Gabriel Velazquez

Background

About Gabriel Velazquez

I’ve been hard at work since I was 8 years old. I would wake up at 4am on weekends and summers to help at my mom’s restaurant any way that I could. From washing dishes to prepping food, I was excited about it all. It’s no surprise that my 16th birthday present to myself was walking around downtown San Antonio applying for jobs. I still remember the feelings of excitement when the general manager at Mc Donald’s called me after my interview to start orientation as a cook. My nickname at Mc Donald’s was “SpongeBob.” I’d acquired this amazing title with my ability to run the kitchen by myself. I was ambitious, hard-working, and determined to handle any number of customers that came through the door. What I didn’t know is that this fast-food job was paving the way for me to discover my passion: efficiency. This discovery led me to major in Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University. The idea that I could make a career improving processes fueled me though my undergrad and internships. In retrospect, I had to streamline the burger making process by identifying and exploiting bottlenecks, standardizing quantities of food to prep, requesting equipment that could reduce cycle-time, setting up grill/fryers based on highest demands, and maintaining high quality so that customers were happy. Now that I have over 5 years in industry, I realize that my work ethic as a teen helped shape my professional career. I pride myself on getting my hands dirty to fully understand what a job entails. This has impacted those around me by showing that I’m fully committed in creating a work environment that meets everyone’s needs. Being efficient involves much more than cost savings, higher throughput, and cycle-time reduction. It involves making improvements for the workers, whose voices often go unheard, to show that they are valued. Specialties: Process improvement, Continuous improvement, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Data analysis, Problem solving, Project management, Management, Optimization, Manufacturing, Robotic welding, Rhinoceros, Faro scan, Geomagic Control, Geomagic Design X, SolidWorks, Standardization, Work instructions, Root cause analysis