Steve Needels

About Steve Needels

Highly accomplished executive with domestic and international experience in Operations Management, New Product Introduction, Internal Manufacturing and Outsourcing, and Quality Management in both startup and Fortune 500 organizations. Quality roles include product and supplier/manufacturer qualification, sustaining manufacturing, quality and customer interface. Experience in doing business in China (including 2 years as an expatriate), Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Korea, United States and Europe. Successfully qualified and mass produced several new products in Asia while restricted from travel during Covid. Managed manufacturing and quality teams worldwide. Drove process, yield, cost reduction and quality improvements at both captive and contract manufacturers. Transferred production from US to China and directed repair of over $1M of US failed inventory while living in China. Also, remotely managed the repair of inherited failed inventory at captive manufacturing facility in Taiwan. Setup new processes that were missing, including establishing a brand new team for returns processing, defining quality acceptance sampling plans, and establishing a formal quality system which allowed many types of consumer/OEM Electronics products to go to mass production with high SMT/FT yields, under tight timelines while also maintaining high quality and reliability. Supported global OEM customers as Director of Customer Quality. This included problem resolution, understanding customer qualification requirements/issues, processing quality agreements and presenting in business reviews. The foundation of my experience is supporting manufacturing of both electronic products and semiconductors. Possess a passion for making sure that products ship to customers with high quality and at a reasonable cost. Accomplished this by taking a process oriented approach to achieve consistent results. Core Competencies Proactive Quality Management of Manufacturing, Customers and Suppliers Systematic approach to New Product Introduction (NPI) to minimize production issues Test and processing strategies to minimize cost during manufacturing Maintained control over internal manufacturing, suppliers and subcontractors through formal audits and ongoing monitoring Willing and capable to tackle new challenges and new areas of responsibility Able to jump in and solve technical problems for the team when needed Able to recruit, motivate and develop my teams

Experience

1. Consultant

   Electricfish

   Aug 2022 — Present

   Smart Grid backup/EV charger Reviewed the current product offering for Smart Grid and facilitated the CEC application for funding future production ramp. This also included creating a proposed manufacturing floor layout for the submission. Full amount of $1.7M award money requested was ultimately granted. Collaborating on DFM/DFA for next generation product design. Work within constraints of size/weight/stability, thermal properties/airflow, assembly and serviceability, and aesthetics/usability for an optimized system design.

Education

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  BSEE

• Santa Clara University

  MBA