Roncelli plastics

Boosted internal productivity by 23% by mapping friction points through 25+ user interviews across manufacturing, engineering, and logistics teams on projects spanning aerospace, defense, government, and medical contracts, while reducing exception handling by introducing feedback loops into custom AI tools and human-in-the-loop ML workflows. By synthesizing these insights into a strategic roadmap, I secured stakeholder buy-in, saved $285K+ in lost revenue, and ensured alignment with compliance standards for government and aerospace partnerships.
Final presentation

+23% increase in internal productivity 25 user interviews 2 work orders approved and implemented by upper management $330k+ saved in annual cost

Defense/aerospace constraints at roncelli

AI usage
Zero tolerance policy regarding AI usage when processing orders or any materials related to contracts with defense companies (This is based on 2024 - 2025 supplier agreements with companies)
Material integrity
Any new process implemented must not compromise the quality of the material or increase the time required to process orders by more than 3 days.

Project 1: Materials Handling

User interview Pain points

Employees
Employees were concerned that any product they throw away is worth a large amount of money. Given their expertise in the area, there is the expectation that management will listen to them and adhere to their advice.
Management
Management is concerned that there is space running out at the materials facility, and materials aren't properly cataloged.
Company
Due to this lack of communication the company loses money and space as materials are needlessly kept and ordered, costing the company $150k/yr while taking up excess space.

Constraints

Given the deadline of the project (10 days), I was not given time to draft a budget proposal; I instead focused on solutions that were simple and effective. The solution required software that everyone was familiar with and could be shared at multiple levels. I decided to use Excel, and later moved on to integration with our ERP system, Jobboss when given more time.

Project 2: Tooling organization

background

Tooling refers to tools that are used to hold components in place while a robot works on them. Tooling is often precise and reused frequently, given how many repeat orders Roncelli receives. Due to the complexity of the tooling, it usually takes 3-4 days to build from scratch, and over 6500 tools are held in the facility at a time.

User interviews

Machinists
Machinists were concerned that, on average, five tools were lost every month due to issues with storage, and tools being incorrectly "purged"
Tool storage
Tool storage was organized by racks A-F, each of which had bins and multiple tooling in each bin. The location of the tooling was cataloged by the bin and
Management
Management is concerned with tools being lost given the time and cost it takes to remake them, additionally there is growing concern over the storage and space for custom tooling.

Service design map:

Solution

My final solution was a tool scoring sheet (scored 1-5) with the following columns in Excel to determine if tools should be kept, purged, or reviewed in 6 months. The scoring follows a Python program to automatically log and export the scores to Jobboss daily for consistent and updated tooling locations. Annually, this problem saves $180k+ along with 60 days of remake time on tools.
  • Tool ID
  • Usage Frequency (25%)
  • Customer Priority (20%)
  • Remake Time (20%)
  • Tool Uniqueness (15%)
  • Machinist Recommendation (10%)
  • Upcoming Jobs (10%)
  • Weighted Score
Tool Purging rubric
*This is a blank copy of the rubric. I am unable to share the one used in practice, as it violates the terms of agreement between Roncelli and its customers.
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