Leras Lamont

• Setup in house rapid prototyping and reverse engineering facility. Developed the process for production of prototypes and trained technicians to operate the facility
• Developed product designs with consideration for potential corrosion and wear.
• Conducted engineering studies on design for products, associated and subsystems components and structures.
• Worked with fabricators to test prototypes and develop production processes.
• Drafted documentation detailing design requirements and technical specifications.
• Used 3D printing to meet design specifications for functional prototypes.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to conceptualize and refine product concepts.
• Developed high-quality engineering designs and plans to meet industry standards.
• Developed comprehensive engineering documents for all projects.
• Performed complex calculations to analyze and optimize engineering processes.
• Trained and mentored junior engineers, providing guidance and direction.

TTD manufactures tooling, jigs and fixtures, predominantly for the automotive industry. This includes blow mould, injection mould and press tooling.

My role at Tugwell included the following responsibilities:

• Project Management - including staff management, machine utilization
• Material procurement
• Design revision level management
• Archival and engineering pack management
• Customer management
• Leadership and mentorship
• Continuous improvement
• Quality management

In addition to this I do the production management of a small start-up sister company POLYGEN (Polymer Generation) aimed at moulding small parts and niche manufacturing, like pad printing and value add operations such as assembly of parts for injection moulded sub assemblies. I oversee the day-to-day logistics and quality processes of the plant.

As Engineering Manager I worked with customers such as Ford, Mercedes-Benz South Africa, Nissan, BMW, VW and Toyota. I supported these customers with localisation development projects to ensure that they meet local content requirements within program time scales.

I travelled to customer factories in Germany and all over South Africa as the engineering representative for Vacuform, to support customer build events. I am familiar with engineering change management procedures for all local OEMS

When managing new projects my role required that we could ensure supply as well as integrate all tooling required to manufacture parts to the agreed scope of work. This included the mechanical design and manufacture (3D printing or inhouse pattern making) of auxiliary tooling such as operator aids, and light weight equipment. These included presses and hand tools to increase process efficiency and minimise process time for the production of parts.

My role as engineering manager included the following responsibilities:

• Liaised with OEM development engineers to ensure product feasibility.
• Procurement of new equipment or specialised machines like vision systems, specialist welding machines and butyl application systems that match the company standard.
• Tool maker management - all cost effective tool makers are managed to ensure they are not overloaded, and that tooling is complete on time
• New tooling development - local and international
• Product validation testing - I developed test plans and ensured product compliance with the relevant specifications
• Quality management - in new project phase
• Project hand over
• Project management
• New product development
• Feasibility assessments of new business

At Vacuform 2000, I worked closely with many automotive customers, manufacturing blow moulded, vacuum-formed components for the automotive industry

I assessed the parts and analysed the processes that are involved with producing the parts in order to optimise them and resolve issues that they may have encountered during production. 

I liaised with customers to ensure that we met all their requirements and worked towards maintaining a good relationship with them. I worked closely with Ford at the Automotive Incubation Development Centre, where we produced the extended bed load bin liner

Some of my responsibilities included

• Tool Design
• Customer liaising
• Project management
• New product development
• Design and validation of new products
• Feasibility assessments of new business
• Prototype Part production
• Robot Programming - Yaskawa 6 Axis
• Part Measurement & Metrology - Geomagic Control X