My current role involves Project Quality Assurance Management at Alstom. I am part of Alstom's Digital & Integrated Systems division and oversee Projects Quality Assurance for Urban Rail Transport Projects in the Singapore & Malaysia Clusters. These projects encompass Monorail Projects, Fixed Block, and Moving Block Projects. Prominent projects include Singapore's BPLRT, Thomsonline, Circle Line, and Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur KVMRT.

Reporting to the Cluster & Productline Quality Directors, as well as Project Directors, I have managed the following in Urban Railway Signalling Projects: Project Quality Safety Assurance in accordance with Alstom's Corporate Roles & Responsibilities, Quality Management System Audits, Process Improvement Projects, Performance Improvement Projects, 8D management of Defects and Customer Satisfaction. I have also conducted trainings, and mentored new recruits in Quality, Engineering, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Project Management Departments. In the capacity of Quality Manager, I have overseen a spectrum of development activities and deliveries from Alstom to Customers like Land Transport Authority, Singapore. These deliveries included Specification-Design Deliverables, System Software, Railway Signalling Data, Material-Equipment, Verification & Validation Execution, and On-Site Tests Execution.

In my most recent past role, I was associated with ex-Bombardier Projects delivered from Bangkok as a Process Referee. In this role, I assisted several ex-Bombardier Signalling Projects in transitioning to the new converged processes following Alstom's acquisition of Bombardier's Rail Transport Business.

In my previous roles, I served as a Project Quality Safety Manager for India's Kochi Metro, Jaipur Metro, and Bangalore Metro. 

Titles Held in Alstom: 

1. Project Quality & Safety Manager - East Asia Projects - Bengaluru, India (July 2023 onward)

2. Project Quality & Safety Manager – East Asia Projects  - Bengaluru, India and Bangkok, Thailand (July 2021  till June 2023)

3. Project Quality Safety Manager - Bengaluru, India (December 2019 till June 2021)

4. Responsable Qualite - Saint-Ouen Sur Seine, France (December 2017 till November 2019)

5. Project Quality Safety Manager -  Bengaluru, India (June 2016 till December 2017)

6. QSRW Lead - Bengaluru, India (September 2011 till May 2016)

Responsibilities: 

Project Quality Management:

• Led Process Convergence programs for Ex-Bombardier Projects, CMMi road map, Trainings, and Workshops.

• Supported, guided, and monitored Project Core Teams in deploying applicable processes.

• Managed and executed DFQ (Development for Quality) Gate Reviews & GR (Gate Review) Action follow-up.

• Highlighted Quality Issues & DFQ GR actions in management reviews (MPR / CPR / GPR / FPR).

• Supported and engaged in Project Work Package Reviews. Reviewed QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) metrics in work packages and monitored Cost of Non-Quality.

• Deployed problem-solving tools and approaches through 8D/QRQC/A3 to improve problem-solving reactivity.

• Ensured Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and action plan for Non-Conformances (NCs) from Process Inspections, Process Assessments, Design Reviews, Gate Reviews, Industrial Reviews, Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Customer & Client complaints.

• Conducted Work Product inspections, Project Process Inspections, and managed actions for compliance. Ensured optimum Process Compliance through collaboration with Process Networks via Process Waivers and Process Change Requests.

• Supported Tender Activities by ensuring Outline Quality Plan. Proposed Tender Workload, participated in Tender Design Reviews & Tender Gate Reviews.

• Created and maintained Local Project Quality Managers’ REX (Return on Experience) Knowledgebase for sharing best practices. This enabled a quick start for new recruit Quality Managers in Bangalore.

• Designed & managed Project Quality Dashboards with KPIs: Project Change Requests, Gate Reviews On-time, Cost of Non-Quality, Waiver Requests, Aging on Project Change Requests, Project Safety Issues, Customer Defects, Warranty Anomalies, Design Review Status/Progress, Pending Process Inspections, Pending Open Items from Process Inspections, Pending Open Items from Project Audits.

Engineering Quality Management:

• Supported & reviewed Delivery Planning (Engineering Delivery Plan / Baseline Delivery Plan).

• Conducted Delivery Reviews & safety approvals for all SW/HW installed on train-borne & trackside equipment.

• Supported, reviewed, and monitored Installed System Configuration. Ensured Configuration Management in line with defect apportionment & defect closure.

• Reviewed Baselines via Configuration Reviews and evaluated the impact of modifications on Quality & Safety of Signalling System.

• Monitored signaling system & subsystems’ progress through change control boards.

• Supported & reviewed Requirement Management via Requirements Management Reviews.

• Collaborated with Project Engineering for PBS (Product Breakdown Structure) definition and RAM (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability) allocation, logistic constraints, and Warranty Team for spare parts estimation – as per contract conditions.

Supplier / Material Quality:

• Supported & Managed Quality Activities related to Manufacturing / Material / Equipment through Supplied Parts List (SPQD / FAI / FAT management as per SPL).

• Ensured Quality of Specifications to suppliers ahead of orders.

• Controlled & Managed manufacturing readiness via FAIs. Collaborated with SQ (Supplier Quality) Manager and SPQDs to ensure bottlenecks are resolved before FAI, FAT.

• Collaborated with Industrialization Manager for Industrial Deliverables.

• Planned and managed the Project Industrial Reviews in line with the SPL.

• Reviewed NCR (Non-Conformance Report) Metrics to ensure reactivity and resolution from Supplier for Material / Equipment defects.

• Reviewed critical defects directly with the supplier and deployed structured Problem Solving to protect the customer.

• Collaborated with SQ Organization in Crisis Management Actions for super-critical supplier issues.

• Controlled and managed the transfer of technology to contract manufacturers through ToT (Transfer of Technology) reviews.

Field Quality Management:

• Managed & executed reviews on Installation, Test & Commissioning (Installation Design Reviews, 4M reviews, Handover Reviews).

• Defined Quality Control Plan and managed Quality Control Activities at the site as per the plan.

• Ensured tracking of Material Non-Conformances and associated Cost of Non-Quality raised at Incoming inspections, Installation inspections, and T&C (Test & Commissioning) inspections.

• Monitored & Tracked Supplier interventions at the site (retrofit activities).

Warranty Management:

• Collaborated with Project Warranty Manager for Warranty Management deliverables.

• Monitored actions for spare parts management and ensured on-time purchase.

• Followed up with Supply Chain organization to ensure warranty execution.

• Ensured periodic Warranty Work Package Review and followed up on pending customer deliverables.

• Ensured QCD targets for Warranty Management Work Packages.

• Supported end of Warranty final acceptance via –Warranty Dashboard and communication of actual data.

• Supported Clearance of internal/customer punch lists, by monitoring activities related to design, safety, and software modifications.

• Supported Obsolescence Management through periodic obsolescence reviews.

Reliability Management:

• Collaborated with Project Reliability Engineer for Reliability deliverables.

• Monitored Problem Solving in coordination with project team members. Provided instruction to warranty/maintenance teams for corrective actions at the site.

• Defined and set right the Data collection process for RAM (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability) Monitoring & demonstration.

• Ensured tracking of project reliability/availability performance. Managed an action plan for gaps against the target.

• Supported Reliability Growth plan by ensuring failures data collection & analysis for reliability growth.

• Evaluated the impact of modifications on reliability.

• Ensured Return on Experience consolidation for platform teams through regular updates of the REx (Return on Experience) database.

Safety Management:

• Collaborated with Project Safety Manager for Safety Deliverables.

• Planned and managed Safety Reviews in line with Gate Reviews.

• Supported Safety Reports, Safety Cases in line with Alstom Processes, CENELEC Standards, and Contract.

• Reviewed Safety Cases for engineering changes.

• Contributed Quality Management Report of the Safety Cases.

• Planned & Managed Safety Authorisation for Revenue Service Projects.

Organisation Quality Management:

• Lead Internal Auditor for ISO 9001:2015.

• Expert and Trainer for Development for Quality.

• Expert and Trainer for 8D Problem Solving.

In this role at Honeywell's Pune unit, I managed NPI Quality Assurance for New Construction, Value Engineering, and Continuation Engineering Programs. These programs developed Instrumentation and Software Products for the Oil and Gas Industry. I delivered Program Quality Manager responsibilities in line with Honeywell Corporate Rules for global, multisite, distributed development NPI Programs. Additionally, I fulfilled Management Representative responsibilities for the Product & Technology Services Business Unit of Honeywell Pune. Notably, I rolled out Design for Excellence (DfX) and HPS Iterative Process initiatives and established a structured Customer Feedback System for internal clients of the Product & Technology Services Business Unit.

NPI Quality Assurance:

• Served as the QA Leader for NPI Programs – Managed Quality Assurance for NPI Programs (Software Products development & Embedded Products development). Oversaw Quality Assurance for NPI "Program of Programs" and "Programs".

• Managed Tier1 & Tier2 gate reviews and actions closure - Participated as a panel member on Tier2 Gate review meetings for voting on Go-No Go decisions.

• Successfully migrated legacy product developments to iterative development methodologies (HPS Iterative Process).

• Managed NPI Programs' Quality Goals - Development Lifecycle Quality Goals and Product Quality Goals.

• Ensured Product Quality through Sigma Score Card, FMEA/DFMEA, QFD, DFM/T, DFR, Pugh Matrix.

• Oversaw Release Quality through Process Sigma Scores, Process Compliance Scores, Code Review Scores.

• Ensured robust review of Marketing Requirements and captured the Voice of the Customer (Customer CTQs).

• Collaborated and deployed use cases based requirements management.

• Deployed iterative development methods for GUI-intensive products.

• Ensured orthogonal defect management.

• Managed Product Market Introduction through Release Readiness Reviews.

• Managed 8Ds (internal & external failures) and ensured root cause analysis and corrective action plans.

• Managed metrics collection relative to Development Lifecycle through early stage process & tools tailoring.

• Provided Process trainings & lifecycle tools trainings to program teams.

Software Quality Assurance in NPI programs:

• Defined & managed Software Quality Assurance for NPI Programs.

• Managed software quality assurance through Requirements Reviews, Design Reviews, Code Reviews, Unit Test Reviews, Discipline Reviews, Workshops, Process Compliance reviews, Software Test reviews.

• Managed Iteration and Phase end reviews and published Process Compliance Summary report. Managed subsequent action closure reviews.

• Defined and managed quality metrics for software development activities.

• Supported internal CMMI assessments for software programs and their action plans closure.

Hardware Quality Assurance in NPI Programs:

• Managed Hardware Quality Assurance for NPI Programs - focused on reliability, testability, manufacturability, design re-usability.

• Managed hardware quality assurance through DfX reviews, Reliability Assurance planning, hardware process audit, hardware verification & validation.

• Defined and managed quality metrics for hardware development programs.

• Managed phase end reviews and published Hardware Quality Summary. Managed subsequent action closure reviews.

• Collaborated in Design Reviews and ensured Quality by Design. Managed closure of Design Review actions.

• Collaborated in FMEA reviews, Design for Manufacturability Reviews, Design for Testability Reviews.

• Led and deployed Design for Excellence (DfX) reviews and ensured Design Re-usability, Defect Leakage reduction, and localization.

• Collaborated with Sourcing Teams and Manufacturing Teams for early cross-functional collaboration with the Design Team and minimized manufacturing cost overruns.

• Ensured Reliability Assurance Plan from Product Reliability Manager and System Reliability Manager.

• Managed manufacturing readiness via “Manufacturing & Test Engineering reviews” and achieved the launch of Production Trial Run and Pilot Production.

• Ensured design Right First Time through Test Architecture assessment and achieved defect escape reduction. Managed Development Engineering changes on issues identified from Manufacturing Tests.

• Reviewed and approved test types and minimized leakage of latent defects.

• Collaborated in developing DfX guidelines (DFM, DFT, DFR, etc.) at the HPS level.

Process Owners Group:

• Collaborated with the Process Owners Group (POG) and rolled out annual POG Charters. Ensured Process Assets replenishment, trainings, pilot rollouts, life cycle tools deployment, and global best practices deployment.

• Ensured POG’s Root Cause analysis on Customer Feedback and contributed to Process Quality Improvement. Domain POGs increased from 2 to 6 as a result of POG review of customer feedback results and audit results.

• Managed Process Review calendar ensured a positive influence on POG Annual Charter.

• Deployed the Six Sigma Score Card for non-NPI software programs and enabled the measurement of Rolled Throughput Yield & Sigma Score.

• Authored the Process Document on "Tear Down analysis". Established Quality Plan template.

• Collaborated with POGs for Six Sigma Project identification. Conducted progress review on six sigma projects.

Organization Quality Assurance:

• Fulfilled the role of Management Representative for Product & Technology Services.

• Established the measurement of Quality Objectives.

• Planned & Managed ISO Internal Audits through a team of 17 internal & lead auditors.

• Reported Quality & Customer Satisfaction MIS.

• Several NC & audit findings resulted in improvements in core technology processes.

• Managed continual process improvement related to Six Sigma, Quality Management System, ISO & NPI Requirements.

• Rolled out Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ) measurement in SAP and an electronic customer satisfaction survey tool.

Metrics & Analysis management:

• Managed the roll-out of the measurement system for Metrics. Managed NPI Quality Assurance via analysis and actions on the below metrics:

  • Defect Density

  • Hardware Cost Targets

  • Program cycle time (Cycle time variance, SPI, CPI)

  • Hardware Design Quality Index

  • Product Sigma Score

  • Process Sigma Score

  • DfX Adherence Score

  • Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ)

  • Customer Satisfaction Scores & Customer coverage for internal feedback surveys

  • Month on month defects MIS on defect trends across categories

  • Process Changes implemented/approved by Process Owners Groups

  • ISO Audits plan/completion MIS & Open Non-Conformities MIS

  • Quality Objectives MIS

In this role at HCL's Chennai (Egmore) unit, I was responsible for independent QA planning and implementation for British Telecom's support team. I was involved in process improvement through Six Sigma tools & projects, analysis, and audits.

Quality Assurance & Planning

• Conducted fortnightly reviews of performance progress.

• Created and monitored action plans for improvement, identified problem areas, and influenced the launch of Six Sigma projects.

• Devised a Quality Metrics dashboard and reviewed & deployed metrics required for operational progress.

• Documented and drafted the existing process model.

• Conducted quarterly audits across teams to assess compliance & adherence to Quality Metrics.

• Presented audit findings & gaps to the management team.

• Tracked the progress of Six Sigma projects to assist the General Manager in reviewing Six Sigma projects.

Activities & Analysis

• Improved Right First Time (RFT), a client metric, from 33% to 65% by utilizing Six Sigma tools to create and implement improvement projects for controlling RFT.

• Performed statistical analysis on: Internal Quality Scores, Abandon Rate, Inbound Volume Forecasting, and End-user satisfaction scores.

• Published a Monthly Quality metrics dashboard (Table F and 'RFT post mortem & forecast data,' and 'MIP daily pending' reports.

• Implemented report generation tools for capturing & tracking metrics.

• Implemented version control for internal software tools.

• Deployed a Control Chart for key Quality Metrics.

• Developed an Audit Analysis Tool in Excel VBA for archiving and retrieving historical team scores.

• Represented & headed HCL at several quality review meetings with the client.

• Restructured the Quality Monitoring Check Sheet.

• Published the Quality Scores through a Bulletin Board (based on Tiddly Wiki).

Trainings

• Delivered training programs for key Points of Contact on quality & process requirements.

• Underwent trainings on COPC, Six Sigma Green Belt, Forecasting & Scheduling, and Advanced Excel.

In this role at Sutherland's Chennai (TIDEL Park) unit, I was responsible for Quality Monitoring and Quality Improvement.

• Monitored and managed performance metrics and call transactions.

• Mentored team members & team leads on quality parameters.

• Implemented ABC categorization & sampling plans for Quality Improvement action plans.

In this role at Apna's Bengaluru Unit, I was responsible for Application Engineering in the Process Automation and Instrumentation area. 

• Developed, tested, and deployed a Spring Test System for a renowned Spring Manufacturer in Bangalore.

• Developed and supported instrumentation solutions based on Embedded Computing.

• Trained new recruits on LabVIEW.

• Managed sourcing circuit board fabrication.

Lanuages

• English  ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Francais ⚫ ⚫ 

• Tamil ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Hindi ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

• Kannada ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

Quality Management Skills

• Six Sigma Tools ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Root Cause Analysis ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• 8D Problem Solving ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Rapid Problem Solving ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Lead Auditor ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Quality Management System ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

• Continuous Improvement ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫

Computer Skills

• Microsoft Office Suite ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

• Salesforce (Chatter, Customer Satisfaction Surveys) ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

• Tiddly Wiki ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

•  Minitab ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ 

Expertise

• Project Quality

• Development / Engineering Quality

• Hardware Quality / Software Quality

• Supplier Quality

• Post Merger / Post Aquisition Integration

• Project / Stakeholder Management

• Process Improvement Projects

Inernational Standards Expertise

• ISO 9001:2015 (Lead Auditor)

• ISO 14001 (Lead Aditor)

• CENELEC EN 50128, EN 50129, EN 50126

• REACH

• RoHS

• Alstom Level 4 Expert and Trainer - 8D PST, July 2023

• Alstom Level 4 Expert and Trainer - Develoment for Quality (DFQ), April 2016

• Internal Auditor ISO 14001:2004 - March 2017, Namagiri Assocites 

• Internal Auditor OHSAS 18001:2007  - March 2017, Namagiri Associates

• Honeywell Six Sigma Green Belt - DFSS - May 2011

• Honeywell Six Sigma Green Belt - DMAIC - November 2009

• Lead Auditor ISO 9001:2008 - March 2010, DNV

• Lead Auditor ISO9001:2008 - January 2008, BSI  

• Alstom Excellence Award - February 2017 - For extraordinary Contributions toward "PrQSM REX knowledgebase" 

• Honeywell Bravo Award - September 2010 - For driving Improvements in NPI Process for India Specific Projects 

• Honeywell Bravo Award - September 2008 - For Implementing Customer Feedback System in PTS Business Unit 

• Madras University - September 1998 till June 2002, Chennai, India

Bachelor's in Engineering - Electronics and Communication Engineering

• High School Certificate - June 1996 till June 1998, Chennai, India 

Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science, Alpha Matriculation & Higher Secondary School, Chennai, India