Kenichi Shimizu (清水 賢一）
About Kenichi Shimizu (清水 賢一）
Kenichi Shimizu is an experienced analytical chemist specializing in method development for materials characterization. He has worked at various institutions, including Northvolt and the University of Oxford, and has expertise in quality control and laboratory management.
Work at Northvolt
Kenichi Shimizu has been employed at Northvolt as an Analytical Chemist since 2019. In this role, he has been responsible for planning and executing measurement system analysis for product quality inspection. He has implemented methodologies such as 5w1h, 5S, and poka yoke (mistake proofing) to enhance daily operations. His experience includes managing a group of upstream quality control operators for chemical analysis and providing quality inspection reports during daily upstream production meetings.
Education and Expertise
Kenichi Shimizu holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Idaho, which he completed from 2003 to 2008. He also earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Eastern Washington University from 2001 to 2003 and an A.A. from Spokane Falls Community College from 1999 to 2001. His expertise includes managing method development projects for materials characterization using techniques such as ICP, titration, XRF, BET, PSD, and tap density. He is knowledgeable about ISO9001 and IAFT16949 standards and familiar with quality management systems including lean, LSS, kaizen, and FEMA.
Background
Kenichi Shimizu has a diverse background in research and quality control. He worked as a Postdoctoral researcher at Umeå University from 2009 to 2013 and as a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Oxford from 2015 to 2017. He also held positions at Umeå Kommun as Summer Staff in 2018 and as an Intern at SLU - Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet - SLU in the same year. Additionally, he worked as a Contract Researcher at Outotec in 2018.
Achievements in Quality Control
Throughout his career, Kenichi Shimizu has participated in 8D investigations to address and resolve quality issues. He has been responsible for building core competencies and training quality control members. His role has involved assisting the process quality team in constructing control plans for downstream operations, demonstrating his commitment to maintaining high standards in quality management.