Meet Daniel Ayala, Project Engineer

Daniel Ayala is a valued member of the ALine team, responsible for product design, implementation, and scale-up. For over six years, Daniel has developed and applied his unique skill set with ALine. Upon joining the team, he had academic prototype and design experience along with construction design.

 

As part of his duties, Daniel keeps clients updated on their project status and helps ensure the production team has everything they need for successful fabrication. As a fabrication tech during his first three years at ALine, he not only set the standard for quality and speed, he now has the unique perspective of being both customer facing with engineering programs, while able to convert client needs into robust and viable devices with well-structured production work instructions. Each day is unique and exciting; Daniel frequently meets with clients, works with operations to schedule production, designs devices, mentors and supports training of new engineers and fab. techs, and ensures communication with the production team allows engineering production builds to run smoothly.

When asked what the values of ALine are, Daniel said: “It’s a focus on pushing the team to be better. We recognize each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and this helps us to grow.” To stay at the forefront of the industry, it is crucial to challenge yourself and your team to grow their skills, build experience, and excel. Growth is a mutual value for Daniel and ALine Inc., and is built by valuing strengths, and learning new skills to overcome weaknesses.

An example of growth was Daniel’s leadership in implementing CNC machining as another tool for rapid prototyping. With support from operations, a structured training program makes it possible for anyone interested in learning CNC machining to quickly come up the learning curve.

Daniel’s ability to grow and learn new skills is just part of who he is. Daniel warmly recalls a family vacation to Mt. Baldy in California as a child, where he was captivated by the ample snowfall. He wanted to build a snowman but underestimated the challenge of this task. Daniel was hard-at-work in the snow for the entire morning, crafting a base for Mr. Frosty to perch upon. Nearly everyone at the cabin had noticed Daniel’s efforts throughout the day, and by evening, his snowman was complete. The reward of accomplishment from completing this challenge is reflected in Daniel’s dedicated work ethic. Appreciation for quality work is what makes Daniel such a phenomenal project engineer.

Outside of work, Daniel enjoys biking, playing guitar, and has recently picked up cooking as a hobby! Whenever he makes another meal, finding the ingredients and dedicating the time to follow the recipe always has a rewarding and tasty outcome.