Masayuki Kobayashi

Masayuki "Mashu" Kobayashi has extensive experience in manufacturing engineering and process improvement. Masayuki "Mashu" started their career at Shin-Etsu as an Engineer, where they worked on CIMS-based operation design and qualification. Masayuki "Mashu" also contributed to process refinement, equipment design, and process improvement projects in wafering manufacturing processes. During their time at Shin-Etsu, they were granted three patents.

Masayuki "Mashu" then joined SEH Europe Ltd., where they served as a Senior Process Engineer and was involved in the design and qualification of a new silicon substrate manufacturing plant. Masayuki "Mashu" successfully introduced wire saw operation and led a three-month operation training in Japan.

After that, they joined SUMCO as an Engineering Supervisor, where they managed process engineers and led yield enhancement projects in various processes. Masayuki "Mashu" also led the engineering team in establishing and qualifying a wire saw operation, resulting in a 10% improvement in silicon utilization.

Masayuki "Mashu" later worked as the Director of Epi-Ready Polishing at Rubicon Technology, overseeing the operation, quality, and engineering of the sapphire substrate polishing operation. Under their leadership, production output increased by 500%, and yield and product quality were continuously improved. Masayuki "Mashu" also led the ISO9001 certification process.

At BP, they served as a Process Engineer and managed daily process and yield monitoring. Masayuki "Mashu" conducted DOEs and identified key inputs for yield improvement. Masayuki "Mashu" successfully developed a brick grinding operation that reduced defect rates by 40%.

Prior to that, they worked at Dow Advanced Materials as a Run Plant Engineer, responsible for polymer coating and impregnation operations. Masayuki "Mashu" focused on safety improvements, statistical data analysis, pilot operations, and continuous improvements in yield, cost, and productivity.

Currently, they are working at Bloom Energy, where they have held multiple roles, including Senior Principal Manufacturing Engineer / Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and Principal Manufacturing Engineer / Manufacturing Engineering. Masayuki "Mashu" was part of the Bloom Manufacturing Center Delaware start-up team and spent time at the headquarters in Sunnyvale to learn about product design, assembly operations, and test protocols.

Masayuki "Mashu" Kobayashi obtained a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Niigata University from 1978 to 1982. Masayuki "Mashu" also has additional certifications in "Communicating For Influence" from Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth, "Communicating Persuasively And Building Trust" from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Six Sigma Green Belt from BP, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from ASQ.