John Cross

Director of Advanced Machining | Precision Machining and Medical Device Manufacturing
Somerset, New Jersey, USA · Home in the Marche region, Italy · English (native), Italian (proficient)
linkedin.com/in/johnlcrossjr · [email protected]

Board Profile

Three decades in manufacturing, most of it in precision machining for medical devices and implants. Built a precision machining capability from the ground up inside a $100MM+ privately held medical device contract manufacturer, and was the first to deploy and perfect PEM (precision electrolytic machining) in North America. Brings a board an operator’s judgement on strategy, capital investment, technology adoption and international markets, formed on the shop floor rather than in a classroom.

What He Brings to a Board

• Operations and strategy oversight: has run machining operations from start-up scale to a world class, automation enabled plant, with full process responsibility from prototype to shipped implantable product
• Capital allocation: three decades of major machine and automation investment decisions, justified on what equipment actually earns
• Technology judgement: CNC platforms, Willemin-Macodel mill-turn, PEM, Swiss turning, EDM, additive manufacturing, factory automation, digital factory systems and AI adoption in regulated plants
• Hands-on depth: lights out manufacturing, CMM troubleshooting and metrology, tooling, workholding and materials, process troubleshooting, continuous improvement, and product and process lifecycle management
• Regulated industry governance: manufacturing under ISO 13485 and FDA QMSR, validation discipline, design for manufacturing with customers
• International perspective: global technology scouting across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France and Germany; an automated cell delivered and validated in Asia; a global professional network
• People and succession: trained countless engineers; helped create machining and apprenticeship programmes with Lincoln Tech and Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey

Career

Micro Stamping Corporation, Somerset, NJ (2010 to present)
Director of Advanced Machining (2019 to present). Joined in 2010 during a strategic shift and built the precision machining capability from nothing: 7-axis mill-turn CNC, PEM, Swiss turning, EDM, additive manufacturing and automation. The machining platforms he introduced opened the surgical robot component market, and he was credited as a key contributor to average 15% per annum revenue growth in his Senior Manager years. As Director he is the company’s digital factory architect: creator of Odin, a digital twin giving a real time view of the floor, and sponsor of the SupplyPro SmartDrawer system, 8 installations managing $4MM of inventory integrated with the ERP. Titles followed the results: Manager (2010), Senior Manager (2016), Director (2019).

Structure Medical, Naples, FL (2006 to 2010)
Manufacturing Manager and CNC Programmer. Recruited by the shareholders in the start-up phase of an ISO 13485 orthopedic implant manufacturer; built the CNC and manufacturing operation from prototype to shipped product. The shop ran Swiss turning and Willemin-Macodel machines, among the first used for bone fixation and cervical fixation work. Left in 2010 when the company was sold.

Metro Technology, North Smithfield, RI (1993 to 2006)
Founder. Prototype and contract manufacturing company built on early adoption of multi-axis CNC, 3D scanning and reverse engineering. Clients included Tiffany & Co., Boston Scientific, Texas Instruments, IBM Canada, Lenox and Gorham Silversmiths.

Education and Credentials

• BS Industrial Engineering and Management, Rhode Island College
• Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Green Belt, 5S certified
• 110 professional certificates listed on LinkedIn, 107 of them AI related

Interests

Board and advisory roles with manufacturing companies, particularly medical devices, precision engineering and industrial technology, in Europe and North America. Also exploring consulting and advisory work in the same fields, now and into retirement, based in the Marche region of Italy.

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