TODD THORNBROUGH

1370 S. Harrington Street

Gilbert, AZ 85233
dt10887c6@westpost.net
480.375.5350 (Cell)
480.336.8429 (Home)

Quality Control Leader

High Technology * Defense * Aerospace
Innovative, results-driven quality professional and Six Sigma
Black Belt with more than 12 years of experience delivering
operational excellence, improving production performance, and
reducing expenses by millions of dollars.
Possess strong record of continuous improvement leadership
through Lean Manufacturing technology, Statistical
Process Control (SPC), and data acquisition / analysis using
Minitab(R) software.
Highly experienced quality assurance manager, engineer, and
ISO auditor.
CAREER SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
* Six Sigma Black Belt (SSBB)
* Lean Manufacturing
* Quality Assurance Management
* Data Warehouse Management
* Six Sigma Green Belt Trainer
* ISO 9001:2008 QMS Systems
* Productivity Improvements
* Project Management* Articulate Communicator/Team Leader
* SAP Data Analysis
* New Product Qualifications
* J-STD-001D Inspector/Instructor
Professional Experience
SMART MODULAR TECHNOLOGIES, Phoenix, AZ * May 2010- Present
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, Defense Data Storage Systems
Reporting to the Director of World Wide Quality, manage
incoming inspection of components, in-process PCBA assembly
inspection, final test and packaging for a $150M/year business.
Provide support for operations, product design engineering,
and customer support engineering including data analysis.
* Reduced Returned Material Authorization (RMA) data search
and reporting time 90% enabling continuous improvement
projects on existing product lines by developing RMA
database with reporting capabilities for five previous years
enabling monitoring of product performance.
* Attained product life cycle procedures and material shelf
life process improvements that led to completion of third
party ISO recertification with no major non-conformances by
conducting ISO 9001:2008 audits of manufacturing,
engineering, and quality management systems (QMS).
* Reduced assembly related errors 31% by suppliers and contract
manufacturers; cut work in progress materials by $50K through
managing Material Review Board (MRB) for discrepant incoming
and in-process materials.
* Decreased hardware assembly discrepant materials 90% and
 facilitated continuous improvement projects by creating and
reporting production quality metrics including supplier and
internal processing performance on an intranet website for
management and engineering review.
* Reduced overdue Failure Analysis and Reporting (FAR) 75% by
monitoring latency and conducting FAR of returned materials
from customer and field service engineers.

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS - ELECTRO-OPTICAL SYSTEMS, formerly Northrop

Grumman - EOS, Tempe, AZ * 2001-2009
Six Sigma Black Belt
Reporting to the Engineering Leader with direct interface to the
Corporate Division President and Vice President of Continuous
Improvement, managed continuous improvement projects from
$100K-$1M supporting $300M manufacturing operations and key
stake holders including engineering, manufacturing, quality, and
management.
* Led four individual Kaizen manufacturing projects to improve
process efficiency resulting in annual savings of over $270,000
by reducing component and sub-assembly scrap.
* Reduced production cycle time from more than 5 minutes to 10
seconds (93%) and saved over $400K annually by managing ultra
violet Six Sigma Black Belt project that included creating a
UV curing process.
* Saved over $1.3M through assisting 8 Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
teams to complete their projects.
* Realized project savings of $610K annually by developing a
complex query-capable data warehouse using Minitab that
generated more than 800 control charts to facilitate
Statistical Process Control, yield, Pareto, and scrap
improvement activity resulting in data driven control systems
support 2,500 critical processes.
* Developed curriculum materials and successfully trained and
mentored all levels from production leads to executive staff
as lead instructor for EOS Division Six Sigma Black Belt
training program.
* Created Lean Manufacturing present/future state process maps
identifying and prioritizing areas of improvement with over
50 candidate Lean Six Sigma Green/Black Belt projects.
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
Led DD250 shipment auditing, product qualifications including
IPT and new product qualifications to Mil-STD 810F. Managed and
reported all product quality failure data for the quality
organization. As Principle Quality Assurance Engineer for Infra
Red (IR) Systems, directed all product testing and inspection,
Goodrich Aerospace customer communications and site visits, and
facilitated classified presentations.
* Ensured division was in compliance with customer contractual
requirements by creating all Electro Static Discharge (ESD)
training materials and conducting facility-wide annual
training (ESD 20.20).
* Conducted on-site supplier audits of final and in-process
product components providing approval and supplier improvement
requirements.
* Conducted certified J-STD-001C/D training and tested
operators on training requirements resulting in contract
compliance to Class III soldering standards.
NCS PEARSON, Phoenix, AZ * 1999-2001
Quality Assurance Program Manager, Government Contractor for
Year 2000 U.S. Census data acquisition
Managed quality assurance program for $700M Army University
Access Online (AUAO) proposal. Developed detailed quality
assurance program criteria and process requirements for
soldier-student Graphical User Interface (GUI) with software
development team. Proposal was 2nd of 16 submitted on cost,
1st on technical content.
* Wrote program management section of the AUAO proposal,
including all scheduled deliveries.
* Developed all statement-of-work (SOW) requirements for
quality assurance subcontractors.
Quality Assurance Manager
Directed inspection activities for a team of 25 staff members
during processing of census forms. Developed inspection
database and protocols that automated reporting functions
at 3 processing facilities throughout the United States with
the Bureau of Census in Washington, DC.
* Conducted interface with on-site customer regarding
processing issues and corrective action; conducted quality
assurance overview for all new employee orientations.

SONORA SOUTHWEST, Tucson, AZ * 1998-1999

Quality Assurance Manager, Injection Molder of high precision
plastic parts for RainBird(R) in-ground sprinklers
Reporting directly to the Plant Manager and Vice President
for Quality Assurance, developed a start up manufacturing
facility including staffing of inspection personnel,
quality process procedures, and developing key metrics for
process monitoring.
Supervised inspection activities of more than 28 employees
including doubling staffing from 12 inspectors to 24, and
from 2 quality engineers to 4. Automated metrics data
collection and analysis using Minitab statistical software.
* Led organization through 1st successful audit
(ISO 2001:1994) enabling division to qualify for material
acceptance by other divisions.
* Served as lead auditor of international manufacturing and
assembly locations.

Education & Certifications

Master of Science-Information Management. (In process,
graduation expected May 2010). Arizona State University,
Tempe AZ.
Major courses: Business Intelligence, Network Security,
Database Management
Bachelor of Science- Business Management. Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN
American Society for Quality, Information Systems Audit and
Control Association, Arizona State University (currently
enrolled)
Six Sigma Black Belt, American Society for Quality.
Certified Quality Auditor, American Society for Quality.