Raul Rodriguez III

Current

• CEO and President at The Graft Company, LLC

Past

• Joint Strike Fighter-F35, Systems Project Engineer at Northrop Grumman
• Joint Strike Fighter-F35, Flight Test Systems Instrumentation and Design Engineer at Northrop Grumman
• Electrical Launch Operations Systems Engineer for Titan II G9 & Titan IV B34 Launch Vehicles at Lockheed Martin

• Research Aircraft Integration Facility (RAIF), Flight Test Systems Integration Test Engineer at NASA
• Flight Loads Laboratory (FLL), Systems Development Aerostructures Engineer at NASA
• Electrical Launch Operations Systems Engineer for Titan II G13 & G8 Launch Vehicles at Lockheed Martin

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Education

• University of California, Irvine

Connections

58 connections

Industry

Defense & Space

Raul Rodriguez III’s Summary

Highly motivated, solutions-focused professional with extensive experience and an impressive record of achievements within the facets of Lean Engineering, Project Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Engineering Design.

Sound time and resource management skills to implement strategic process and operational initiatives to enhance productivity, quality, customer service, and overall bottom line performance.

Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with proficiency to promote confidence, build and maintain strategic company/customer relationships, while interfacing positively with people of diverse backgrounds

Proven ability to work with teams and independently against time constraints

Adept at recognizing areas in need of improvement and applying vision to develop and execute effective action plans

Analyzed and demonstrated systems and process improvements resulting in greater than $1.5M in hard financial savings

Assimilation and communicating of complex information with dissimulation across virtual and cross functional teams

Ability to think outside of the box, and thrive on new challenges

Experience in delivering projects that cover the full life cycle of assessment, design and implementation support

Ability to manage multiple/complex tasks without compromise of quality or productivity

Ability at problem solving and conflict resolution

A willingness to travel to meet company and customer needs

Raul Rodriguez III’s Specialties:

Six Sigma (DMAIC),Certification, Six Sigma Green Belt, 7/2006
Lean Engineering
Systems Engineering, Certification, Systems Engineering, 4/2005
Engineering Management
Project Engineering
Configuration Change Management
Flight Test
Space Launch Operations
Electronic Packaging
Engineering Liaison
2D and 3D CAD Design
CATIA V5: Basic, Drafting, Tubing, Sheet Metal, and Wire Harness

Raul Rodriguez III’s Experience

• CEO and President

  The Graft Company, LLC

  (Wine and Spirits industry)

  November 2005 — Present (4 years 1 month)

  Our company specializes in professionally grafting vines and trees. With a guarantee success rate of 90% we are consider to be the best in the industry.Our client list consist of some of the best wine and fruit producing companies in the world. Our services are currently provided, but not limited to, in California, Oregon. and Washington

• Joint Strike Fighter-F35, Systems Project Engineer

  Northrop Grumman

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; NOC; Defense & Space industry)

  May 2006 — January 2008 (1 year 9 months)

  Responsible for providing Project Management support to projects as assigned by Project Manager
  
  Responsible for taking ownership and making a commitment to improve project management knowledge and the F-35 JSF project management process
  
  Provide and facilitate the use of standardized project management tools for the project team to effectively manage technical adequacy, cost, schedule, and risk to maximize profit achieve customer satisfaction.
  
  Provide horizontal and vertical integration of programmatic issues to include keeping Management informed of issues that have potential of having significant impact to the F35 JSF program
  
  Facilitate change integration, and change configuration activities.
  
  Represented Northrop Grumman in weekly Change Control Boards to ensure that changes to a subsystem do not impede any existing designs
  
  Support of lean Kaizan process improvement programs by identifying and promoting process improvements

• Joint Strike Fighter-F35, Flight Test Systems Instrumentation and Design Engineer

  Northrop Grumman

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; NOC; Defense & Space industry)

  June 2003 — May 2006 (3 years )

  Responsible for requirements analysis, process documentation, selection, installation, and inspection as needed to support testing of
  large scale test articles. Flight Test System key focal point for
  CTOL, CV, and STOVL F-35 aircraft variants.
  
  Acted as liaison, coordinated meetings, and negotiated with
  Integral Product Teams, customers, and partners to resolve all system level interface issues and design differences, while minimizing impact to cost and schedule.
  
  Executed development and design of simple to complex detail 2D and 3D design layouts, and installation drawings
  
  Extensive use of CATIA V5
  
  Provided manufacturing and/or suppliers the guidance needed for fabrication, modification, and assembly
  
  Applied Six Sigma methodologies to reduce Engineering touch labor Hours per Build-to-Package (BTP)
  
  Attributed to $1.5 Million in hard savings

• Electrical Launch Operations Systems Engineer for Titan II G9 & Titan IV B34 Launch Vehicles

  Lockheed Martin

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; LMT; Defense & Space industry)

  June 2001 — September 2001 (4 months)

  Oversaw implementation of procedures required for launch readiness
  
  Administered briefs, debriefs, and progress reports on assigned team
  
  Applied electrical and mechanical principles to component design, and systems instillations
  
  Development of engineering drawings, analysis and documentation for Titan II payload Air Conditioning System
  
  Received commendation award for successfully and effectively completing task
  
  Established documentation, coordination of technical requirements and troubleshooting of system problems for Titan IV Programmable Aerospace Ground Equipment hardware and software

• Research Aircraft Integration Facility (RAIF), Flight Test Systems Integration Test Engineer

  NASA

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  June 2000 — September 2000 (4 months)

  Performed X-38 V131R Flight Termination System Strap Cutter relay system hardware flight certification test
  
  Successful testing of the Strap Cutter system allowed for confident forward progress of the Flight Termination System
  
  Performed Antenna Pattern Measurement Test on X-43A to verify adequate RF coverage at possible altitude ranges
  
  Executed Hardware-in-the-Loop tests, with utilization of LVDT’s to help control and understand unknown flutter
  
  Assisted in vehicle loads tests for both X-38 V131R and X-43A

• Flight Loads Laboratory (FLL), Systems Development Aerostructures Engineer

  NASA

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  September 1999 — January 2000 (5 months)

  Implemented a contact temperature measurement technique using a Blackbody Sapphire Lightpipe Temperature Sensor to control surface temperatures on a carbon-carbon control substrate above 2000 degF
  
  Established a technique to calibrate lightpipe temperature sensor up to 2732 degF using a NIST calibrated optical Pyrometer thereby controlling temperatures accurately and repeatedly on carbon-carbon structures at high temperatures without disturbing the substrate with bonded thermocouples

• Electrical Launch Operations Systems Engineer for Titan II G13 & G8 Launch Vehicles

  Lockheed Martin

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; LMT; Defense & Space industry)

  June 1999 — September 1999 (4 months)

  Oversaw and conducted system validation and verification tests on assigned systems with designated crew
  
  Responsible for installation, operation, and troubleshooting of ground and launch vehicle control systems
  
  Administered in fabrication, and installation of aerospace harnesses/cabling and avionics equipment
  
  Obtained perfect safety record on all projects

Raul Rodriguez III’s Education

• University of California, Irvine

  BS , Electrical Engineering , 1998 — 2003

  California Institute of Technology: Certification, Systems Engineering, 4/2005
  University of California, Los Angeles: Technical Management Program, 9/2006
  Breakthrough Management Group University: Certification, Six Sigma, 7/2006

  Activities and Societies:

  MAES, SHPE, CAMP, Sigma Lambda Beta

Additional Information

Raul Rodriguez III’s Groups:

•    Luxury & Lifestyle Professionals
•    International Space Fellowship
•    Aerospace Professionals
•    Young Entrepreneurs of America
•    Continuous Improvement, Six Sigma, & Lean Group
•    Aero Contractor
•    Team Speed
•    PLM
•    Aerospace & Defence
•    Luxury World Expo - Miami
•    Luxury Addict Group
•    Defense & Aerospace
•    Defence Network
•    Luxury Recruit for Luxury & Lifestyle Professionals
•    LOCKHEED MARTIN CONNECTIONS
•    Aerospace and Defense Professionals
•    Defense & Aerospace Networking Professionals
•    L4P

Raul Rodriguez III’s Honors:

Northrop Grumman IS: JSF F-35 Honoree of the Month, July 2007
Northrop Grumman IS: Timely Awards Plan Award, December 2006
Northrop Grumman IS: EL&T Executive for a Day Program, September 2005
Northrop Grumman IS: JSF F-35 Honoree of the Month, August 2004
Lockheed Martin Space Systems: Commendation Award, September 2001

Raul Rodriguez III’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch