Kevin Ley

Background

About Kevin Ley

Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” – Margaret Cousins INSPIRATION As a child growing up near Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, I watched my dad as he fixed things around the house. He would sometimes articulate how frustrated he was with the poor quality in material or design of certain items. I would imagine myself as a super-scientist who created only robust, non-wasteful products. In junior high school, I accompanied my dad to work at times. He was a computer scientist at 3M. I would write programs on an old TTY input terminal. Hardly anyone in my school knew what computers were—or even what programming was at that time. It felt great to be in on new technology. My first position was as a research engineer in an environment where I needed to perform my duties amidst active production. I interacted with the operators and assemblers. Instead of viewing this as a frustrating obstacle, I understood that they provided valuable insight into how easy or difficult their production steps were. A design could be great, but if hard to produce, affecting expensive processes with lower yields, it actually falls short. I listened to the teams as they performed these processes so that I could modify my designs and, subsequently, they were easier to manufacture. I love what I do because it allows me to improve lives. Whether it is through the development and delivery of a new product that protects or enhances an individual's well-being or by creating processes and tools that allow an individual or team to perform work efficiently is my goal in my profession. kcley@msn.com (612) 323-9382 Medical Devices | Cross-functioning Team Leadership | Product Development | Design Control | Product Launch | ISO 13485 | Program Management | Manufacturing | Process Improvement | Strategic Planning | Quality System | Management | Product Management | Six Sigma | Design for Manufacturing | Research & Development (R&D)| Design of Experiments | Team Leadership | Verification & Validation (V&V)| Engineering Management | Continuous Improvement | U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)| PMO