Manufacturing MEng Online & On Campus

I started my career as a draftsman for Sunbeam-Oster in Mexico City, while there I looked for a growth opportunity and became an Operations Supervisor managing  five assembly lines in three shifts with 120 operators. Later on I moved to Bayer de Mexico, still in Mexico City,  and swapped roles to become Electrical Maintenance & Metrology Lab Supervisor. Still in Bayer I was promoted to Maintenance Manager for their pharmaceutical plant .  This was my first career block as the organization did not have any further plans to keep me growing. At that point I started to look into pursuing a Master’s Degree, and I moved again to Delphi Automotive Systems in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  I joined them at their Mexico Technical Center as a Manufacturing Engineer for their Saginaw Steering Division. While in Delphi I obtained my MEng Program in Manufacturing at the U-M. During my 10 years at Delphi I had different positions and traveled the world deploying manufacturing processes in Poland, Spain, China, Brazil, Mexico, US and France; none of this would have happen without my U-M MEng, as many of the projects I worked in while going to school were direct applications to my daily responsibilities. 

But Delphi filed for Chapter 11, so I moved to Johnson and Johnson (Cordis Division), still in Ciudad Juarez, as one of their Global Business Excellence Lean Experts. My MEng background helped me deploy a brand new cardiovascular catheter line from their R&D in San Jose, California, to a full production facility in Cashel, Ireland. After that project, I was offered an opportunity to move back to Mexico City and joined Philip Morris Mexico as their Engineering Manager for NA Cluster. There I was responsible for six  manufacturing sites and their product processing.  Under my leadership we consolidated several operations and improved productivity by more than 40%.

For a second time in my professional career I faced a career growth blockage.  I wanted more challenges and opportunities, so I moved to Henkel Mexicana in their Home & Laundry division as their LATAM Engineering Manager. They were undergoing a large investment to duplicate their detergent factories capacities and I had the luxury to lead those efforts successfully in Costa Rica and Mexico. As the project was being closed out, I accepted an offer from Generac Power Systems in Wisconsin, USA, inviting me to join them as the Engineering Director for LATAM at their Mexico facility.  

In my current position I am part of the global engineering strategy team, member of the board of directors for LATAM Business Unit, and responsible for product development and manufacturing support for the region. During these five years I have seen the company grow at a tremendous fast pace to even diversify into clean energy. It has been quite an adventure to reach this point, and I am convinced that my MEng at U-M has been a key asset in my continuous growth, which by the way is still ongoing. I have been lecturing at Tecnologico de Monterrey for the last five years as well, and since last year I started my own small consulting firm in partnership with my wife.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

My MEng degree at U-M has provided me the opportunity to challenge decisions from higher ranks, based on facts, balance between technical and economical approaches, making sound business decisions while supporting innovation and brand growth. It has also given me the support to reach for further knowledge and research that have provided a solid ground for conversations and developments.

Advice to Students

As I was working, going to school, and being a parent at the same time, I did not have the luxury to spend a lot of time at the campus, events, communities, etc. It was very difficult for me not to have that experience so I would highly recommend that you do your best to take advantage of those activities as well, they will better balance your knowledge and overall experience, while strengthening your bond with your fellow students, teachers and University community. I missed that and I wish I could get it back.

I am in a rotational program within the plant where I will rotate through three roles, each focusing on further developing a particular skill set: process lead (technical), team lead (leadership), project engineer (project management). In college I was on multiple Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) teams where I got to work cross-functionally with team members to solve a problem statement given to us by our corporate sponsor. Not only did I get to make new connections, but I also got to practice leadership and collaboration skills throughout the projects. I also did research for two years, which helped me gain experience in how to conduct experiments to deliver results, as well as how to be agile and pivot when needed. 

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

My Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering has helped me stand out because I was able to take classes in business, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and other programs that I normally would not have even thought to pursue. To gain that cross functional knowledge and experience in one short year was invaluable and I still utilize what I learned to this day at the plant. It’s so important for engineers to have the capacity to be cross-functional and have strong communication skills.

Reflection on Time Spent at U-M

I appreciate how Michigan classes present many opportunities for students to work in teams and learn how to collaborate together. I also enjoyed the flexibility in class selections offered at Michigan, because I could easily take other classes I was interested in without affecting my required core classes. My biggest pieces of advice is to learn how to learn, maintain a work-life balance, and don’t be afraid to ask for help or work with others. I was on the cheer team and loved cheering on our university at the football and basketball games. 

Since graduating, I have worked in the R&D departments for Daimler and for Volkswagen. I started my career at Detroit Diesel, a subsidiary of Daimler, as an after-treatment controls engineer and was a member of the Daimler CAReer trainee program. Through the trainee program, I was able to experience work in different divisions and locations including as an electronics integration test engineer at Mercedes Benz R&D in Long Beach, California, and in project management at Daimler Trucks in Stuttgart, Germany. At Volkswagen, I have worked as a technical project manager in the R&D department specifically focused on lifecycle management. I am currently responsible for leading technical evaluations of model year improvements for the Atlas family of vehicles, which are produced at the Chattanooga, Tennessee plant.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

My experience at the University of Michigan prepared me for these roles by exposing me to both basic engineering knowledge as well as specialized courses focused on design, manufacturing, and systems engineering. 

Reflection on Time Spent at U-M

I enjoyed the holistic approach to the U-M ISD master’s degree. I enjoyed performing a deeper dive into the specifics of manufacturing, specifically through classes on design for six sigma and systems engineering. I also really enjoyed the breadth of the program and the ability to take classes focused outside of technical engineering, specifically an engineering entrepreneurship course and a leadership course through the business school.