Our Staff
SDI's staff is composed of advanced-degree engineers with expertise in systems engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, operations research, and supply chain management. We have used our skills in areas of system design, subsystem design, component design, integration and verification, field test, requirements development, procurement, production, and program management to develop a unique and effective approach for DFSS.
A common belief of the SDI staff is that variation exists in all systems, subsystems, components, and processes. Problems result when the effects of variation are not identified, understood, and forecasted in future events. With this understanding of the problem, they identified the required skills to overcome the barriers found in day-to-day product development activities.
They also found that many 'process-focused' practitioners will tell engineers "what" needs to be done to prevent problems from occurring in product development, but few actually reveal "how" to achieve the results in design and development phases of a program. The staff has overcome this barrier and applied the "hows" in the form of technical training and easy-to-use, cost effective software tools. The background and qualifications of the SDI engineers who have developed this DFSS approach and support the training activities are summarized below.
Tom F. Cheek, Jr., Ph.D.
Founder
Tom has over three decades of product development experience in concept development, design, and program management. As a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Texas Instruments, he was a Six Sigma Champion and a Six Sigma Black Belt. Tom was a Research Associate on the joint Texas Instruments/Motorola Six Sigma effort at Motorola's Six Sigma Research Institute. Tom utilized his extensive engineering application experience to promote the implementation of Six Sigma in the product development community. He was active in the development and deployment of statistical design methods, tools, and techniques. Following his retirement from Raytheon, Tom was instrumental in founding SDI. He received his BSEE and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1961 and 1969, respectively.
George W. Chollar, Ph.D., P.E.
President
George's experience includes 30 years in design, systems engineering, and program management for product development programs at Texas Instruments (TI) and Raytheon. In addition to his program responsibilities at TI, he received certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt, focusing on the application of Six Sigma for engineering and product development. George's work has resulted in a framework of statistical analysis design concepts and methods for Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) applications. This framework has been used in DFSS training for engineers, Master Black Belts, and Black Belts at various companies in the U.S. and Europe. For SDI, George is director of training development activities. George received his B.S. (1976) and M.S. (1980) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. (2000) in Interdisciplinary Engineering from Texas Tech University. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas.
Jesse D. Peplinski, Ph.D.
Vice-President of Technology and Development
Jesse has been applying Six Sigma techniques in product development since 1996. As a systems engineer at Texas Instruments and Raytheon Systems Company he helped establish a foundation for applying Six Sigma concepts during requirements development and concept modeling, well before hardware is built. As a Master Black Belt at General Electric he guided an engineering organization in the daily application and implementation of DFSS and Six Sigma. For SDI, Jesse leads the development of our DFSS software tools. Jesse received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1997 and 1994, respectively, and he received his B.S. in Engineering Science from Harvard University in 1992. He is a certified Master Black Belt.
Michael Elliott
Vice-President of Marketing & Sales
Michael's experience includes 30 years in Marketing & Sales of products in the paper industry and includes expertise in National Accounts, Global Accounts, Management and Ownership. He has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has had additional sales skills training and has attended many conferences on Sales and Marketing. Michael is currently focusing his activities on the promotion of DFSS and on concepts that reach out to the customer as a part of the product development process. Michael has the ability to listen and understand your needs and will work with you to meet your DFSS Training and Software needs.
