Dave Schaefer

About Dave Schaefer

Award-winning multi-faceted management professional offering over 2 decades’ progressive…

Experience

1. Technical Services Manager

   Rable Machine Inc

   Mar 2024 — Present · Mansfield, OH, US

   Dynamically managed a team of 18 with 4 direct report Managers. Responsible for the Engineering, Tooling, Quality and Maintenance departments. Actively carried a departmental workload while engaging in daily shop-floor activities, providing hands-on support, problem-solving, and technical mentoring across a facility operating 100 CNC machines * Achieved a 98% win rate on existing business and 27% on new business quoting activity by building value-based relationships, delivering the right quality products, and offering a range of manufacturing solutions.* Reduced customer returns and allowances from 13% to 2% by training Quality team members to follow a process-driven, tightly managed control plan and ensuring operators adhered to detailed work instructions.* Decreased scrap from 9% to 2% through improved accountability, transparency, and engagement; enhanced process auditing; daily Material Review Board walks; and increased ERP reporting accuracy.* Contributed as a key member of a cross-functional leadership team rebuilding company culture and processes through leadership alignment, consensus-based Standard Work, and a Fail Fast–Fail Often–Fail Forward mindset* Strengthened Maintenance operations to reduce downtime, improve cycle time, and enhance part quality. Reintroduced preventive maintenance programs, established cost centers to track expenses, and collaborated with key tooling partners.* Improved expense budget variance from 30% to 8% on a $1.5M budget by leveraging supplier pricing, tracking tool consumption by job, machine, and employee, and insourcing metrology gauge recertification. Set clear expectations and provided frequent performance feedback.

Education

• The Ohio State University

  BSME

Skills

• Manufacturing
• Lean Manufacturing
• 5s
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Dmaic
• Injection Molding
• Mrp
• Solidworks
• Strategy
• Supply Chain
• Six Sigma
• Product Management
• Continuous Improvement
• Product Development
• Operations Management
• Engineering
• Product Design
• Value Stream Mapping
• Process Improvement
• Fmea
• Engineering Management
• Operational Excellence
• Kaizen
• Supply Chain Management
• Root Cause Analysis
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Process Engineering
• Design for Manufacturing
• Spc
• Quality System
• Iso
• Business Process Improvement