Stephen Lindwall
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Calgary, AB, Canada
Toptal member since November 17, 2020
Stephen is a career program/project management professional with 25+ years of experience in high technology hardware, software, and procurement. He has extensive experience leading global cross-functional teams, including engineering and supply chain management, to deliver new products to market. Stephen is passionate about continuous improvement, business process systemization, and Agile methodologies for added-value outcomes. He brings a disciplined, organized, and analytical leadership style.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Project Management
- Business Process Improvement (BPI)
- Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down)
- Engineering, Procurement, & Construction (EPC)
- New Product Development
- Project Management
- Supply Chain Management (SCM)
- Team Leadership
Work Experience
Senior Consultant | Program Manager
Tantus Solutions Group Inc.
- Acted as a senior consultant contractor for Central 1 Credit Union on the Forge digital banking platform program.
- Led a $26 million program for 161 clients to implement a new digital platform enhancing user experience for online banking, iOS and Android mobile, and public website applications.
- Managed overall program governance, ensuring scope, schedule, budget, quality, and risk with an emphasis on improved business processes.
Senior Consultant | Senior Project Manager
Tantus Solutions Group Inc.
- Acted as a consulting contractor via Alberta Motor Transport Association on the cooperative truck platooning systems trial.
- Led the Transport Canada project as the 1st Canadian on-road commercially operational trial to gather technical evidence and experience to inform the potential development of regulations on motor carrier operations.
- Applied automated vehicle and connected vehicle technology in Canadian transportation jurisdictions.
- Gathered evidence of fuel efficiencies, greenhouse gas emission reductions, traffic interactions, and driver experience psychology using vehicle platooning with research partners.
Program Manager | Project Manager
Advanced Measurements Inc. (An AFGlobal Company)
- Enabled 10% revenue growth by generating new product requirements with UX interdependencies.
- Strengthened software delivery practices with improved quality and velocity by leading daily scrums, release demonstrations, and retrospectives in a scrum master role.
- Implemented a new ERP system with consistent master data (2500+ parts) to align processes and increase transparency. Evaluated HRIS and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems for improved business performance.
- Facilitated alignment and predictability by chairing weekly production and revenue reviews in support of the $40 million frac control systems business.
- Stabilized business practices by documenting the end-to-end order-design-manufacture and material distribution process flows while implementing opportunities for improvement.
Principal Technical Program Manager
SMART Technologies
- Achieved $40 million+ in annual revenue by leading the company’s new value line MX iQ 65/75/86” 4K IFP product, including HW and SW integration with a new Asian integrator and suppliers.
- Captured $18 million in revenue with a greater than 50% margin by leading the 24” Podium product through concept and feasibility.
- Reduced costs by 35% by completing the AM40 OPS PC PVT and phase-in.
Manager, Product Cost Management
SMART Technologies
- Built a new six-member team of project and commodity managers to achieve cost reduction program goals of $10 to $20 million annually with a tailored cost reduction project lifecycle process.
- Generated over $3 million in negotiated annual savings through strategic sourcing initiatives, including an RFP supplier assessment questionnaire and costing template.
- Championed the maturation of a new Korean integrator for innovative, open-cell LED display capability and 40% cost reduction.
- Implemented analytics reporting with actionable insights for product and supplier data, including forecasting and complex financial adjustments for $200 million in COGS spending.
Business Process Manager
SNC-Lavalin Global Power Construction
- Implemented 36 policies and procedures and documented standardized and best practice construction processes to achieve predictability, competitiveness, and continuous improvement.
- Established a project auditing questionnaire to evaluate construction readiness maturity.
- Initiated a 3rd-party self-learning platform for construction processes.
Senior Project Manager
SNC-Lavalin Transmission & Distribution
- Delivered high-quality projects related to EPCM services for high-voltage power transmission lines and substations—on budget and on time—in a client-facing role.
- Constructed and energized successful projects: Wainwright ($8 million), Leismer ($4 million), Willesden Green ($5 million), and Bruderheim ($8 million).
- Completed the estimate, engineering, and procurement phases of multimillion-dollar projects: Keystone, Lodgepole, and Rimbey ($18 million); North West Upgrader ($70 million); and Spruce Grove ($18 million).
- Implemented bulk contracting for civil, electrical, and lines services for multiple northern projects, achieving 15% cost reductions and 30% contracting schedule improvements.
- Initiated continuous improvements to monthly reports that improved content visibility for stakeholders, consistency, and cost control, while piloting improved earned-value tracking for construction.
New Product Introduction Manager
NovAtel Inc. (A Hexagon company)
- Achieved the smooth and rapid transition of new products to production, supporting $100 million in revenue renewal.
- Collaborated with design teams with a significant emphasis on Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA).
- Provided leadership, functional management, and career development to four manufacturing engineers, procurement and planning specialists, and a component engineer.
Manager, Project Management - New Product Introduction
Nortel
- Sourced the CDMA/LTE Tier 2 supply chain of over $100 million in COGS to an alternative electronics manufacturing service (EMS) to de-risk and ensure the security of supply during bankruptcy proceedings.
- Led an eight-member team of project managers in support of a $50 million new product introduction and R&D budget, ensuring portfolio time to market, on-cost, and on-quality results.
- Established the optimal CDMA/LTE product supply chains to provide customer service, quality, cost leadership, supply assurance, and performance to meet time-to-market, cost, and quality (TTM/TTC/TTQ) targets.
Project Manager - New Product Introduction
Nortel
- Introduced five new products and 14 cost reduction projects across the CDMA portfolio (leading-edge, multi-carrier, multi-sector RF, and 1xEVDO digital, power, and enclosure technologies) in support of hundreds of millions in wireless revenue.
- Retained customer service, schedule, quality, cost leadership, supply assurance, and performance targets across the supply chains for these projects. Optimized the phase-in and phase-out, test yield and SPC analysis, and commercialization activities.
- Executed manufacturing site transitions, including supplier selection, and pioneered activity-based costing negotiations to achieve a 10% cost reduction.
Project History
SMART Podium 624
Led the 24” Podium product through concept and feasibility to recapture $18 million in revenue at over 50% margin.
This new product delivers dynamic presentations by facing the audience with interactive annotations using a cordless pen on a large touch screen. It uses proprietary integrated driver technologies for a value-added solution that includes inking and palm reject.
I led a large, cross-functional team, including the original design manufacturer, to deliver a branded display, buttons, and a pen. In addition to leading the project team through concept, feasibility, supplier agreements, and development verification testing, I spearheaded the re-engagement with an Asian supplier for engineering verification and operational integration.
SMART Board MX 65/75/86” 4K UHD Integrated Flat Panel
Led the company’s new value line product line introduction, including HW and SW integration with a new Asian integrator and suppliers to achieve $40 million+ in annual revenue. The team was large, cross-functional, and global.
I accelerated the integrator selection based on cost, schedule, supplier assessment, and risk assessment. This enabled a significant schedule improvement and organizational focus. Open-cell LED display driver costing improved the business case.
Other Accomplishments:
- Integrated new IR touch, pen/nib, scalar, glass, and embedded FW with newly directed suppliers.
- Modified the industrial design for the education and branding of the OEM product.
- Completed numerous product development phases including the proof of concept, supplier selection, engineering verification testing (EVT), and development verification testing (DVT).
- Enabled a competitive and time-to-market solution for the entry-level market.
North West Sturgeon Refinery 240kV Substation and Transmission Lines
Completed the estimate, engineering, and procurement phases of the substation and transmission lines project. This provided feed power for the NWR Sturgeon Refinery (the first refinery built in Canada in 35 years) with a low-carbon diesel mandate.
I performed project management for all engineering, procurement, and construction management services. The client was Altalink for the Northwest Redwater Partnership and Fortis.
Key accomplishments included a value engineering re-estimation of the project to ensure the lowest-cost construction effort and a bulk contracting initiative that, when applied to this project, contributed 15% cost and 30% contracting schedule improvements.
Construction Deliverables:
- Bannerman 681S substation with two 245/34.5kV 200MVA transformers, four 240kV live tank circuit breakers, and a control building in a 190m x 190m site.
- 942L/1061L/807L – 3.7km 240kV and 138kV triple-circuit monopole and 240kV double-circuit lattice tower transmission lines.
- 7/8GHz microwave telecom towers, P&C, and SCADA.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
Royal Military College of Canada - Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Certifications
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Professional Engineer
Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA)
Skills
Tools
Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Project, Oracle ERP
Paradigms
Waterfall Delivery, Engineering, Procurement, & Construction (EPC), Continuous Integration (CI), Agile, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Lean
Industry Expertise
Supply Chain Management (SCM), Electronics, Software, Utilities, Hydro Power
Platforms
SharePoint, Windows 10, Oracle, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Google Chrome
Other
Project Management, Scheduling, Budget Management, Risk Management, Cost Control, New Product Development, Budgeting, Presentations, Scope Management, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Scoping, Project Planning, Vendor Selection, Distributed Team Management, Waterfall Methodology, Request for Proposal (RFP), Ethics, Team Management, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Construction Management, Global Operations, Quality Auditing, Microsoft 365, Team Leadership, Stakeholder Management, Cost Estimation, Business Development, Negotiation, Virtual Work, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Analytics, Client Relations, Earned Value Management (EVM), Manufacturing, Project Estimation, Remote Team Leadership, Client Management, Vendor Management, Estimation & Planning, Procurement, Mechanical Engineering, Program Management, Scrum Master, Systems Engineering, Regulatory Compliance, User Experience (UX), Industrial Design, HRIS, System Integration, Infrastructure, GPS, Product Management, IT Program Management, Planning, Process Improvement
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