Engineering Systems Consultants Inc. (ESC), based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a management consulting firm that focuses on implementation and results. We help clients in disciplines such as Business Process, Operations Management, PMO, Program/Project Management, Product Development Process, and Change Management. We utilize Lean Sigma methodologies and PMI's Project Management techniques. ESC’s portfolio spans companies in Indiana, Michigan, Texas, and Canada.
Mission
Our mission is to help our clients be and stay competitive by improving their operations, lowering their costs, and improving their product quality.
Extended Services
ESC partners with other companies and consultants who provide specialized services. Our associates span many related services such as Cost Estimating, Software Development, Supplier Representation, Quality Auditing, and Training.
ESC is led by Sam Wakeel
Sam Wakeel, PhD
Dr. Sam Wakeel has a PhD in Engineering from the University of Iowa. He has over 17 years of professional experience in the Automotive, Orthopedic, and Energy Generation industries. His work portfolio includes Ford, DTE Energy, PMP (Canada), Navistar, DURA, Edscha, Cummins, Caterpillar, Government, and others.
While working for Ford, he held several engineering, product, and management positions within the Lincoln LS, Explorer, and Expedition programs, and the Blue Diamond Joint Venture. His work within Ford and with its suppliers has resulted-in significant cost reductions, numerous improvements in designs, and error proofing of assembly processes. He has received an award for 98% reduction in warranty.
Most Recently, he has successfully led a product development assessment and improvement engagement with a major orthopedics company in the US. Read case study...
In addition to consulting, Dr. Wakeel has taught many courses to undergraduate students such as “Principles of Design” at University of Iowa Engineering, "Applied Structures III" at Purdue Engineering, and "Operations Management for a competitive environment" at Indiana Business School.
Stacey Trick has 22 years of experience in the Orthopedic industry. Her work portfolio includes Depuy (varying positions), Kinemad, Richards Surgical Manufacturing Co. , and others. Ms Trick's expertise cover Change Management, Organizational Development, Product Launch Execution, Product Portfolio Management, Process Improvement, Commercialization, License & Acquisition (L&A), and Identification & Assessment of innovative product concepts. She has a passion for people development and emotionally intelligent leadership.
During her fifteen years at Depuy, Ms. Trick held several engineering, product, and management positions with increasing responsibility. In her last position as Director of Depuy Extremities and Trauma Group, a $260M business, she improved “speed-to-market” for the new product commercialization process. She has also improved product launch execution from 2 products in 2002 to 9 in 2005. While at Kinamed, she developed hip and knee replacement implants, and Alumina Ceramic prostheses. Ms. Trick has been consulting for several Medical Devices clients since 2006.
In addition to work responsibilities, Stacey has co-chaired the Women's Leadership Committee at Depuy and increased its membership from 25 to 80 members.
Stacey has obtained her BS degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She holds five patents: #6,350,695, #6,393,617, #6,513,168 for Head Gear Apparatus, #6,711,748 for Head Gear Apparatus Having Movably Mounted Fan, and #6,610,097 for Prosthetic Cup Assembly Which Includes Components.
Andrew Cothrel has over 20 years of experience in medical products such as diagnostic devices, research systems and reagents, orthopedics, and emergent care medical devices. He worked with companies ranging from start-ups to industry giants. His experiences cover all phases of the business cycle and multiple business models.
His corporate career consisted of rising through roles of increasing responsibility in R&D, engineering, manufacturing, strategy, and executive management, and included projects in Japan, Europe, and Puerto Rico. His 17-year career across Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Mannheim, and Roche Diagnostics culminated in a VP/Site Manager role at Roche. This background is rounded-out with 5 years of entrepreneurial experience, most intensively in the last 2 years via consulting.
Mr. Cothrel obtained his undergraduate degree in engineering from Ohio State University, followed by a Masters in engineering from the University of Michigan, where he attended as a National Science Foundation Fellow. He has furthered his studies in business at Butler University, University of Michigan, Cranfield University (England), and the London Business School. He also has extensive training in supply chain management, statistics and quality tools/systems, advanced manufacturing methods (including high proficiency in “lean/6s”), business strategy, negotiating, and people/team leadership.
John Poris has over 23 years of experience in Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing, Program Management, and Sales. John has held positions with increasing levels of responsibility at IBM Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Visteon, and Microheat.
John’s tenure at Ford Motor and Visteon gave him extensive experience working globally with suppliers to help them resolve current issues and improve their quality, engineering, and manufacturing systems -- enabling them to prosper in today’s highly competitive world. He has worked with a wide variety of manufacturing technologies and product categories and brings to his clients expertise in Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Problem Solving, Process Improvement, and Lean business, engineering, and manufacturing processes.
John has held the positions of Vice-President of Engineering and Vice-President of Quality at Microheat, an innovative start-up Tier-One automotive supplier. In these positions John was instrumental in establishing and managing the company’s Engineering and Quality functions, launching production of the HotShot (a windshield washer fluid heater), and developing their suppliers.
John holds undergraduate degrees in Electrical/Electronics Engineering and in Near Eastern Studies/Languages. He also has two Masters in Industrial Engineering & Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan and a MBA from University of Detroit-Mercy.
Mr. Alex Yunis is a highly skilled information technology Manager and Enterprise Architect. He has 14 years of wide-ranging, extensive, hands-on experience in developing complex enterprise solutions. Alex experience covers all areas of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including: requirements gathering, scope definition, analysis, architecture, planning, estimating, design, development, coding, testing, implementation, maintenance, documentation and support.
The business solutions that Alex has been involved in include e-Commerce, B2B Integration, and CRM, in several industries such as Automotive, Retail, Manufacturing, Distribution, Health Care, Telecom, Legal, Banking, and Insurance. His client portfolio includes International Truck & Engine (ITEC), AT&T, BankOne, Lucent, IBM, Avaia, Citi Group, Honda, Mazda, MBUSA, Who’sCalling, BlackBook, Mitsubishi, and First Union.
Mr. Yunis has acquired his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Science degree from DeVry University, Columbus, Ohio. In addition, Alex is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD .Net), Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD.Net), and has five Microsoft Certified Professional Certificates.
For over 20 years, Matt has been providing leadership and structure for ill-defined situations. A specialist in information and communication technology (ICT), he has been involved in both the design and leadership components of business start-ups, new products, and process redesign.
He recently led a successful redesign of DTE Energy’s supply chain batch receipting process.
Mr. Caemmerer is currently providing executive leadership for a constellation of startups including wireless signal detection, a pre-qualification web service, and an online world for children. He is also the Vice President of Strategic Development for Contrado Partners – a company focused on assisting early stage products or companies reach the market, and on the Board of Directors for Sapotek – an open-source software company that designs and develops virtual computers (used in over 20 countries).
Throughout his professional career, Matt has taught at schools and universities. He is also an accomplished photographer and has published over 500 digital images.
