Andy Boyce

Andy joined Omnica after relocating from Boston, MA in 2016. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an A.A.S. in Aeronautical Technology. For nearly 20 years, he applied his engineering skills to companies in the New England area designing for manufacturability (DFM), conducting Finite Element Analyses, testing, and mentoring young engineers. He worked on electromechanical systems for ZOLL Medical a global leader in resuscitation and acute critical care solutions and worked at Continum, a global innovation and design consultancy as Senior Mechanical Engineer. There, he cultivated relationships while leading the company to ‘trusted advisor status’ and worked with cross-disciplined teams of Industrial Designers, Human Factors Engineers, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, and Model Makers designing an assortment of products in both medical/life science and consumer industries. Affiliations with medical/life science companies included Daktari, thinnXX Microtechnology and Sony DADC Biosciences developing micro-fluidics, blister actuators. sensors. valve-on-chip cartridge and more. Consumer products were related to Ford Motor Company, Whirlpool, and Herman Miller. His experience in conceptual design from preliminary prototyping to large volume production made him an ideal fit in Omnica’s culture. Outside of Omnica, you can find Andy hiking the trails of Orange and San Diego Counties or touring the rural countryside on the back of his BMW motorcycle.

James Foster

Raised in the Bay Area, James moved south to get his MS in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnical Institute in San Luis Obispo (CalPoly, SLO). He further migrated south to Orange County to ride the wild surf and joined the medical device industry in the manufacturing environment. He also taught Mechanical Engineering at the University of California Irvine (UCI) with an emphasis on CAD modeling while teaching the importance of good ANSI & GD&T drawing practices. He worked at Alcon laboratories in R&D and at BIT Group designing surgical consoles, consumables, optical assemblies, thermal control modules, and a numbers of electromechanical systems. His experience with design for manufacturability (DFM) exposed him to all aspects of development and production while also managing vendors, material science, injection molding, rapid prototyping, testing, and failure investigations.

When James joined Omnica in 2018, he brought all the right skills, demonstrated his initiative and enthusiasm, and dove into projects with confidence. Outside of Omnica, James can be found on his surfboard or sharing in family activities with his wife and two sons.

Michael Palmer

Michael was raised in Utah and received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. He subsequently moved to Boston to attend MIT where he got his M.S. degree – also in Mechanical Engineering. He returned west to Southern California and spent 20 years in medical device development with an emphasis on upper and lower limb prosthetics at Ossur and Freedom Innovations. During that time, he managed and advanced designs using new sensor technologies while developing the first microprocessor-controlled ankle. He also created technology platforms to launch future products within shorter development cycles. In his work at Design Catapult, a product development and manufacturing consulting firm, he met strategic goals for a robotically-assisted intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) device and took it from concept to fully-functional alpha prototype in only four months. His work within a variety of company quality management systems and knowledge of FDA requirements and design controls has made him a strong addition to the Omnica team.

When he joined Omnica in 2018, he dove right into the culture applying his impressive skill set and proven ability to move product from concept to manufacturing. His expertise in development of electromechanical medical devices fit right in with the typical program catalog at Omnica and his comfort with leading multidisciplinary teams made for an easy transition when engaging with a diverse client base.

He is a consummate professional and has a keen affinity for accessing user needs and can quickly design and deliver functional solutions with our rapid prototyping capabilities.

Outside of Omnica, Michael is active with his wife and three children and enjoys traveling great distances to visit family in India and Utah, and road-tripping around the greater southwest to mountain bike destinations.

Ron Bergold

Ron joined Omnica in January of 2008 with a 25-year history in mechanical design of medical devices and instruments, computers and electronic devices, automotive and consumer products, and sporting goods and toys. He is particularly versed in various manufacturing processes and molding techniques such as injection molding, blow molding, pressure forming, die casting, machining, sheet metal, and sand and investment casting.

He began his career at Xerox Electro-Optical Systems in Pasadena where he was immersed in the research and development of new manufacturing processes for optical lenses and mirrors and for robotic equipment used in the automated fabrication of those lenses. Through subsequent affiliations, he grew into a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Herbst Lazar Bell, Inc. where he broadened his scope in design strategy and development areas of electronics, medical instrumentation, and industrial equipment.

He has since become a key member of the team as a lead engineer on a wide variety of healthcare product projects. He is an expert SolidWorks operator and a hands-on design engineer.

Ron received his degree in mechanical engineering from California State Polytechnical Institute at Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).

Tim McMorrow

Tim was raised in New Jersey and graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Technology in 2013 with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering. Early in his career, Tim spent time working for an aerospace manufacturer and prototype machine shop, where he developed a strong skillset for hands on prototype and fixture development as well as design for manufacture. In late 2013 he took on a Test Engineering role at MakerBot Industries in Brooklyn, NY, where he focused on extruder development and created many of the internal performance tests that were used to benchmark and measure improvement.

In 2015, the warm weather, great outdoors, and major medical device presence brought him to Southern California where he spent his first couple of years designing surgical devices with a focus on single use laparoscopic instrumentation. Working closely with doctors that were challenging the status quo in surgical technique and tooling, it was here that Tim developed a strong understanding of FDA/MDR regulation and what it takes to get a medical device to market.

In 2018 Tim joined Ossur, where he designed and developed orthopedic devices with a focus on knee bracing. He helped bring multiple devices to market and strengthened Ossur’s biomechanical testing capabilities. During his time at Ossur he was exposed to a multitude of materials, processes, and manufacturing techniques which further strengthened his DFM understanding, device development, and rapid prototyping capabilities.

Tim joined the Omnica team in February of 2023 bringing with him years of experience in mechanical design and manufacture of aerospace components, consumer electronics, and medical devices. His hands on approach to prototyping and product development fit in perfectly with the ethos that Omnica has carefully crafted over the past 30+ years.

Outside of Omnica, Tim can be found riding mountain bikes, motocross, or camping throughout the western United States with his wife and dog. If not riding something with two wheels or camping, he can probably be found in the garage tinkering with his next project.

Henry Hsu

Sam Marano

In 2016, Sam graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. When he returned to the west coast, he spent nearly four years working with BiVACOR, a startup company that was developing a total artificial heart. There, he was exposed to every aspect of design and development associated with a Class III medical device.

At BiVACOR, he was able to apply all the basic skills of mechanical engineering including 3D CAD modeling, manufacturing processes, circuit design, mechanics of materials, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. He was exposed to their entire design and development process, Quality System Regulations, vendor interaction, inspection and assembly of components to post-processing of data and in-vitro and in-vivo testing for FDA approval.

At Omnica, he quickly proved to be an excellent fit and wasted no time demonstrating his ability to evaluate and analyze details associated with user needs and requirements while swiftly creating concepts to test out practical and elegant solutions. He is a quick study, eager to learn, and a professional communicator. His comfort with the nature of development has proven to be most evident.

Outside of Omnica, one can find Sam off-road camping in his Jeep or taking a board up to the mountains or down to the beach.

Dylan

Dylan joined Omnica in 2020 having worked the previous two years as a Mechanical Engineer at Diality, a medical device startup developing a dialysis machine. While at Diality he selected and evaluated critical sensors including a flowmeter, bubble detector, and load cell. Two major contributions to the device include the invention of a liquid volume sensor and the design of a disposable flow-through pressure transducer.

Dylan entered the workforce in 2013 as a Mechanical Engineer at Quasar Federal Systems. At QFS, Dylan designed electromagnetic sensor enclosures for defense contracts such as airborne antenna detection, underground tunnel detection, and projectile detection. During that same time, he also worked at the sister company GroundMetrics where he planned the manufacturing timeline for a capacitive oil detector, wrote assembly instructions, and joined in 4 field operations.

In 2015 Dylan joined a microfluidics research lab at UC Irvine, where he designed a battery operated piezoelectric driver and application to demonstrate the portability of microfluid chips. He also helped develop cancer detection technology which isolates free cancer cells in blood samples. Shortly afterwards he entered the Medical Device community in earnest, reviewing and analyzing medical device malfunction reports in the FDA’s MAUDE database. As a consultant Dylan also developed an query tool to capture and summarize MAUDE data for post market surveillance.

In his free time, Dylan can be found fermenting kombucha tea and gardening in the backyard with his wife.

Dylan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC San Diego, and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Irvine.