Mike Carlier
Senior Technical Consultant
Mike has four decades of project engineering and management experience in engineering services. As co-founder and current chief executive of SixDOF Testing & Analysis Inc., he also serves as a technical consultant at Integrated Test and Measurement (ITM).
Prior to SixDOF, Mike co-founded the engineering testing company Manta Corporation. As co-founder of Manta, he balanced technical and sales activities within a testing and analysis group that included an automotive-targeted joint venture in Detroit, the creation of which he spearheaded in 1996 and managed as a start-up. He also served as the technical director of Manta’s testing programs and pursued strategies for penetration into several testing markets, including off-highway vehicles, metals processing, and machine tool equipment.
Mike began his career as a project engineer for Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), where he was promoted to manager of instrumentation/computer services, manager of testing services, and finally project manager of custom systems for the engineering services/software company.
At SDRC, Mike specialized in analyzing problems of vibration and shake in vehicle systems to improve ride quality; minimizing vibration in buildings and foundations systems; solving problems of chatter in metal removal of machine tools; and conducting experimental stress analysis of mechanical equipment.
While at SDRC, he also:
- Solved gear failure problems in main drive of basic oxygen furnace, fatigue failures of punch presses, and coupling failure of rolling mills using strain gage telemetry;
- Reduced excessive vibration in paper-making/textile machines and continuous casters while improving mold alignment;
- Conducted vibration and modal tests to eliminate machine tool chatter and recommended redesigns;
- Reduced vibration and noise in engines using operating tests, modal tests, and dynamic balancing;
- Used seismic testing for seismic qualification;
- Applied beam modeling, modal testing, and curve fitting to predict auto and truck frame dynamics and their relation to vehicle dynamics;
- Used strain gage instrumentation, modal testing, fatigue software, and redesign studies to solve problem of structural failure in mining trucks;
- Conducted testing and experimental stress analysis to solve structural failure problem of backhoes; and
- Created new vehicle design and improved structural integrity of crawler tractor using modal analysis and system modeling.