Richard Burgess

Skills

• Turbine Components Corporation (Arconic)
  Jan 2014 - Present
  CONTROLS ENGINEER

  My main responsibility is as Controls Engineer: designing, procuring, installing and commissioning new controls and systems in the plant. As a plant with around 70 employees and a revenue of over $2 million a month, my responsibilities also necessarily extend far beyond this, into mechanical and electrical maintenance work, IT support, server and network administration and engineering, labor resource planning, budget planning and capital projects.

  I have been consistently working to improve plant engineering practices, support service organization and scheduling of labor resources necessary for plant support. Since we have such lean labor resources available to us, much of that work involves daily coordination of contractor and outside services.

  In addition, I bring a strong background in software development with me, not only with regards to PLC controls (Rockwell, Siemens, GE, etc) and HMIs (Wonderware and others), but with Windows, web and database programming as well. Therefore, in addition to automation on the factory floor, I have worked to provide automation and data transparency to our business network as well. I have created our business’ first intranet site that allows staff to view production floor data, inventory data, and other near-realtime data in dashboards.

  I also have EHS roles as a program leader for Contractor Safety and Electrical Safety. In those roles, I have revitalized the programs and brought them from ‘fair’ assessments to ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ assessments year after year. My ability to organize and create written and digital systems have been instrumental in improving these programs as well as handing over these roles to new program leaders.

  In addition to the specific EHS roles, I have been a champion and implementer of control reliable systems to safeguard our employees and contractors when interacting with our equipment. Standardizing our equipment with a minimum of Category 3 and SIL 4 safety and control circuits, we have experienced a safer and more reliable work environment.

  Notable projects include:

  • Inherited a Surface Grinder project, integrated safety controls and guarding as well as conforming it to our process.
  • Designed and programmed a new standard inspection station for our Surface Grinder that ties into our intranet database.
  • Design, programming, build and commissioning of Vision inspection system that reads dot peened text.
  • Design, development, build and commissioning of Thread Chasing Machine prototype.
  • Restoration of plant wide PA system.
  • Design and programming of new shift change bell system.
  • Redundant Control of Non Contact Cooling Water System.
  • Lead project to restore fire alarm system functionality, plant wide.
  • Complete ground up revamp of new vacuum furnace area.
  • Installation of new $1 million vacuum furnace.
  • Design, development, build and commissioning of new drying oven controls.
  • Design, procurement and installation of new water wash cell.
  • Replacement of 1 of 3 Air Compressors with no down time.
  • Design, development, build and commissioning of new CNC Blending machine.
  • Replacement of Main Switchgear in two Buildings, each in 4 days.
  • Replacement of two 5 ton cranes with new VFD powered units.
  • Redundant Control of Vacuum Furnace Cooling System.
  • VFD Control of Furnace motorized systems.

• I2S, LLC
  Apr 2005 - Aug 2013
  SENIOR ELECTRICAL PROJECT ENGINEER

  As a Senior Electrical Project Engineer, my job involved designing the electrical systems of huge industrial hot and cold rolling mills and their integrated control systems. This design work included drive integration of motors ranging from 1 horsepower to thousands of horsepower, PLC controls, networked computer systems, SCADA systems and the installation planning and execution of those projects.

  Extensive use of Autocad, Microsoft Excel and ERP systems was part of my job, as was extensive engineering coordination with vendors, customers, sub contractors and fellow engineers as well as the factory floor.

  In addition to my daily project work, I saw a need for and worked to move our engineering department to standardized engineering systems including standard control parts and drawings. Included in these standards was my personal drive to improve our control reliability and safety standards. Proper Category 3/4 safety circuits were implemented throughout the large rolling mill projects, and sometimes were replaced or augmented by safety-rated PLCs.

  • In charge of large and small projects involving large industrial cold rolling mills.
  • Designed and purchased components that cost millions of dollars.
  • Designed machines that have I/O counts upwards of 2000 points.
  • Designed Siemens, Allen Bradley, ABB and GE control systems.
  • I was in charge of projects from sales quoting to final commissioning.
  • Designed systems containing multiple computers communicating in simple or complex network arrangements, and interacting with PLCs and HMIs.
  • Heavily involved in the research and development of new products.
  • Assisted in the research and design of our flagship gamma gauge product which employs gamma rays to accurately measure the thickness of the metal our mill is rolling.
  • Designed and wrote the Windows software to manage network communication between devices.
  • Traveled throughout the world for short or long periods of time where I was trusted to be independent and to make critical business decisions on my own.
  • Worked internally to streamline business processes with respect to our ERP and job costing systems. (Continuous Improvement)
  • Automated repetitive tasks and streamlined processes that have saved the company many thousands of dollars.

• Lasercut, Inc
  Jun 2000 - Aug 2003
  ELECTRICIAN/ MECHANIC/ FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER/ PRODUCTION MANAGER

  I was hired on with Lasercut with little or no experience in the field. The position I was hired for was 'Field Service Engineer'. I started by assisting in building their CNC laser cutting machinery on the production floor, performing both mechanical and electrical work.

  I quickly progressed and after a short supervised period of field service and installations, I was travelling all over the country servicing and installing the machines.

  After a company buyout, I was once again tethered to the home base, this time to supervise and train others in the construction of our machinery. With this role, I was now in charge of production schedules, maintaining inventory levels, quality control and keeping track of human resources as well.

  • Became the leader of a production team which produced industrial laser cutting machines ranging in cost from 300,000 dollars to 600,000 dollars.
  • Was in charge of the entire assembly process, which included painting, fabricating, machining, assembly, machine wiring, control wiring, production scheduling, coordination of various departments (including engineering and purchasing) to meet production deadlines.
  • Involved with testing, operating, as well as troubleshooting these systems.
  • Responsible for servicing and installing machines which involved travel throughout the US and Canada.

• The Morgan School
  Sep 1996 - Jun 2000

  Studies included computer sciences (including C++, Visual C++, and Visual Basic) as well as mechanical and electrical technology studies including automotive, marine construction, graphics design and electrical system repair and diagnostics.