Matthew Phillips, P.Eng.

Sollum Technologies

Montreal, Canada

Mechanical Design Engineer — LED lighting systems

• Mechanical design from concept through to production, working across electrical, software and manufacturing teams.
• Led multidisciplinary teams, suppliers and contract manufacturers through production readiness, coordinating first article inspections, new product introduction and quality inspections.
• Designed production tooling and electronic test fixtures, balancing test coverage, throughput, reliability, cost and timeline.
• Contributed to new product introduction and quality processes, design reviews and failure analysis.
• Design for manufacturing and assembly on moulded and fabricated parts.

Current (formerly GE Current / GE Lighting)

Montreal, Canada

Mechanical Designer — horticulture LED lighting, specialty lighting support

• Primary mechanical designer on a second generation multi-level vertical farming LED system with ultra-low headspace. Cut cost of manufacture 30% while improving electrical efficiency, and let farms install 10% fewer fixtures.
• Built a Plotly tool in Python that simulated thousands of system designs across LED combinations, cost, efficiency, light output and thermal load, making the trade space legible enough to design against.
• Ran thermal simulations in SolidWorks Flow Simulation for horticulture products and for extreme-reliability traffic light heatsinks. Weighted decision matrices and detailed cost estimates across dozens of design combinations.
• Ran the 3D printing lab. Specified and bought a printer that cut print costs 90%, and trained colleagues on printers, slicers and vibration lab equipment.

Zimmer Biomet

Montreal, Canada

Mechanical Designer (contract) — optical-assisted spinal surgical tool design

• Designed durability and impact test jigs for a vertebral interbody spacer insertion tool, and supported transfer to external manufacturing partners.
• Drafted documentation for an FDA 510(k) submission: requirements traceability, part inspection assessments, cleaning and sterilisation assessments.
• Analysed inspection reports to confirm dimensional stability after simulated distribution.

SCIREQ

Montreal, Canada

Mechanical Designer — respiratory research laboratory equipment

• Led a modular expansion of an existing system for use with new animals, from requirements gathered with researchers through prototypes and beta feedback to production, including user documentation and graphics.
• Designed parts and assemblies in plastics, metals and elastomers, driving strength, cost, part consolidation and DFM improvements in an Agile environment.
• Standardised internal additive manufacturing methods and rebuilt rendering practice on SolidWorks Visualize. Wrote the SOPs and trained the team.

Wayside Inspection Devices

Rigaud, Canada

Mechanical Engineering Intern — railway laser-optical sensors

• Redesigned a 3D printed product using structural FEA for a 50% strength increase in the primary failure mode, up to 300% in others. Shipped to the field internationally.
• Used thermal FEA to design a cast aluminium fan-cooled heatsink for a thermo-electric module, and a cartridge-heated window system that keeps camera and laser optics clear in snow and ice.
• Worked on high-precision watertight enclosures, sheet metal, abrasion and corrosion protection.

Podium Energy

Montreal, Canada

Technology and Patent Researcher — automotive and solar sensors

• Reported on automotive rain sensor patents to surface conflicts ahead of a new sensor's development.
• Researched core engine icing in jet engines, helicopter rotor blade icing, and solar panel icing in winter climates.