Jim Conley

Background

About Jim Conley

I am a mechanical engineer (BSME, MBA, PE) with a passion for manufacturing, project management, data analysis, and business operations. I feel as equally comfortable discussing product planning with executive teams, presenting technical solutions to customers, or reviewing system startups with electricians on the facility floor. As I spent time designing mechanical systems (e.g, pumps, pipes, material handling, chillers, cooling towers, HVAC) for pharmaceutical, wafer fab, power generation, and consumer-good clients, I found a love for all-things-manufacturing. My natural entry point into the production-side of manufacturing was the project management of large capital expenditure projects, merging my engineering background with skills acquired from my MBA in Finance. I’ve managed capital projects and process improvements for data centers, food-grade manufacturing, and telecommunication facilities. Along this journey, I became a subject matter expert on quality and manufacturing processes for products as diverse as fiber optic lasers and electrical networking equipment. I’ve written thousands of customer-facing product quality reports, identified and implemented hundreds of process improvements, and been a key member on dozens of product recall teams. In my production manager role, my large team of direct-reports has assembled, tested, and packaged high-availability networking equipment and high-voltage power distribution units. I’ve led and trained my teams on NPI, Six Sigma, Agile, SDLC, ERP, MRP, CRM, and QA processes. Data analysis is another passion of mine. I strive to use data to find the most-efficient processes, whether I am tracking schedule and budgets in a project management role, writing SQL queries as a quality engineer, identifying product quality issues as a product manager, or measuring process improvements as a process engineer. The common thread throughout my career is entering a “new” environment, learning the existing processes and procedures, identifying opportunities for process or product quality improvement, and then breaking those complex processes into simple processes that can be implemented and measured. Project Manager • Project Engineer • Quality Manager • Product Manager Team Leadership • Capital Projects • Financial Acumen • Manufacturing Operations Improve Product Quality • Analyze Data for Decisions • Streamline Operational Processes Mechanical Engineer • Finance MBA • Licensed PE • Deep Customer Commitment