Hammond Group, Inc. announces two Senior Fellows to guide its Innovation Leadership Council. John Miller, recently Senior Director of Engineering for Stryten, and Dr. Francisco Trinidad, recently the Director of Battery Technology for Exide Europe.
“We are very excited to have John and Francisco join Hammond,” said Gordon Beckley, Chief Operating Officer at Hammond. “With their extensive battery industry knowledge base they will play a leadership role in supporting our research and development staff, enhance our product development efforts, and contribute to Hammond’s continued innovations towards the industry’s goals of advanced energy storage solutions.”
With 37 years in the battery business, Miller has a long history of introducing innovative products to the marketplace. Before serving in his most recent position at Stryten Energy, Miller lead teams in the the areas of product engineering, process engineering, applications engineering, and R&D at GNB and Exide Technologies.
He has participated in various industry committees and forums and has helped write battery standards, handbooks, and white papers for Battery Council International and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Miller earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
During more than 43 years of experience with different electrochemical systems, Dr. Trinidad has been the author of 24 articles, more than 70 presentations in battery conferences, and holds 14 international patents. He looks to promote new technological approaches for automotive and industrial applications, including the use of different materials for positive, negative, and electrolyte of current battery designs as well as determine the added value of new alternative designs like bipolar plates and spiral wound cells.
Trinidad holds an MSc and PhD from the University of Madrid. In 1977, he joined the Tudor group and was promoted first to the Research Manager in Azuqueca (Spain) and then the Industrial Development Director in Madrid and Soest (Hagen Industrial plant). Following Exide’s acquisition of the company, he became its Research Director in Paris, then, the Development Director of Transportation Europe, Basic Research Director, and more recently, Director of Battery Technology.
Also joining Miller and Trinidad on the Council are Rosalind Batson, President of Clear Science Inc., and Lash Mapa, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Technology Purdue NW.
Batson is a lead-acid battery expert specializing in characterization of lead-acid battery materials. She owns Minneapolis-based Clear Science Inc., a laboratory focusing on the testing, research and development of metals, powders, porous materials, coatings, and advanced materials.
She is a metallurgist working with advanced materials and is a recognized expert in the Taguchi DOE method, which is designed to produce a high quality product at a low cost for manufacturers.
Earlier in her career as the R&D Manager for GNB Technologies, Batson co-invented a patented continuous process for making lead-acid grids and plates for a family of cells and batteries. She has a B.S. in Material Science from Wright State University.
Dr. Mapa is a Professor in Industrial Engineering Technology at Purdue University Northwest (PNW). His undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Chemical Engineering. He has several years’ experience as a Chemical Engineer, Process and Project manager with European and U.S. lead-acid battery manufacturing organizations.
Currently, he is associated with the MS Technology program at PNW and has managed over 30 projects including lean six sigma projects with manufacturing, service industry, and educational institutions. He also teaches undergraduate courses in Operations Management, graduate level Advanced Project Management, Enterprise Quality Management, and Quality Systems. He is an ASQ Certified Black Belt and a Certified Quality Engineer.
Emphasizing Hammond’s gratitude and acknowledging the depth of experience represented by these additions to the Innovation Leadership Council, Beckley noted, “We welcome these important voices in developing Hammond’s next generation of innovations for the battery storage industry and look forward to the years ahead.”
About Hammond Group, Inc.
Hammond Group, Inc. is focused on serving the world’s battery industry and enabling lead-acid chemistry for advanced energy storage — in vehicle fleet electrification, power grid stabilization, and green energy storage. As a global manufacturer of technically-supported battery oxides, red leads, expanders, and other specialty chemicals, we bring over 90 years of experience in service to automotive, industrial, telecommunications, data center, and renewable energy storage battery manufacturers.
