.– Integrated product performance activities with new product development to improve project delivery time and reduce production issues. Redesigned the Accord Product family from a CNC Fabricated product to a High Volume Progressive tooled product saving $30K in scrap annually and increasing productivity by 75% at production tool launch. – Developed new strategies to solve complex integrated technology and product challenges. Trained new engineers on how to design products for Lean manufacturing.– Led team in the design and build of new products. Completed projects ahead of schedule, on or under budget, and with high-quality results.– Delivered increase in efficiency for Metalux, Fail-Safe, Lumiére, Iris, and Portfolio Trim brands.– Redesigned the 3” parabolic product using SolidWorks and multiple cost-out concepts; capital spend for 26 progressive dies and 1 louver assembly press at $2.8M and saved $1.9M annually. 1.5 years payback on capital investment. Show less – Provided technical support to product management, manufacturing, and other functional groups.– Redesigned the highest volume product as a VA / VE cost-saving project into high volume, progressive tooled products. Worked one-on-one with internal and external customer stakeholders (manufacturing, quality, and marketing) to identify procedure and/or product opportunities and evaluate potential technical solutions.– Interpreted Voice-of-Customer (VOC) to define technical design requirements.– Performed detailed design analysis to achieve product design requirements and innovative design solutions (product requirement management and risk management).– Drove operational improvements, which resulted in savings and improved profit margins. Show less

  • New Product and Sustaining Engineering Manager

    Jul 2008 - Nov 2020

  • Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

    Dec 2005 - Jul 2008
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  Ideal Pellets, LLC, Partnered with CM Biomass

  Jan 2021 - Mar 2022

  Plant Manager

  Ideal Pellets produces Clean Energy wood pellets with a High BTU level. These pellets are used to offset the use of coal by 60% in many parts of the world. Low Moisture Content and Ash Content result in low carbon emissions. Less moisture also makes it possible to transport the fuel source in a fixed space. Clean Energy Wood pellets are the most common type of pellet fuel and are generally made from compacted sawdust and related industrial wastes from the milling of lumber, manufacture of wood products and furniture, and construction. Wood Pellet Clean Energy is the future of sustainable heating sources in the Agricultural, Commercial, Residential and International markets. Boasting economic, environmental and efficiency benefits, wood pellet-burning furnaces are the key to low-cost, high-return heating solutions. In Conclusion: In a world where burning coal and other fossil fuels has been the norm; Green Energy Advocates from around the world are recognizing the need for the Clean Energy, and the industry is growing by leaps and bounds. It is good to be a part of this Industry's continued growth. Show less

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  Flexsteel Industries Inc.

  Mar 2022 - Sept 2022

  Engineering Manager
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  ATW

  Jul 2022 - now

  Pro Grade, Plant Quality Engineer