Who is Caprica Consulting?
David deJong formed Caprica Consulting in 2007 to help bring the benefits of modern manufacturing and engineering practices to local industry.
He has a diverse background that spans the entire product life cycle, including applied research, product development, testing, manufacturing, and service. His experience spans many industries, including durable and non-durable goods, aviation and aerospace, oilfield equipment, and military service. This variety, plus a combination of technical and soft skills, gives him the broad perspective needed to apply both organizational and engineering solutions to manufacturing and design problems.
Technical skills are useful, but not enough. When projects run into trouble, it is often because leadership and interpersonal skills have failed. David has led a variety of activities, including setting up new production facilities, and managing engineering and production departments. His team successes have ranged from small ergonomics kaizen events, all the way to ground testing and acceptance of new air-to-air refueling tanker aircraft.
Training plays a very important role in best-performing companies, and David has been teaching since the early 1980s when he helped Air Cadets learn to fly. More recently, he spent four years with NAIT, developing and teaching courses in manufacturing, lean production, design, and automation. He currently co-teaches a new course in design for manufacturing at the University of Alberta. Co-developed with Curt Stout at the UofA, and with Randy Duke and Bernie Fuchs at NAIT, this course lets students reverse-engineer parts for a radio-controlled car. They manufacture the parts at the NAIT machine shops, then re-assemble and test their vehicles in a “final exam” race.
David holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering, both from the University of Alberta. He has also completed many short and long courses, with topics ranging from soft skills like leadership and teambuilding, to highly specialized and technical subjects like cellular manufacturing and machine reliability.
David is a senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and has been active with Edmonton’s local SME chapter since the early 1990s. He is a registered professional engineer in Alberta, and Caprica Consulting holds a permit to practice engineering in Alberta. He lives in Edmonton with his wife Marcella and their two daughters, and as often as possible (which is never often enough) enjoys flying the Edmonton Flying Club’s beautiful Diamond Star.
The Winslow Group
Caprica Consulting is proud to be a member of The Winslow Group, an international network of professionals specializing in helping organizations improve their operations by applying lean principles.
