Bill Neal

Digital Light Processing (DLP) Front Projector product market share was shrinking, and management wanted to better understand the reasoning, and also help customers develop strategies to improve product offerings and improve sales. DLP had many customers, each with different product capabilities and limitations that prevented a competitive offering.

Worked to understand the apparent electronics cost structure for the competing technologies. Developed complete system cost models for both… Show more

Digital Light Processing (DLP) Front Projector product market share was shrinking, and management wanted to better understand the reasoning, and also help customers develop strategies to improve product offerings and improve sales. DLP had many customers, each with different product capabilities and limitations that prevented a competitive offering.

Worked to understand the apparent electronics cost structure for the competing technologies. Developed complete system cost models for both technologies, as the various cost for all system elements were brought together. Focused on feature comparisons and identified key differences that could be leveraged to open new markets. Teamed with key companies to understand the trends that would shape the new markets, and prepared a comprehensive analysis.

As a result, a 17% potential market share increase was achieved. Show less

Bringing 3D capability into the consumer’s home was seen as a potential opportunity to extend and increase the demand for products. Consumer demand for Digital Light Processing (DLP) HDTVs was beginning to shrink because of the rapid insurgence of LCD technologies, and 3D had long been a novelty with almost no ecosystem to support content availability.

Defined a comprehensive plan to work with key industry leaders in several important areas that create TV content. Improved the quality… Show more

Bringing 3D capability into the consumer’s home was seen as a potential opportunity to extend and increase the demand for products. Consumer demand for Digital Light Processing (DLP) HDTVs was beginning to shrink because of the rapid insurgence of LCD technologies, and 3D had long been a novelty with almost no ecosystem to support content availability.

Defined a comprehensive plan to work with key industry leaders in several important areas that create TV content. Improved the quality and perfected the ability to demonstrate the capability in many forms. Worked to conduct strategic meetings and demonstrations, ultimately building relationships and action plans with all interested parties.

The strategy significantly increased demand for 3D HDTV and DLP products through multi-industry ecosystem awareness, support, expansion and content creation. Show less

The company needed to segue from a legacy military development approach to product cost basis, in order to achieve a price point that would be viable within the consumer market. This required an acceleration of assembly and test cycle times to reduce costs, and the existing processes delivered poor yields, and hands-on operator involvement drove manufacturing costs and cycle time too high for a volume product.

Estimated an appropriate cost and translated to the desired cycle time. Formed… Show more

The company needed to segue from a legacy military development approach to product cost basis, in order to achieve a price point that would be viable within the consumer market. This required an acceleration of assembly and test cycle times to reduce costs, and the existing processes delivered poor yields, and hands-on operator involvement drove manufacturing costs and cycle time too high for a volume product.

Estimated an appropriate cost and translated to the desired cycle time. Formed and led a cross-functional team of experts to develop potential ideas for a new approach, evaluating several approaches using multiple production variables. Created a Continuous Flow approach and presented the development plan to senior leadership for approval.

The strategy led to a more than 82% improvement in assembly and test cycle time. Show less

A Government Technology Development program to create the highest resolution sensor in the industry required weapon system deliveries for demonstration of program success. Program funding and the remaining schedule for the planned weapon sight system development were both inadequate for the effort.

Formed a cross-functional team and operated with the approach of heavily reusing existing components from current product designs, but some would be modified for the resolution increase… Show more

A Government Technology Development program to create the highest resolution sensor in the industry required weapon system deliveries for demonstration of program success. Program funding and the remaining schedule for the planned weapon sight system development were both inadequate for the effort.

Formed a cross-functional team and operated with the approach of heavily reusing existing components from current product designs, but some would be modified for the resolution increase. Developed a detailed project plan with cost and resource needs to drive the project. Guided the team through the new design elements, necessary design modifications and system integration for the new technologies.

Three new Technology Demonstrator Weapon Sights with the highest resolution in the industry were delivered on schedule. Show less

In order to expand the company’s product capabilities, new innovations needed to be developed from a purely military market, to a consumer market. However, the team did not have a strong understanding of appropriate feature requirements or consumer solution options.

Analyzed product-level requirements that would drive architectures, recognizing the cost, flexibility, expandability, size, time and other factors. Defined several consumer-oriented approaches for the solution, selecting… Show more

In order to expand the company’s product capabilities, new innovations needed to be developed from a purely military market, to a consumer market. However, the team did not have a strong understanding of appropriate feature requirements or consumer solution options.

Analyzed product-level requirements that would drive architectures, recognizing the cost, flexibility, expandability, size, time and other factors. Defined several consumer-oriented approaches for the solution, selecting three for a detailed system architecture design at the preliminary level. Completed the preliminary design and proceeded to product design.

As a result, 10 new patent applications, including six as a co-inventor, were generated to drive new products and enhance existing products. Show less

Existing electronics solutions for the company’s military products were too expensive to effectively enable a new commercial business, and a major driver in the cost was the price programs paid for FPGA. Various product solutions used different FPGA vendors, sizes and delivery terms, and each program purchased solutions separately, thus driving up costs.

Maximized design reuse and commonality in the larger organization, leading the effort that developed a new more highly integrated… Show more

Existing electronics solutions for the company’s military products were too expensive to effectively enable a new commercial business, and a major driver in the cost was the price programs paid for FPGA. Various product solutions used different FPGA vendors, sizes and delivery terms, and each program purchased solutions separately, thus driving up costs.

Maximized design reuse and commonality in the larger organization, leading the effort that developed a new more highly integrated electronics architecture using only an FPGA. Worked with major FPGA vendors to understand pricing and technology roadmaps, selecting a preferred vendor based on a number of parameters. Collaborated with supply chain team to develop a strategic relationship with vendor.

The end result was a more than 68% cost reduction on a key electrical component. Show less

In order for a product to be viable and successful as a consumer product, it had to have temperature measurement capability and be delivered in a configuration that consumers would accept. Existing staff had no experience in designing consumer products for this type of thermography capability.

Directed a team to understand needs and create industry credible thermography, as well as to develop a consumer appropriate product configuration concept. Led a competitive analysis and assessed… Show more

In order for a product to be viable and successful as a consumer product, it had to have temperature measurement capability and be delivered in a configuration that consumers would accept. Existing staff had no experience in designing consumer products for this type of thermography capability.

Directed a team to understand needs and create industry credible thermography, as well as to develop a consumer appropriate product configuration concept. Led a competitive analysis and assessed design techniques, temperature measurement performance, packaging styles, cost drivers and feature sets. Devised several potential prototype-system implementations to better understand design and performance trades, leading to a finalized product concept.

The company generated the first-ever consumer appropriate Thermal Camera experience adapted from military technologies. Show less

A major competitor was taking significant commercial market share with recent product introductions, due to product size and power consumption. Management directed an R&D effort to establish new size and power benchmarks. Existing electronics and software architectures drove the larger size and power consumption, and developing a new architecture was expensive and risky.

Developed an architecture concept to create a fully integrated, all-FPGA solution for maximum size and power… Show more

A major competitor was taking significant commercial market share with recent product introductions, due to product size and power consumption. Management directed an R&D effort to establish new size and power benchmarks. Existing electronics and software architectures drove the larger size and power consumption, and developing a new architecture was expensive and risky.

Developed an architecture concept to create a fully integrated, all-FPGA solution for maximum size and power reduction. Directed a team to refine the concept and identify the major tasks needed. Developed a detailed project plan to manage all activities, including major technical challenges and risks. Mitigated risks and worked with other teams to verify certain system capabilities, demonstrating equal or better performance. Conducted full design verification of the resulting design prior to implementation.

A 57% power reduction and 42% overall size reduction were achieved. Show less

The current process for an engineering circuit board layout and assembly was both cost and schedule prohibitive. In order to meet budget limitations, cost reductions were necessary. Legacy military procurement processes geared toward production of mature designs were causing severe delays, and added considerable costs to programs during the initial development phases.

Worked with key members of the procurement organization to understand processes and to help the team understand board… Show more

The current process for an engineering circuit board layout and assembly was both cost and schedule prohibitive. In order to meet budget limitations, cost reductions were necessary. Legacy military procurement processes geared toward production of mature designs were causing severe delays, and added considerable costs to programs during the initial development phases.

Worked with key members of the procurement organization to understand processes and to help the team understand board design development processes. Collaborated to develop a multi-phased developmental approach better suited for the needs of the organization. Secured buy-in from senior leadership and evaluated several potential partner companies, selecting the best overall partner.

A 20% cost reduction and 40% schedule reduction was achieved as an end result. Show less

Extending the life of Digital Light Processing (DLP) HDTVs in the industry through bringing 3D capability into the home required the development of low-cost 3D shutter glasses for customers that would provide the best user experience possible. However, the only 3D-shutter glasses available were for industrial applications, very expensive, very bulky and had inadequate contrast.

Built a cross-functional team to develop the appropriate concepts and technologies for the product design, and… Show more

Extending the life of Digital Light Processing (DLP) HDTVs in the industry through bringing 3D capability into the home required the development of low-cost 3D shutter glasses for customers that would provide the best user experience possible. However, the only 3D-shutter glasses available were for industrial applications, very expensive, very bulky and had inadequate contrast.

Built a cross-functional team to develop the appropriate concepts and technologies for the product design, and worked alongside management to determine how best to generate company revenue. Created a detailed project plan and led the team through the design activities using Agile methodologies. Developed relationships with key technology providers, facilitating the necessary materials, capabilities and end-product designers to outline strategy to make and sell the glasses.

After various design concepts and working prototypes, a US patent was generated leading to millions in new revenue. Show less

A customer was unhappy and considering canceling a program due to underperformance. Management said the program was too important and must be saved at all costs. The majority of the major system designs were either incomplete or non-compliant, and many of the major sub-assemblies were being developed by external companies with little to no direct oversight or control.

Stepped in and immediately assumed leadership of the program, developing a detailed plan to drive the results. Worked… Show more

A customer was unhappy and considering canceling a program due to underperformance. Management said the program was too important and must be saved at all costs. The majority of the major system designs were either incomplete or non-compliant, and many of the major sub-assemblies were being developed by external companies with little to no direct oversight or control.

Stepped in and immediately assumed leadership of the program, developing a detailed plan to drive the results. Worked alongside management to add the necessary resources and build a team to redesign non-compliant components and create a compatible backup electronics solution. Provided additional technical resources to other key sub-assembly teammates, and ultimately achieved on-time compliant deliveries.

The program was saved, and the damaged customer relationship was repaired. Show less

In order to continue as a primary production provider of products for the U.S. Army, the company needed to successfully compete for the funding and create the next-generation of innovative capabilities and products. The next-generation solution required a great degree of integration and complexity to combine and utilize data and imagery for both the weapon sight and night-vision goggles used.

As Technical Lead for the proposal efforts, leveraged a strong understanding of proposal… Show more

In order to continue as a primary production provider of products for the U.S. Army, the company needed to successfully compete for the funding and create the next-generation of innovative capabilities and products. The next-generation solution required a great degree of integration and complexity to combine and utilize data and imagery for both the weapon sight and night-vision goggles used.

As Technical Lead for the proposal efforts, leveraged a strong understanding of proposal requirements and the customer’s key decision criteria. Worked with proposal team leaders to develop an overall win strategy and approach for gaining the necessary technology components. Identified and developed relationships with the selected component suppliers, and worked to develop system concepts and value propositions for each of the proposed configurations.

The company was able to generates several million in new revenue over 2.5 years. Show less