User:Rgstech

Retired Scientist & Engineering Manager. Prior chairman NJ IEEE. ROBERT G. (Bob) SOKALSKI 2615 KELLY CLOSE MURFREESBORO, TN 37130-1416 (615) 895-6197 rgs6@comcast.net

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH MANAGEMENT HIGH VOLUME PRODUCTION QUALITY

CAREER SUMMARY

Engineering Director and Scientist in Research & Development. Directed development and released to production high volume, cost sensitive, electronic (analog and digital), electromechanical, and hybrid controls products for Automotive, Home Appliance, Agriculture, Avionics, and Consumer Goods markets. Implemented design validation with ISO/6 Sigma statistical methods. Designed White Goods Computerized Controls, Consumer Products, Avionics, and Industrial Test Equipment. Developed technology/business strategic plans and directed advanced R&D center programs.

• Designed industrial, TV, and radar test equipment (RF generation, Noise sources, and Noise analysis). • Designed navigation computers, propeller controls, communications and navigation receivers, and cockpit displays for general aviation aircraft and automated flight-line test sets for military aircraft. • Chief Engineer for high volume heavy-duty truck antilock brake system design and development. Achieved 20:1 reliability improvement, 50% cost reduction, and improved performance. • Managed (Engineering Manager) design and development of high volume (automotive and home appliance) electronic and electromechanical controls: HVAC, Comfort/Convenience, Engine, Laundry, and Cooking Controls. Concept through production. Ford QOS & 6 Sigma. 21 person department. • Established world-class printed circuit and surface mount manufacturing lines in Maquiladora facility. • Managed Surface Mount and Printed Circuit pilot-run lines. • Established company as a world-class high volume electronics supplier (White-goods Controls: Washers, Dryers, Dishwashers, Ranges) by introducing new products. • Directed R&D (electronics, MEMS, semiconductor, thin films, etc.) at corporate technology centers. • Division acquisition team technology specialist. • Company patent executive. • Created technology and business strategic plans for a consumer products controls business with 180+ product lines, 6000 products, and 14 North American manufacturing sites. • Released to production 8 new electronic and mechanical products in 12 months in a consumer products company achieving 50:1 Improved quality level and 60% lower cost. • Released to production high-volume, electromechanical white goods controls (Washers, Dryers, Microwave) business in 18 months to become 60% of company sales. • Created department operating procedures (ISO, 6 Sigma) and documentation. Developed and published reliability testing procedures for high volume products. Created ISO 9001 Engineering and Reliability Testing procedures for high-volume products concentrating on design validation using 6 Sigma statistical methods. • Designed microprocessor based controls for white goods. • Designed and built a production clean-room contamination analysis facility with full documentation. • Designed, analyzed, and tested equipment for acoustics, noise, and vibration analysis. • Designed system to optimally control acoustics in concert halls.

COMPANIES

Cessna Aircraft Company: Project Engineer (Electronics) 1968 - 1976 Eaton Corporation: Chief Engineer, Engineering Manager, Executive Engineer 1976 - 1991 Invisible Fence Company: Director of Product Development 1991 - 1993 Kingston Division of Berkshire Hathaway: Engineering Manager, Executive Engineer 1994 - 2003

EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC

• Master of Science, Management Engineering – N. J. Institute of Technology, 1975 • Master of Science, Electrical Engineering – Newark College of Engineering, 1967 • Bachelor of Science, Mathematics - Stevens Institute of Technology, 1962 • Continuing education seminars in Technology Strategic Planning at MIT, University of Michigan, AMA, Conference Board, Worcester Tech, SAE, IEEE • Taught digital electronics and software design at College of DuPage. • Presented technical papers at SAE International Congress & Expositions. • Sundry IEEE/IRE: Student Chairman, NJ Automatic Controls Group Chairman, various Section officers • Organized New Horizons in Measurements in 1969, the first NJ IEEE Measurements Conference. • Chairman North Jersey Section I.E.E.E. 1971-1972 • Ten patents issued.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

Bob was born and raised in northern New Jersey; technology and music were ongoing passionate interests. Following three years in NJ Allstate Band and similar activities, he made the decision for technology and graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Mathematics. He initially designed electronic test equipment for radar systems, TV development and production equipment at Kay Electric, Bendix, and Hewlett Packard. One month after receiving M.S.E.E. he married Amelia, a.k.a. Mimi. In the late 1960’s to mid 1970’s he designed avionics and propeller controls for Cessna Aircraft, received his M.S. in Engineering Management, and was active in the North Jersey Section I.E.E.E., serving as chairman of the 5300 member society. In that era their daughter, Suzanne, was born, they frequented New York’s Lincoln Center to enjoy the opera and ballet, and Bob played bass trombone in the North Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In 1976 Bob became Eaton’s Chief Engineer for antilock brake systems for heavy duty trucks then transferred to Eaton’s Controls Operation in the Chicago suburbs as Electrical Engineering Manager for Automotive, Home Appliance, and Agriculture Products. He established Eaton’s capability as a high volume electronics manufacturer and that accomplishment was announced to the world in a January 1980 Time Magazine full centerfold as well as in the annual report. With Electronics running smoothly he took on the position of Executive Engineer for Technology Development, Worldwide. He also taught college level digital electronics and software design. In 1981 Robert II was born. Next, a really fun job emerged as Director of Product Development at Invisible Fence, his only company to ever encourage people to take their dog to work. Finally, in 1994, he moved to Tennessee to be Engineering Manager at Kingston in Smithville. Bob is now retired with ten issued patents and is busier than ever getting #11 established – a means to optimize acoustics in concert halls. In TN Bob, along with, Sassy, his black, white, and silver Siberian Husky with blue eyes served as a hospice volunteer earning the Rutherford County Community Service award. Bob established his Sno-Dawg Ministry with Sassy’s successors Stasiu and Tadek, two solid white Siberians, making more than 8000 people visits in 2012. Church activities included Christian Education Chair, Choir, Youth Director, and Sunday School Teacher. Bob and Mimi enjoyed Nashville Music, being members of Nashville Opera Impresario Society, Benefactors in Middle Tennessee Choral Society where they established the Orpheus Beverly Sills Award with Bob serving on the Advisory Board, and Supporters of the Murfreesboro Youth Orchestra. Besides volunteering, Bob enjoys gourmet cooking, studying quantum physics, and cosmology. He loves reading a wide diversity of subject matter such as David Kennedy’s Freedom From Fear, Paul Kennedy’s Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Gleick’s The Information, Frank’s About Time, P.A.M. Dirac’s The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Brigid Pasulka’s A Long, Long time Ago, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Minchner, Halberstam, Kazantzakis, and Merejkowski’s Romance of Leonardo da Vinci. Bob and Mimi currently reside in Murfreesboro, TN.