# Michael Tsai > Product Design Manager- Battery Pack at Apple Location: San Jose, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/michaeltsai PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Innovative, passionate results-focused leader with 25 years of progressive engineering and business experience in safety-critical systems including project and program management, competitive analysis, target setting, product design, test development, advance component packaging, component releasing and development, component testing and certification to UL, ANSI, CSA and IES code standards, supplier sourcing, production launch support, process sign offs, manufacturing review, and supplier quality assurance(APQP). Engineering experience includes component and system design in two different industries, including design of components made from cast iron, aluminum, forgings, rubber, plastics, and integration of electronic components. Pushed boundaries of technology to maximize function in addition to optimizing efficiency and cost of new and current production products. Business experience includes scoping projects to enable flawless product launches including extensive leadership in global teams, management of standard development processes, risk mitigation and creation of new tools, strategy and processes to keep project deliverables on track to launch. Core Skills and Competencies Skill set includes international team building and management, resource and expense planning, utilization of CATIA & Pro-E, large scale data analysis and management, presentations to upper management, FMEA, GD&T, tolerance stack, FEA, DOE, DFA, DVP&R, Design for Six Sigma, Measurement System Evaluation, Thought Maps, Trade-off Analysis, Product and Process Maps, Kaisens and critical thinking leading to sound decision making. ## Work Experience ### Product Design Manager Battery Pack @ Apple Jan 2021 – Present | Cupertino, California, United States Doing the best work of my life... ### Project System Integrator Lead/Manager @ Whirlpool Corporation Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | St Joseph, Michigan, United States Led large scale global projects integrating the requirements of Engineering, Marketing, Manufacturing, Program Management, Procurement and Quality to launch projects on time, below cost and exceeding quality. • Led a 30M project to launch a new 24” Free-Standing range architecture consisting of 197 new SKU’s across all of EMEA and NAR markets. Presented technical and business case updates to the business team to enable delivery of desired business outcomes. • Managed program schedule, resources, expenses, capital and contingency plan to minimizing project risk to enable successful delivery of key project KPI’s • Created and adapted new tools outside of our standard processes to quickly assess business/engineering tradeoffs, monitor program status and quickly communicate to all stakeholders in the organization from executives to lab technicians. New processes have been highlighted as a best practice. • Motivated teams to exceed past standard job duties by integrated team members in multiple regions, cultures, experience levels and functional teams. Set high expectations in work ethic and adaptability to manage in an uncertain environment. • Used Critical thinking to continually break down roadblocks caused by inter-team conflicts, insufficient or competing project requirements, late change requests or inadequate process adherence, etc ### Engineering Manager / Lead Engineer @ Whirlpool Corporation Jan 2014 – Jan 2019 | Saint Joseph, MI Developed and managed a global team of 10 engineers to lead the design of all Free Standing Range consoles across North America and Europe. • Created and executed a strategic roadmap to integrate engineers in Pune, India, Celaya, Mexico and Cleveland, TN into one cohesive design organization to execute Global products. Leverage work hours across three time zones at lower resource cost to improve efficiency by 400%. • Managed the engineering resource plan for all console cooking projects by allocating specific resources and skill sets to projects and provided one-on-one and team coaching to improve leadership, communication and overall product delivery competency. • Defined the base console architecture strategy across global products to leverage best practices in design and manufacturing capability. • Leveraged knowledge reuse globally by centralizing best practice knowledge in a central information database that included design guides, engineering concept selection matrices, A3’s and benchmark/baseline information. ### Senior Mechanical Engineer @ Whirlpool Corporation Jan 2009 – Jan 2014 | Saint Joseph, MI Led the design and development of various cooking appliance projects through target setting, concept selection and technical feasibility to meet project cost, quality and launch requirements. • Designed, developed and launched a $3 million common console architecture for a new slide-in range flexible enough to deliver five unique UI console aesthetics and features to meet specific customer requirements for different product brand identities. • Executed a three phase launch cadence from concept to launch as the technical lead on a new Kitchenaid brand downdraft cooktop. • Identified and resolved emerging design and manufacturing issues during pilot production builds on a new commercial range. Facilitated meetings with a cross-functional teams to document, assign, and prioritize issues for resolution prior to launch. ### Program Manager @ Chrysler Jan 2006 – Jan 2008 Managed a new $250 million C-segment vehicle program by coordinating cross-functional teams to use a new process to acquire and translate “Voice of the Customer” insights to define product level and engineering requirements. • Successfully applied Design for Six Sigma tools to acquire and analyze customer wants and needs from three different markets to align product features and strategy for the next generation C-segment class vehicles. • Created an innovative database with an easy to use customizable interface that consolidated, analyzed and simplified the complex data set of customer insights regardless of user computer skill level. Database interface became the corporate benchmark and template. • Communicated, assessed and directed the strategy for the platform team by creating financial roll-ups, technical assessments, budget management, and cost reduction opportunities. • Tracked, assessed and initiated common Business, Engineering, and Best Practices to support corporate operations in functional areas such as Finance, Marketing, Procurement, Strategy, and Design. • Negotiated and established a common CATIA math data release definition between Chrysler and Mercedes to enable a common product development cycle. • Published the first global Action Letter to communicate changes in program direction and to establish product development direction across two different business units. ### Product Lead Engineer @ Chrysler Jan 1999 – Jan 2006 Managed $40 million in capital investment by designing and developing automotive hardware components and modules. • Realized $6 million in investment and $10 million in annualized part per vehicle by leading a cross-functional team to design and launch a common suspension architecture common to three vehicle programs • Coached three engineers on the technical aspects of suspension design and the AQP process to ensure program deliverables were achieved on time. • Reduced prototype investment and development time by introducing new CATIA v5 based Core Knowledge Based Engineering tools (KBE) to simulate accurate dynamic suspension movement early in product design and development. • Resolved emerging issues in vehicle wheel alignment by initiating and facilitating meetings with a cross-functional team to predict, plan and execute optimal vehicle alignment performance in quality, warranty, and manufacturing consistency prior to vehicle launch. • Led the implementation of the corporate module strategy by communicating, coaching, and coordinating the activities of component engineers across multiple vehicle platforms. ### Durability Engineer @ DaimlerChrysler Jan 1997 – Jan 1999 Conducted laboratory tests to evaluate and optimize the durability and reliability of JEEP suspension systems, including creating, defining and executing component fatigue and yield tests to full-scale vehicle data acquisitions. Improved operational efficiency by 66% by redefining the workflow process utilizing automated NSOFT macros and templates to quickly analyze and report field test data. • Successfully completed the largest vehicle data acquisition project consisting of over 100 data channels and data collection from three different proving grounds. Extensive use of Megadac instrumentation and Nsoft analytical software. • Modified the standard process to report test results by eliminating interim reporting steps and initiating direct input into PPAP documentation which improved timing and accuracy of test result documentation and communication. • Supervised and prioritized work of bargaining unit employees to root cause issues and complete projects on time • Performed fatigue analysis and recommended solutions and options to improve component and system designs to optimize reliability and functional performance. ## Education ### Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Business Administration and Management, General University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business ### Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering University of Michigan-Dearborn ### Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Michigan State University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mhtsai --- Source: https://flows.cv/michaeltsai JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/michaeltsai/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13