Engineer, Entrepreneur, Artist
Sydney Area, Australia
- Current
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- Lead Consultant - Industry Logistics at Dematic
- Technical Director at Mechanimation Studios
- Executive Chair Man at Velafo
- Past
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- Manager, Engineering Projects at CHEP Asia Pacific
- Manager, Operations Programs at CHEP
- Founding Vice President at International Young Professionals Foundation
- Chief Technology Officer at Mechanimation Technology Services Australia
- Project Engineer at Bechtel
- Project Engineer at Minenco
- Education
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- QANTM Computer Graphics College (Sydney)
- The University of Queensland
- The University of Queensland
- Recommended
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2 people have recommended Michael - Connections
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50
connections
- Industry
- Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
- Websites
Michael Lucas’s Summary
Industries of expertise:
Product & Industrial Design (including visualisation)
Supply Chain, Logistics & Materials Handling
Robotics & Artificial Intelligence
Animation & VFX
My Goals - to enjoy myself by applying my creativity and technical expertise in a senior leadership role within a great business, with a view to arriving at CEO level in the next 5 years.
My Experience - many and varied!
I have run startup businesses in fields as varied as animation, furniture, engineering and IT. I've worked in Senior Management for some pretty large multinationals, recently with R&D responsibility for the Asia Pacific, and more recently as Lead Consultant in the supply chain and logistics arena.
I've been the president/chair of several large professional associations (the largest with 27000+ members), and chaired the inaugural International Young Professionals Summit. I have a passion for visual effects & character animation - but consider this a great hobby rather than a career prospect in the short term.
I'm listed as the inventor on more patents than I remember, covering everything from agricultural products to beverage products to software to robotics to materials handling. I have a PhD in Mechatronics Engineering that explored the industrial anthropology & sociology of designers designing in addition to coming up with a modular robotics prototyping system.
I've won awards for animation, design, engineering and technology, including winning the People's Choice Award in the HP / DreamWorks character animation competition, being Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year and taking out Best New Technology at the Karakuri International Robotics Festival in Japan.
Michael Lucas’s Specialties:
Industrial & Consumer Product Design (particularly plastics)
Materials Handling (particularly pallets, totes & cartons)
Robotics, Vision Systems and Artificial Intelligence
Patent and Intellectual Property drafting
Simulation, Animation and Visualisation
Michael Lucas’s Experience
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Lead Consultant - Industry Logistics
Dematic
(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Logistics and Supply Chain industry)
October 2007 — Present (2 years 2 months)
•Supply Chain auditing, analysis & consulting (including financial analysis)
•Concepting, design, analysis, modelling & simulation of integrated logistics systems for large multinational FMCG, Food & Beverage manufacturers, 3PLs and retailers under commercial-in-confidence arrangements
•Member of 3 person sales team responsible for development of large order fulfilment style full case & split case “goods to man” picking system
•Directing teams of Design & Estimating Engineers to detail & cost integrated systems described above
•Development of Knowledge Management System incorporating “Portfolio of Solutions” and “Criteria for Selection” for Manufacturing, Food & Beverage and Industry Logistics groups within Dematic
•Nominated for Dematic “Best New Achiever” Award 2008 -
Technical Director
Mechanimation Studios
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Animation industry)
July 2006 — Present (3 years 5 months)
Animation Industry: Character design and animation, rigging, rendering
Visualisation: Architectural walkthroughs, industrial process simulation
Design: Product design
Won 2007 People's Choice Award in the HP / DreamWorks Character Animation Competition for my character iBall.
www.mechanimationstudios.com -
Executive Chair Man
Velafo
(Furniture industry)
November 2004 — Present (5 years 1 month)
Executive Chair Man of innovative furniture company. www.velafo.com
Role involves overseeing operations (including outsourced manufacturing & logistics), sales & marketing and new business development, in addition to design of new furniture products, particularly in the luxury polymorphic range. -
Manager, Engineering Projects
CHEP Asia Pacific
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BIL; Logistics and Supply Chain industry)
August 2000 — August 2006 (6 years 1 month)
•Development of the Engine Pod, a re-usable plastic container for shipping GM GEN III V8 engines between USA & Australia. Included some work on the HFV6 Holden engine project.
•Design & prototyping of Nestable Flower Crate, a re-usable plastic container for transporting cut flowers between farms, distribution centres & florists. Crate is the subject of several international patents pending.
•Design &development of multi-product beverage tray for 1, 2 & 3L Milk, 1.25 & 2L Carbonated Softdrink & 2L Juice & Cordial bottles. The tray is the subject of two Australian patents pending.
•Design & development of collapsible wine crate & 1Touch merchandising crates & trays.
•Product development & technical support for Asia Pacific Sales & Marketing team, including design, modelling & construction of prototypes, liaison with customers, patent documentation.
•Various operations & engineering projects globally, including design, simulation & financial modelling. -
Manager, Operations Programs
CHEP
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BIL; Mechanical or Industrial Engineering industry)
August 2000 — August 2006 (6 years 1 month)
Reporting to Director, Global Process Technology & Vice President, Operations
•Brambles Global Leadership Development Program (2004/2005)
•Project Management and Development of new automated pallet inspection and repair system for global roll-out with a lean manufacturing and six-sigma focus. I was involved in all aspects of the project, from concept to installation of pilot plant and development of first full implementation site. Mechanical, electrical and software design; systems simulation and modelling; capital expenditure & procurement.
•Development of machine vision & associated artificial intelligence systems
•Member of CHEP Global Council on Pallet Repair; Member of CHEP Global Council on Factory Management Systems; Member of CHEP Global Council on Painting and Stencilling; Member of Global “Perfect Plant” teams.
•Design & development of robotic pallet stencilling system for North American pallet repair centres. -
Founding Vice President
International Young Professionals Foundation
(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Think Tanks industry)
2001 — 2001 (less than a year)
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Chief Technology Officer
Mechanimation Technology Services Australia
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Design industry)
March 1996 — August 2000 (4 years 6 months)
Design and implementation of projects across Queensland and NSW, mainly covering the agricultural, biomedical, aged care and manufacturing industries, with a focus on IT, machine design and product design.
As the founder of the business, I was responsible for business development in addition to my technical role. -
Project Engineer
Bechtel
(Privately Held; 10,001 or more employees; Construction industry)
April 1996 — June 2000 (4 years 3 months)
Continuation of Minenco position after Bechtel took over Minenco. Role involved project engineer / project documentation role for various projects including Century Zinc / Pasminco
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Project Engineer
Minenco
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Mining & Metals industry)
January 1995 — April 1996 (1 year 4 months)
Minenco was part of the Rio Tinto group, before being bought by Bechtel. My role began as a Graduate Engineer and grew in Mechanical Projects Engineer. I had responsibility for onsite implementation of the Calcined Ultrafines Bauxite Plant in Weipa for Comalco (first of its kind) and was project liaison on the Dumpbridge Remediation Works. This role also involved design work & feasibility studies for various projects particularly in the Coal industry (Queensland and Indonesia) and Bauxite/Alumina industries.
Michael Lucas’s Education
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QANTM Computer Graphics College (Sydney)
Diploma of Screen , Computer Graphics & Animation , 2006 — 2007
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The University of Queensland
PhD , Mechatronics Engineering / Design , 1996 — 2002
Thesis Title : On the Nature of Modularity in Mechatronic Prototyping.
Supervised by Professor David Radcliffe (now at Purdue)
Experience in
mobile and field robotics;
self reconfiguring mechanical and software systems;
engineering educaton;
industrial anthropology;
design theory- Activities and Societies:
- Ran the Robocon team in 1998, 1999;
design consultant to the Sunshark Solar Vehicle team;
Coordinator, National Engineering Summer School (1999)
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The University of Queensland
BE (Mech) Hons 1 , Mechanical Engineering (Design Major) , 1991 — 1994
Thesis : Development of ShaftCAD (Computer Aided Engineerng program for design of gearboxes, rotating shafts and other transmission components) (Supervised by Assoc Prof Tim Holt)
Major Design Project : Design of piston for X3 superorbital expansion tube (Piston for driving gas expansion tube used for testng of aerospace vehicles at hypersonic speeds) Supervised by Prof Richard Morgan- Activities and Societies:
- Member of EUS, MESS.
UQ representative on Young Engineers Queensland committee. Started Sunshark Solar Racing Team with Lauren Battle.
Additional Information
Michael Lucas’s Websites:
Michael Lucas’s Interests:
Artificial Intelligence Visual Computing & Computer Graphics Product & Industrial Design Inventing Traditional Animation Argentine Tango
Michael Lucas’s Groups:
Australia:
IEAust
APESMA
AIM
SYDGRAPH
International :
ACM SIGGRAPH (Computer Graphics)
ACM SIGART (Artificial Intelligence)
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ACM SIGGRAPH -
The University of Queensland Alumni -
The Logistics & Supply Chain Networking Group -
Industrial Design -
Design Research -
Product Design -
Packaging Design -
Supply Chain Today: Continuous Improvement, Technology Innovation, Executive Jobs, Education 10,000+ -
Make it so
Michael Lucas’s Honors:
People's Choice Award, Dreamworks/HP Character Animation Competition
Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year 1999
Finalist, Young Australian of the Year (1999, 2000, 2001)
Finalist, Young Queenslander of the Year (1998)
Engineering Excellence Awards (Research Category - High Commendation) 1999
Best New Technology Award (Karakuri International Robotics Festival, Japan 1999)
Design Award (Karakuri International Robotics Festival, Japan 1999)
Listed as inventor or co-inventor on several patents
Michael Lucas’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
