UNDER THIRTY - Society of Manufacturing Engineers

Raymond ManningAge: 29Boeing Satellite SystemsPlaya del Rey, CA"The FIRST Robotics competition got meinterested in manufacturing. ... FIRST gotme wanting to do something where youactually make something."UNDER THIRTYchildhood,” Ray Manning’s mother,Holly, said, "Ray wanted to build robotsto land on Mars—and then make“Froma service call to fix them.” As a teen,she said, he was involved with FIRST throughout highschool, working on everything from concept to design toassembly, and “as a senior he was a team captain.”Today, Ray is on the path to the stars that he envisionedas a youngster. He is a Control and DynamicsAnalyst in the Flight Engineering department at BoeingSatellite Systems.Ray’s version of the story that his mother told issimilar but not identical and provides insight into thededication, persistence and leadership that brought himto where he is today.“The FIRST Robotics competition got me interestedin manufacturing,” he said, “in making things with myhands. Before that I wanted to do what my father did,computer programming. FIRST got me wanting to dosomething where you actually make something.”As he approached his college years, he had his eyeon Purdue because of its reputation and because “twomembers of my mom’sfamily had gone there.”He was accepted, but theyoung Floridian didn’t havethe funds to pay out-ofstatetuition at the Indianauniversity. Instead he went to the University of SouthFlorida (including a semester as a foreign exchangestudent at the University of Glasgow). “But I didn’t feelchallenged,” he said.“My parents agreed to help me financially if I transferredto Purdue,” Ray continued. “I was much morechallenged there. My GPA was not as good (3.47) as itwas at USF (3.8), but it was still enjoyable.” He graduatedwith a BS in mechanical engineering and a minorin economics.Ray was offered a number of jobs, but none involvedactual manufacturing. He turned them down and set hissights on a graduate degree in mechanical engineering.Georgia Tech was on his short list, he said, “because ofits reputation. It has a lot of robotics and hands-on stuff.The big plus for Georgia Tech was the campus visitwhere I got to see all the things I could actually do andnot just write stuff on a white board.”Once again Ray was paying nonresident tuition,but he was determined that situation wouldn’t last. Hespent hours introducing himself and his capabilities tothe faculty. By the end of his first semester he had beenawarded a teaching assistant position and was workingwith faculty members on their research projects, suchas analyzing ways to reduce the vibration in flexiblerobotics manipulators using feedback control systemswith input shaping.A large part of what he does at Boeing, Ray said,deals “with the simulation side of everything that’sdesigned here. One thing I deal with is the separation ofthe launch vehicle from thepayload. I analyze to makesure that it will actually dowhat it is supposed to.”While Ray looks ahead tothe stars, he hasn’t forgottenhis roots. He works with an area FIRST team as themechanisms advisor. “The kids do a lot on a shoestringbudget,” he said. “It’s also a very diverse team, withmore than 50% of the members being girls.“It’s a great atmosphere and I have a lot of fun workingthere. I think the kids appreciate what I do. After all,they tell me they are working on a secret project thathas something to do with my wedding this July.” METHIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES11 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2013