Darrick Medina

Manufacturing Superfreak

I have had an extensive career as a Journeyman Machinist moving up to Engineering Manager. Fortunately for me, I was able to climb the ladder through every position along the way. I have learned every machine and process I could get in front of. I have worked for Fortune 500 companies and have designed or produced products used in almost every industry. As a Manufacturing Engineer/Consultant, I have developed some of the most efficient processes and systems in the manufacturing industry.

Below are some examples of my work as well as a list of career experience.

This is an video illustrating a sample of skills, work history, and product design by Darrick Medina. This video also includes highlights of the video's below.

Newton Three Rocket combustion chamber. Part required over 25 million lines of G-code and three weeks of run time. (Darrick in the beanie)

Created the prototype of the Newton3 Rocket

Metals Fabrication Supervisor

Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer - Customer Design Review

Engineering Manager/Mechanical Design Engineer

POOL TRUCK CO Advertisement

This is a fictional company used for examples of my skillset. All images, videos, and virtual models for POOL TRUCK CO were created by Darrick Medina.

Watch The video

Small selection of projects I can share. There are many projects I have been a part of that are proprietary and can not be shared.

Mechanical design:

Solidworks Certified Professional
Sheet metal design
Advanced surfacing
Assemblies and mechanical verification
Forging and casting design
Stress, flow, and mechanical analysis
Design for manufacturing (minimize operations/tool design)
Design for sustainability (fasteners/materials)

Prototyping:

CAD/Drafting
Product Assessment
ROI analysis
Virtual Product Images/Video
Promotional Image/Video Ads
Journeyman Machinist
3D printing
CNC programming
CNC set up and operations
Welding (stick/mig)
Plasma / water jet and press brake operations

Production:

Team building and training
Procurement
Complete and detailed blueprints
Shop layout
Process control / Time management
Fixturing
CNC programming with Mastercam (G-code/Vector code)
Ability to edit code to suit a CNC machine without the proper machine post
Machine set up documents and job travelers
Data management
Tooling / fixture organization
Quality control process and documentation

Positions held by employers:

Manual Machinist
Tool and die machinist
Machinist
CNC operator
CNC Programmer
Production lead
Machine Shop Supervisor
Production planner
Metals fabrication supervisor
Mechanical designer
Mechanical engineer
Engineering Manager
Manufacturing manager
Manufacturing engineer

Notable Career Highlights:

Metals manufacturing oversight of Virgin Galactic's prototype rocket for the Launcher One program
Oversight and team member build of Unity 21 spacecraft for The Spaceship Company
Lift kits and aftermarket off road product design for Cognito Motorsports
Radio controlled scale vehicle design and production for RC4WD
I have set up 2 machine shops and several process flow control operation configurations
Within one week, through tool and fixture design, I saved a company $180,000 per year and still going
As a young machinist, I completed a tool and die/punch press project previously abandoned by the engineering team. The modifications were effective, and the Die was highly productive for the company
Hole-in-one, on Father's Day, during a golf tournament, with co-workers (Priceless…)