Joshua L. Kirkpatrick (Josh) is an experienced Senior Mechanical Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the machine fabrication and construction industries. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) focused in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2005, he is highly experienced in designing/optimizing technical processes and production design/manufacture. His technical design experience includes the utilization of the industry-standard computer-aided design platforms, including Microstation, AutoCAD/Inventor, SolidEdge and SolidWorks.
During his college years, Josh assisted local businesses as a contract draftsman. From 2000-2002, he converted thousands of aging velum machine drawings to three dimensional format for the Duracell North Atlantic Group, which allowed for tolerance analysis and assembly optimization. He also designed and implemented a secure networked database to manage the distribution and usage of experimental/final part numbers. Working alongside a team of engineers, Josh also designed and implemented a revolutionary computer-controlled battery tote carousel storage system for Duracell’s eastern US distribution center.
In 2001, Josh also assisted Fulmarque Manufacturing by generating fabrication drawings and corresponding Bills of Material for their Quality Assurance department. He also created solid models for their corporate product website.
In 2002, Josh was contracted by Jordan Fabricating to develop a turnkey OSHA-compliant guarding apparatus for industrial equipment. The safety devices incorporated electrical sensors and programmable logic controllers onto existing equipment to allow for semi-autonomous operation.
Upon completion of that project, Josh was contacted by Lubing Systems, LP, to redesign their existing products to lower production cost and increase efficiency. This involved converting all two-dimensional drawings to solid models, as well as generating 100% accurate bills of material and overseeing both equipment maintenance and vendor communication. This allowed for the identification and correction of several preexisting design flaws. After graduating from UTC, he was hired full-time as a Mechanical Sales Engineer and was tasked with designing and launching three new product lines. He also worked closely with contracted CNC operators and sheet metal fabricators to ensure reliable and satisfactory part manufacture. Further, Josh corrected several oversights in the preexisting documentation system and created installation and maintenance manuals for all of the product lines.
With the onset of the bird flu epidemic in 2008 and subsequent recession in the poultry industry, Josh joined Chattanooga Boiler & Tank company as a sales engineer. In this role, he received/fulfilled customer quotation requests and provided preliminary design reports for project estimation purposes. Josh continued to coordinate with customers, vendors and CB&T departments (Engineering, Accounting, Shop Fabrication, Field Construction, etc.) to provide a quality finished product while maintaining a strict project budget and schedule. He worked closely with steel plate fabricators to ensure reliable and satisfactory pressure vessel/tank manufacture.
During his tenure at CB&T, Josh was promoted to design engineer, where he created custom design calculation reports (for ASME pressure vessels and API/AWWA/NFPA storage tanks) and reviewed fabrication drawings to ensure compliance with all applicable project specifications and company regulations. In this position, he corrected several oversights in the preexisting controlled document system and provided helpful technical documentation with every order. He was ultimately assigned to manage the Document Control department as well to ensure accurate records of all controlled document correspondence. He created a standardized customer proposal/contract form packet to allow for uniform estimation documentation. To further streamline the field construction process, Josh also developed a web application to allow field personnel to securely connect to the company server, watch safety training videos and take a follow-up comprehensive quiz to gain their certifications according to their individual schedules. This platform automatically graded the results and provided reporting functionality for the field foremen and safety management team, which was revolutionary at the time.
Since Josh accepted an offer from National Boiler Service in 2016, he has managed their engineering department and fabrication shop. As the Senior Mechanical Engineer/Manager, he leads the engineering team in providing technical support for NBS fabrication processes in the form of drawings, calculation reports and material determination/requisition recommendations. He also facilitates the fabrication shop workflow by creating/maintaining job scheduling and coordinates with the purchasing and shipping departments to ensure that raw materials arrive when needed and finished products are delivered on schedule.