11.06.2018

VP engineering ops for Xtreme/Snorkel

Xtreme Manufacturing and Snorkel have appointed James ‘Jim’ Masters to the newly created role of vice president of engineering operations.

Reporting chief executive to Matthew Elvin the new role has been created as part of an initiative to redefine the Xtreme and Snorkel engineering management duties. He will work alongside Jeff Eckhardt, vice president/chief engineer, to lead a global product development team of more than 20 design engineers based in the US, UK and New Zealand.

Under the new structure Masters will be responsible for the non technical management of the engineers, which includes capacity planning, project management, and budgeting, and will begin by recruiting talented engineers to help accelerate the group’s product development goals. Meanwhile Exhardt will continue to oversee all technical aspects of design and production of new product development.
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Jim Masters

Masters previously worked at ground care equipment manufacturer Ariens Company, where he was vice president operations/engineering for three and a half years, having joined from Coast composites where he was vice president/general manager, installing Lean and Visual factory disciplines, as well as leading the turnaround of a Boeing 787 mandrel tooling programme.

He began his career with Rockwell International, in 1980 working on seating designs for the space shuttle, before moving into senior engineering management roles with a number of suppliers to the automotive industry, including AMI Industries, Artcraft Industries and Coach & Car Equipment Corp, where he was vice president technology for five and a half years. He moved to JT Nelson in 1992 as vice president engineering manufacturing and quality, joining Lear Jet in 1996, initially as president of the Lear Technology division, then president of Lear Worldwide engineering and finally president of its Electrical and Electronics division. In 2004 he was appointed a director of Quality Metal Craft leaving to join KSU in 2008 as strategic business advisor to the owner. He moved to Exemplis in 2010, followed by Coast Composites.

Chief executive Mathew Elvin said: “Our strategy is to add greater depth and structure to our global product development team to help bring more fresh ideas to fruition. Bringing Jim on board will facilitate talent acquisition and ultimately bolster new product development for our companies. Working as a team, Jim and Jeff have the skills, experience, and determination to build a world class product development team that will put us at the leading edge of the industry.”

Masters added: “I am excited and encouraged by the talent already here at Xtreme and Snorkel, and I am looking forward to building a full all star team, that can take our product development to the next level. Having someone with Jeff’s technical expertise as an associate is a big advantage, and I am confident together we can make a real impact to the businesses.”