Charles Renz

• Leader of Research & Development, Quality Assurance and Program Management departments for $360MM Consumer Products Business. Leader of over 50 people within my division.
• Leader of R&D and Quality for the following brands: NUK and Gerber Infant and Toddler Products, Quickie and Lysol Cleaning Tools, , Lehigh and SecureLine Cordage, Crawford Garage Organization, MAPA Gloves and Billy Boy Condoms.
• Responsible for Global Product Development, New Product Innovation, Product Quality & Safety and the Project Management Teams for the overall business unit.
• Member of Jarden Home & Family Executive Leadership Team to set business strategy and make key organizational decisions.
• Created and established the organization’s R&D and Program Management teams, a new R&D center and the corporate New Product Development Stage Gate process to drive best-in-class product design.
• Directed all Mechanical Engineering activities including evaluations of mechanical designs, manufacturing, capital and tooling, quality, timelines, cost and project budgets.
• Established a culture of innovation and quality, bringing new technologies, creative ideas, and continuous improvement into the organization.
• Established a process for managing an ongoing 3-year Product Pipeline with an eye on strong innovation and continuous growth for the company.
• Built strong cross-functional partnerships and collaboration with the marketing, operations, and international teams to drive corporate synergies.
• Re-organized the Asia Engineering Office in China to provide appropriate, targeted resources that assist the U.S. team in product development, sourcing, quality assurance, cost savings and identifying new innovations and technologies.
• Partnered with external inventors and development teams to bring new product innovations into the Jarden Home & Family product portfolio
• Used Zero Based Budgeting to build an R&D Budget that focuses resources on innovation and design excellence.
• Established a Design Control process for medical device products within the Infant Care division.
• Established the R&D processes, product development tools and resources needed to bring new ideas and products to market faster and with excellence.
• Drove the Quality Assurance teams to actively address consumer complaints, improve product quality and proactively address all quality and safety issues. At the same time, established vital quality practices within the NPD process to drive quality into the early design phases.
• Provided employee training and career development to cultivate talent within the organization.

2003-2007, 2011-2013:

• Engineering Manager of the New Product Development team for development of Playtex infant care products.
• Successfully led the development and qualification of Playtex Infant Care products:
  • Products include:Playtex Electric and Manual Breast Pumps, Ventaire Advanced bottle systems, Playtex Premium Nurser system with expandable Drop-ins liners, Playtex Ortho-pro and Binky Pacifiers, the Playtex Sippy Cup lines, the Playtex Bottle Accessories lines, the Playtex Breast Milk Storage systems, etc.
• Responsible for setting the strategy and building the roadmap for future product development.
• Used consumer insights to identify product innovation and product improvements.Consumer insights found through ethnography research, home product testing, consumer complaints, etc.
• Worked closely with cross-functional teams, including marketing, purchasing, operations, China manufacturing, internal manufacturing, sales, regulatory and legal teams.
• Led the selection and implementation of engineering group’s ProEngineer CAD system, data management tools, and prototyping and measurement equipment.
• Streamlined the infant care processes into DDM electronic system
• Led consumer testing, quality improvements
• Developed Class II medical device and wrote 510(k) and maintained design history files and design controls through product development
• Plastic processes:Injection molding, ISBM, IBM, EBM, plastic decorating (pad printing, in-mold labeling, etc.), thermoforming, silicone LIM and compression molding

2007-2011:

• Leader of the Package Engineering Group (2007-2009) in charge of all primary and secondary packaging for $750 MM business:

• Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Playtex Tampons, Playtex Baby, Wet Ones, Playtex Gloves and Playtex Personal Care brands
• Private Label Sun Care and Infant Care business

• Hired, trained and managed a staff of 10 engineers and technicians to support all of package development
• Created packaging innovation group responsible for identifying new technologies and key partners in the packaging industry to drive packaging innovation.
• Built an innovation and product development process for the package development group
• Spurred major packaging innovation and changes to key consumer product brands
  • Re-invented the entire Hawaiian Tropic sun care packaging line.Developed concepts, prototypes, and prototype tools.Qualified 12 new ISBM, IBM and Aluminum Can forming production tools in 6 months.
  • Re-invented the Banana Boat packaging line with new can shaping, innovative closures and innovative bottle designs to reinvigorate the brand at shelf and with consumers.
  • Guided Wet Ones team in innovative new development of a new, consumer-preferred sanitary wipes package
• Identified major obstacles hindering the package engineering group and the corporate specification processes.Quickly helped the company to streamline the specification and Bill of Material processes utilizing the existing corporate electronic Document Data Management system.Helped to save 6 month in process improvements in the first year.
• Managed $1.6 MM Package Development Budget

Implemented substantial sustainability and cost savings improvements while innovating for the future

• Lead Engineer in the industrial division that designed and patented a new innovative electronic exhaust silencer which improved both functionality and significantly reduced costs.Designed the overall mechanical, acoustic and wiring system.
• Designs included:cast aluminum, stamped sheet metal, circuit board packaging, extruded aluminum heat sinks, wire harnesses, rubber gaskets, and component layouts.
• Performed thermal testing, durability and fatigue testing, product prototyping, acoustic modeling, acoustic testing, electrical testing and cost analysis

• Staff engineer that designed the electrical and audio hardware system for the 1996-2001 Cadillac car stereos.
• Designed and modeled new product from concept through to production utilizing UniGraphics 3-D CAD software, Design for Assembly and Manufacturing techniques for high volume assembly, vibration and thermal modeling and testing, and prototype modeling.