Todd Metcalfe Facilities Engineering & Industrial Safety Expert

Todd Metcalfe, Facilities Engineering & Industrial Safety Expert

Todd is a Facilities Engineering and Industrial Safety Expert with over two decades of diverse experience in manufacturing and quality engineering for industrial machinery, heavy commercial vehicle components, and consumer products. As an Industrial Engineer, Todd’s manufacturing activities have required him to concentrate on factory floor safety. He has a broad background in machine guarding, industrial safeguards, personal protective equipment, training, and supervision. Todd applies his expertise to forensic casework involving personal injury and economic loss claims.

Todd’s formative years as a manufacturing engineer were spent at NACCO Materials Handling Group in a forklift manufacturing plant, granting him deep expertise in forklifts and the mechanical and hydraulic systems involved in their manufacture and in their operation. Over the course of a decade he held engineering roles responsible for painting and coating, assembly, custom fabrication, quality control, and shipping of forklifts under the Hyster and Yale brand names.

The next decade of Todd’s career was at Bendix in the manufacturing of air-powered drum and disc braking systems for semi-trucks, trailers, over the road trucks, delivery vehicles, and other heavy commercial vehicles. He expanded his expertise in the operations and safeguarding of assembly lines that involve advanced robotics, electronic measuring equipment, automated conveyors, load cells, and other pieces of sophisticated manufacturing technology. Todd has additional experience in the manufacturing of consumer products, specifically freestanding ovens.

Todd earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Kentucky. He holds certifications in Demand Flow Technology (DFT), Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma, among others. He is a Certified Internal Auditor by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) International Automotive Task Force (IATF). Todd has received OSHA and ISO training. 

Background includes approximately 25 years of field applications experience, with expertise in industrial, workplace, and machine safety in a variety of manufacturing facilities and environments in the private sector.

Project management experience in industrial manufacturing facilities. Expertise in lean manufacturing practices and principles along with industrial/workplace safety and has applications experience with American Society for Quality, American National Standards Institute, American Society for Testing and Materials, International Standards Organization, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and International Automotive Task Force.

General categories of experience include, but are not limited to:

  • Product testing to established industry standards and guidelines
  • Industrial & workplace safety improvements, compliance & training
  • Forklift/material handling operations, safety, and training
  • Warehouse racking and materials handling/storage
  • Conveyor installation, use, and troubleshooting
  • Contractor management
  • Manufacturing process improvements
  • Automation equipment
  • Workstation design and layout
  • Six Sigma tools and statistical analysis
  • OSHA compliance
  • Hazard analysis: Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) applications
  • PPE policies, procedures, and applications
  • Hazard identification and abatement
  • Facility lighting
  • Project management
  • Loading dock safety
  • Recycling equipment and waste handling
  • Establishment/management of Kanban systems
  • Manufacturing plant cleaning and 5S methodology
  • Team member training & development
  • Lean manufacturing practices, principles, and applications
  • Quality assurance/control procedures including statistical process control (sampling and analysis)

Manufacturing Processes: General machining, metal forming, grinding, soldering, aligning, workplace layout, equipment location/positioning and painting, failure modes & effects analysis, lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma applications.

Material Handling Processes: Automatic guided vehicles, forklift manufacturing and operation, forklift devices including pallet, container and drum handlers, pallet jacks, hand trucks, carts, and lifting devices.

Machinery: Cable winches, pumps, jib cranes, monorail cranes and hoists, overhead bridge cranes, presses, screw conveyors, belt conveyors, roller conveyors, chain conveyors, insertion and crimping machines, roll machines, pick and place robots, extruders, and packaging equipment.

Machinery Safeguarding: Identification of hazardous actions and motions of machinery, safety interlocks, power transmission guards, point of operation guarding, pinch point guards, failsafe modes, caution and warning signs, emergency stops, lockout/tagout, safety light curtains, two-hand controls, guard doors, operation, and instruction manuals.

Safety: Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and EPA compliance, material safety data sheets (MSDS), confined space entry, hot work, electrical hazards and energy control (lockout/tagout), emergency stops, guard doors, training requirements, policies and procedures, inspections, OSHA guidelines and compliance, hazardous material handling, labeling, use, storage and disposal, proper selection, use, training and maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE), hazard analysis, risk assessments, and fall protection.

Professional Experience

Robson Forensic, Inc.

Associate

2022 to Present

Provide technical investigations, analysis, reports, and testimony toward the resolution of disputes related to facilities engineering as well as industrial, workplace, and machine safety.

Hennessy Industries-BADA Division

Quality Manager

2020 to 2022
  • Established policies and procedures for facility and machine safety.
  • Lead quality and environmental management systems including product safety to drive corrective actions related to product reliability and compliance to standards.
  • Primary contact for internal and external (General Motors & Subaru) customers related to product concerns.
  • Ensured compliance to OSHA and EPA guidelines and regulations.
  • Analyzed warranty and internal non- conformance data to drive safety and reliability improvements on processes, material and/or product design.
  • Participated in daily shop floor walks for safety and ergonomic compliance including proper powered industrial truck usage (seat belt, safe operation techniques, etc.).
  • Member of plant safety committee contributing during the review of requirements/standards on various topics including fall prevention, arc flash, machine guarding/safety, and ergonomic design guidelines software (Humantech) training and use.

Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Quality Engineering Leader and Senior Customer/Process Quality Engineer

2017 to 2020
  • Supported quality and environmental management systems to ensure specification compliance during the manufacture of freestanding cooking equipment including brand names: Frigidaire, Kenmore, and Crosley.
  • Investigated product failures.
  • Supported process and product engineering.
  • Identified and reduced component and manufacturing defects/deviations from standard as well as verified warning notifications and safety instructions.
  • Lead manufacturing cell layouts and verified bill of material (BoM) and methods used during assembly and testing for both gas and electric products related to customer safety critical items and consumer product standards.

Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake, LLC

Advanced Manufacturing Engineer IV and Change Manager
Manufacturing Engineer and Change Manager

2007 to 2017
  • Lead workplace safety initiatives.
  • Project manager for design, build and installation of assembly equipment including review and approval of safety and ergonomic aspects including machine guarding.
  • Team leader during ISO9001, IATF16949 and ISO14001 plant certifications.
  • Collaborated with German sister plant on equipment transfer and EU standards.
  • Certified lead auditor for ISO9001 and IATF16949.
  • Developed and maintained labor standards; workstation design and integration; performed equipment assessments; created and maintained work instructions.
  • Lead 5S events for improvements in workstation safety and ergonomics.
  • Supported plant layout activities to meet safety and ergonomic guidelines.
  • Process FMEA team leader that drove FMEA maintenance as well as alignment with Design FMEA focusing on product safety critical design specifications.

NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc.

Manufacturing Engineer
Lean Manufacturing/DFT Engineer

1998 to 2007
  • Responsible for assembly, defect reduction, support for custom fabrication and painting/coating of forklifts under the Hyster and Yale brand names.
  • Gained knowledge in forklift mechanical and hydraulic systems including their manufacture and operation.
  • Team leader during manufacturing design through production activities.
  • Evaluated workstation design and performed equipment assessments.
  • Liaison between design team and customer for troubleshooting, repair, and warranty activities.
  • Supported final test process to ensure specification compliance.
  • Assisted special product engineering to ensure custom features were installed and functioning correctly.

Education

B.S., Mechanical Engineering with Mathematics minor, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Continuing Education

  • GAGEtrak 7.0 Calibration Management Software, CyberMetrics, 2021
  • AIAG IATF 16949: 2016 Internal Auditor, Plexus International, 2021
  • ISO/TS 16949: 2009 Internal Auditor, BSI, 2016
  • Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Bendix
  • Lean Manufacturing, University of Kentucky
  • Demand Flow Technology, John Costanza Institute of Technology (JCIT)

Professional Affiliations

Order of the Engineer

General

  • Hunting experience: firearms, archery equipment and safety
  • Tool and equipment application experience: chainsaws, trimmers, blowers, and lawnmowers

v. 08/13/23

Related Resources

See All of Todd's Published Content

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By Todd Metcalfe
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