Sean Rattigan

Areas Sean Rattigan is Knowledgeable in:

Techniques Sean Rattigan Uses:

Sean Rattigan's Problem Solving Skills:

1. Innovative- view problems from many perspectives and generate creative approaches to solutions
2. Logical and analytical
3. over 10 years engineering experience- primarily involved in problem solving- from diagnosing PCBs to entire systems
4. detail oriented- the devil is in the detail- but in the framework of the larger picture
5. Excellent communication skills
6. Excellent planning and organisatinal skills
7. broad range of interests facilitate transplant of ideas from one area to another
8. fast learner
9. can operate very well under pressure
10. High I.T. proficiency

Sean Rattigan's Problem Solving Experience:

1. Electronics System analysis- Lottery Terminal: a company had development of a new product stalled for over a year due to continuing problems with a DC-DC converter circuit on a board (PCB) which experienced failures despite several modifications and partial re-design.
   I analysed the problem at system level and determined that the solution was- to scrap the PCB and the existing power supply and switch control.
   These were all replaced by a custom PSU (power supply) which was smaller, lighter, lower cost, eliminated a number of cables and parts, was more reliable, reduced assembly time and could also be used in a range of new products- a standard part for other machines!
2. Find an IT solution: E-learning. A number of students would arrive to class and not have notes from the previous class, or another class. Some students indicated they would like more notes, some felt that they received too many. Some wanted assistance outside class times...
   I researched an I.T. solution and found an open-source CMS (content management system). In a week I learned how to set up the site, got a domain name and hosting and made the facility available to students over the next few weeks. The CMS addressed the problems and cost less than $100 to implement.
3. Mechanical Failure- Tote betting machine: The plastics of the base were cracking in installations around Europe, the USA and South America. Two previous attempts by engineers in the US and Ireland had failed to resolve the problem. I identified ALL of the contributing factors from blowing agent, shot temp, assembly techniques and tools, types of hinges, force vectors, alignment etc. Designed new hinges and assembly methods. Reduced cost. reduced time to assembly. Completely eliminated bases cracking. reduced no. of parts required in assembly.
4. Materials and supplier problems- Problems with sub-assemblies such as keyboards and thermal print-heads represented 80% of production and field failures. Developed new alternatives with up to 20 times greater reliability but comparable cost.
5. Standardisation: A company had several different circuit boards which were used internally in their products , many of which did pretty much the same thing. I analysed what exactly each one did and, working with a design team, developed a single product to become a new standard. This would reduce inventory as only one product would be needed now rather than several. Another benefit was lower cost. Another was that the new uProcessor was powerful enough to take on other tasks so another sub-assy only needed a "slave" board rather than an embedded sub-sys.
   Multiple extra ports were facilitated to allow for future expansion.
6. Scanner: A company had manufactured 10s of thousands of a new scanner. Unfortunately when field techs replaced the scan head (CIS) they often broke a piece of plastic that held the CIS head in place. Although the plastic part was low cost (<30c) the problem was that it was taking almost 20 minutes to replace the plastic part. I designed a spring steel clip which could slide through an existing part of the plastic part and emulate the broken head retainer. It was held in place by integrated "teeth" and pressure on the teeth which were incorporated into the design. New repair time- 20 seconds! Cost, <30c. Initial run after sample approval- 20,000 pcs. Profit margin- 200%.
7. New Product Development: Worked as a team member on development of a thermal printer capable of printing at over 10 inches per second- fastest in the world! We also designed it for manufactur-ability- very few parts, some parts doing more than one thing, very reliable and easy to service. Lower cost than the proprietary printer being used in all products at that time.
8. Production issues: devised methods and solutions that reduced assy & test times by up to 50% (used both hardware fixtures and some programming changes)
9. Too much shopping. My wife buys too much stuff. Applied de-trashing ideas from manufacturing to allow more room, kaizen approach to laying out kitchen arrangement, stock control and production forecast ideas to show what was needed for the coming week and what we had surpluses of....
10. Too many toys- kids had a lot of toys. My wife was going to dump a lot of them. Got kids interested in selling on eBay and making money from old toys so thewy can get new (hopefully smaller) toys. Teaches them the value of money, lets them learn about business, reduces waste in the enviroinment, lets others get things they want at a lower cost.