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Stephen David Sparkes
Farnborough, Hants,
Telephone. (01252) 673447, Mobile. 07525 204386, E-mail. sdsparkes@googlemail.com
Homepage:- http://www.stevesparkes.co.uk.html

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

I am an experienced mechanical product design and development project engineer, with the ability to lead teams, work on own initiative or as part of a team. I am an experienced team leader with proven background of running a team of 12 people on projects from conception through to completion. I have extensive technical experience working with Sheetmetal, thin plate, Extruded sections, Machined metals, Welded structures, Castings and moulded Plastic parts. I am quick to grasp new ideas and concepts, and to develop innovative and creative cost effective solutions to design problems. I possess first class analytical, design and problem solving skills. I have gained product design experience in a number of industry sectors designing rack mounted systems, Electronic enclosures, Health care products, Processing Plant, Network Servers, Computers, Telemetry systems and industrial pumps. I have also worked on MOD Defence projects working on Aircraft, Submarines and Naval Vessel telemetry & navigation systems. I am conversant with BS EN drawing design standards as well as working within various DEF standards and following any in house design standards and procedures. I have experience with the following 3D CAD design systems PRO Wildfire & Windchill, Autodesk Inventor and Solid Edge. With the ability to create accurate 3D design layouts, assembly’s, parts lists and 2D drawings.

SOFTWARE LITERACY

Pro/Wildfire, Windchill, Pro-Sheetmetal, Autodesk Inventor, Solid Edge ST. Autocad, MS-Project, MS-Office, HTML, JavaScript, Star Office, UNIX, Various Windows Applications

MECHANICAL PRODUCT ENGINEER

Main Duties & Skills:-

  • Senior Mechanical Design and Development Engineer.
  • CAD Systems:- Pro/Wildfire, Windchill, Pro-Sheetmetal, Autodesk Inventor, Solid Edge ST.
  • Project Management & planning, Mechanical Design producing 3D solid models & Assembly's, 3D/2D design layouts, detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists, cabinet & sub rack wiring loom details & installation drawings.
  • Developing innovative and creative, cost effective solutions to design problems.
  • Possession of first class analytical, design and problem solving skills.
  • Solution provider for internal development & sustaining teams.
  • Senior designer for (JDM) joint design and manufacturing facilities, working in China and Taiwan.
  • Hard tooling design verification approval and signoff.
  • Project planning cost analysis and resource planning. (Prince2 Qualified).
  • Project specifications/documentation.
  • Mechanical EMC solutions.
  • Mechanical ESD solutions.
  • Mechanical Flammability solutions.
  • Mechanical thermal cooling solutions.
  • Cabling solutions.
  • Detailed tolerance analysis using SUN Sigma tools.
  • Working within company's business management systems and Product life cycle procedures.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

COMPANY:   Kent.       DATE:   Nov. 10 – Present

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Industrial air conditioning systems

POSITION:   Wildfire Designer

Mechanical design and development of industrial air conditioning systems, responsible to senior engineer for producing sheet metal fabricated enclosure’s from concept to production. Working on PRO/Wildfire 4 and Windchill I produce detailed layouts, parts & assemblies using family tables as well as creation of detail manufacturing drawings. I Support the production of prototypes, assisting with manufacturing queries and solving any manufacturing issues. Mechanical test and verification of design incorporating any required changes. Release for production manufacture.

COMPANY:   QinetiQ Defence & Aerospace, Boscombe Down.       DATE:   Oct. 07 – Nov 10

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Defence and Aerospace

POSITION:   Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Responsible for Mechanical Design of military fixed wing and rotary aircraft specialising in airworthy modifications and overhaul capabilities for Qinetiq fleet of aircraft and visiting aircraft. Producing 3D solid models & Assembly's as well as 3D/2D design layouts, detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists. I am also responsible for holding pre design reviews – Engineering design reviews and Critical design reviews.

COMPANY:   Linatex Ltd.       DATE:   June. 07 – Oct. 07

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Rubber lined slurry pumps

POSITION:   Mechanical Design Engineer

Asisting on the desigen of Rubber lined slurry pumps. I am responsible for creating 3D solid models and Assembly's. Creating detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists using Autodesk Inventor.

COMPANY:   Garbuio-Dickinson.       DATE:   Nov. 2006 - June 2007

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Tobacco Processing Plant

POSITION:   Mechanical Design Engineer

Working on the Admoist stem conditioner range which is one of Garbuio Dickinson’s revolutionised tobacco processing Plant. I am responsible for creating 3D solid models and Assembly's. Creating detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists using Autodesk Inventor. Ensuring particular attention is paid to Garbuio Dickinson's rigorous in-house standards as well as European standards for design, welding and drawing practices. Customer in-house standards and/or standards in the country of destination are also adhered to where applicable.

Main plant construction is fabricated from stainless steel sheet and Welded Steel section.

COMPANY:   Ultra Electronics Command & Control Systems.       DATE:   Sept. 2005 - Nov. 2006 (Contract).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Defence and Aerospace

POSITION:   Mechanical Design Engineer

Responsible for Mechanical Design, prototyping & verification. Designing with Autodesk Inventor producing 3D solid models & Assembly's, 3D/2D design layouts, detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists.

Working on the Rolls Royce project designing telemetry enclosure systems and card frames for nuclear powered class of submarines.

I have security clearance to work on restricted nuclear projects.

COMPANY:   Xyratex       DATE:   Sept. 2004 - Sept. 2005 (Contract).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Storage and Network Systems

POSITION:   Mechanical Design Engineer

Product development design and verification. Responsible for Mechanical Design using Autodesk Inventor producing 3D solid models & Assembly's, 3D/2D design layouts, detail drawings, assembly drawings and parts lists.

Working in a small team on the design of a 2U server for Intel. With my main areas of responsibility being. Design of a common field replaceable unit for Delta, Zippy & Astec power supplies, one box solution. Common configurable plastic air baffles for air distribution within enclosure, for server with single or dual processor and multiple motherboard configurations. Rear panel to accept multiple power supplies and multiple motherboard & PCI positions.

I also worked on a 4U Network storage sub rack supporting design test and manufacturing problems. Taking the product through its final design cycle into production.

COMPANY:   SUN Microsystems Ltd.       DATE:   Sept. 2000 - Sept. 2004

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Network systems (Mid range Network servers)

POSITION:   Lead Mechanical Product Development Engineer / Pro Engineer

Lead Mechanical Sustaining & Product Development Engineer Managing internal, external & JDM development teams working in China and Taiwan. Responsible for the development and delivery of mid range 1U, 2U, 3U & 12U rack mounted server systems which were NEBS compliant.

I have experience in the following:-

  • Project planning. Lead and produced project plans for a 2 year project with 12 engineers assigned to various parts of the project. I also produced planning and cost analysis for value add sustaining projects.
  • Project resourcing, Recruitment of contractors and external consultants.
  • Product design and development using Pro Engineer working within SUN Sigma system.
  • Detailed tolerance analysis using SUN Sigma tools.
  • Root cause analysis. Using an analytical approach to resolve design and manufacturing problems.
  • Management and support of manufacturing facilities.
  • Mechanical prototyping and verification.
  • Supporting Hard Tooling, system build and product validation and approval.
  • Product reviews and presentations.
  • Identifying hard tooling requirement for plastics and metalwork.
  • Hand over of product from a development environment to a production environment.
  • Support new product during initial production.
  • Support of existing SUN products, value add and sustaining.
  • Adhering to SUN's Business Management systems and Product life cycle procedures.
COMPANY:   APW Electronics Ltd.       DATE:   Sept. 1999 - Sept. 2000 (Contract).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Custom Sub Racks & Electronic Enclosures

POSITION: Mechanical Design Engineer / Pro Engineer
NPI New Product Introduction Center

Working for APW's new product introduction centre. I was part of a team of design Engineers working on the design of communications equipment which comprises of indoor and outdoor cabinets, sub-racks and electronic enclosures. I was working on the Ericsson WBTS Sub rack family of products and an outdoor communications cabinet for Lucent Technologies.

I was responsible for two Ericsson sub-racks the AMP unit and another sub-rack which was half digital and half amplifier. Both projects involved working closely with Ericsson to ensure customer requirements where incorporated into the design of the product taking into account aesthetics', system installation, maintenance and upgrade paths. Working with Ericsson at their research centre in Sweden I was involved in producing the mechanical specification where we agreed the design for the WBTS sub-racks. I would then be responsible for taking the design through all stages from producing detailed CAD models and assemblies on Pro Engineer to producing detail and assembly drawings and overseeing manufacture of prototypes on the shop floor ensuring the highest degree of accuracy and quality at all stages through to handing the product to the customer.

I was also involved in designing a 27U outdoor cabinet with an ACU front door for Lucent Technologies. Again I was responsible for taking the design through all stages from producing detailed CAD models and assemblies, detail and assembly drawings and overseeing manufacture of prototypes on the shop floor.

COMPANY:   Lucent Technologies AT&T.       DATE:   May. 1996 - Sept. 1999 (Contract).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   GSM Innovations Centre, compact universal base equipment

POSITION:   Lead Mechanical Product Development Engineer / Pro Engineer

Part of the Engineering Design & Development team working in Nuremberg and Swindon on the mechanical design of the 19"/ETSI cabinet BTS system. Working on the indoor cabinet I was part of the team designing the sub racks and cabinet layout for equipment location and cabling configuration producing Pro Engineer models and assemblies including cabling and harness models. I was also responsible for producing the Pro Engineer models and assemblies for the outdoor BTS cabinet which was being developed in Nuremberg.

Previous project, CUBE (compact universal base equipment) EGSM & DCS1800. I was involved with the mechanical design for the TRU (transmit & receive module), PA (power Amplifier) & the fan unit. Also producing specification drawings for the duplexers, Power supply unit and cable drawings. It was also my responsibility to produce a full set of assembly, installation and wiring assembly drawings, detail drawings & parts lists using Pro-Engineer.

Other duties included PRO/Eng., PRO/PDM application set-up, administration and training of new & permanent staff.

COMPANY:   Farnborough College of Technology.       DATE:   Sep. 1995 - (P/T Evenings).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Further Education

POSITION:   Lecturer - Computer aided draughting and design
  City & Guilds 2301 Autocad R13
COMPANY:   Stannah Stairlifts.       DATE:   Sept . 1995 - May. 96 (Contract).

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Stair Lifts

POSITION:   Mechanical Designer / Pro Engineer
COMPANY:   Racal-Datacom Ltd.       DATE:   1989 - Sept. 1995.

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Data Communications

POSITION:   Product Designer/Project Engineer - Autocad / Pro Engineer
COMPANY:   Technitron Systems Ltd.       DATE:   1986 - 1989.

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Defence and Industrial Instrumentation

POSITION:   Trainee Design Draughtsman / Autocad
COMPANY:   Entecon Ltd.       DATE:   1982 - 1986.

COMPANY BUSINESS:   Agricultural and Sheetmetal Fabrication

POSITION:   Apprenticeship

TRAINING COURSES AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS

O.N.C.

  • Mechanical Engineering.
TRAINING COURSES:

  • Prince2 Project Management.
  • SUN Sigma for Design Engineers.
  • Fundamentals of Project Management.
  • Parametric Technology, 2001 Update training.
  • Parametric Technology, Pro Sheetmetal customised course.
  • Part Plastic Design course.
  • Parametric Technology, Advanced Surface Design.
  • Parametric Technology, Pro Cable & Harness Design.
  • Parametric Technology, Introduction Pro Engineer,.
  • Parametric Technology, Pro Engineer Production Drawing.
  • Parametric Technology, Pro PDM.
  • Farnborough College of Technology, 7306 Teacher Training and Assessment.
  • Sun Microsystems Ltd. Solaris Fundamentals for users (UNIX).
  • Sun Microsystems Ltd. Solaris Advanced (UNIX).
  • Learning Tree International. Introduction to Datacomm & Networks.
CITY & GUILDS:

  • Advanced CAD System Management & Customisation
  • Advanced Computer Aided Design 2D & 3D.
  • Computer Aided Draughting.
  • Sheetmetal and Thin Plate Studies.
  • Engineering Craft Studies
  • Welding Craft Studies

DATE OF BIRTH: 19th January 1966. MARITAL STATUS: Married. CHILDREN: 1 Son
HOBBIES: Scuba Diving (PADI Master Scuba Diver), Mountain Biking, Water Skiing, Snow Boarding, Mountaineering, Karate, Swimming, Personal Computing, Wireless Networking


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Last updated 17th March 2009