Overview

Steve Cyrus has been with FirePoint since 2018 and has been the Executive Director for the past year and a half.  During his tenure the FirePoint team has had a nearly 40% growth in revenue. During his career he has led successful teams in engineering, manufacturing, and program management in China, Japan, Mexico, Norway and the United States. The goal of Firepoint Innovations is to help the Army move as fast as possible in assessing and integrating emerging technology. They want to bring the best technology to those serving our country every day at home and abroad. They do this via: Technology Consulting, New Collaboration Development, Establishment and Management of New Communities of Interest, NextGen Workforce Development, and Advanced Training.

Information

Areas of Research Interest
  • Balancing Manufacturing and engineering requirements
  • Catia v6
  • 3D tolerance analysis
  • Troubleshooting build and design issues
Areas of Teaching Interest

Mechanical Engineering

Letourneau University 

  • Presidential Scholarship, SAE Mini-Baja, Varsity Basketball 鈥� Team Captain, Sportsman of the Year, Hon. Mention All-American

Film and Animation

Savannah College of Art & Design

  • Honors Scholarship, Director for several multi-disciplinary projects
Professional Experience

Program manager / Textron Aviation

2017 鈥� Present

  • Managing a 60-million-dollar project with the Japanese Ministry of Defense with profit and loss responsibility.
  • Responsible for international coordination between Japan, Norway, and the US for two modified business jets.
  • Leading through influence across multiple disciplines and multiple levels of the organization.

Wing design lead / Textron Aviation

2015 鈥� 2017

  • Oversaw drawing release and design for the Longitude wing and supported the build through experimental flight test.
  • Successfully led a team of 20 designers (direct, contract, offsite, and NIAR interns) in the design of the Longitude wing.
  • Worked with various disciplines and levels of Engineering, Experimental production, Tooling, Process Engineering, and suppliers to troubleshoot any build issues and work to resolution to support flight test schedule.

Design for manufacturing lead / Textron Aviation

2013 鈥� 2015

  • Initially served as DFM representative for Longitude tailcone and eventually moved to DFM lead for the entire program with responsibility for 4 DFM engineers.
  • Led a team that developed a tool to identify and display the pertinent deliverables that connect engineering and the consumers and tracks those deliverables real-time.
  • Led build plan meetings and created 3DVIA build plans to ensure that the engineering intent, tooling methodology, and manufacturing process capabilities are balanced to create a robust design/build strategy.

Mrb lead / Textron Aviation

2008 鈥� 2013

  • Lived and worked for multiple years in China and Mexico supporting several production facilities and training MRB engineers.
  • Led a team of Chinese national engineers and managed engineering support of 2 facilities in China.
  • Led a team of 5 Mexican national engineers and 2 US expats and managed engineering support of 4 facilities with 3 types of work (sheetmetal, wiring, and composites)
  • Initiated and led a team that used 360 VR technology to help decision makers in India and Mexico

Mrb and Fast engineer / Textron Aviation

2001 鈥� 2005

  • Responsible for troubleshooting and resolving build issues from small parts to final in W7.
  • Troubleshooting and resolving repetitive RDR/QN issues on the small cabin airplanes.