Operations · Manufacturing · Self-Taught Software

David A. Carns

Nineteen years in manufacturing operations, purchasing, project management, sales, CAD/CAM, and IT. More recently, independent work building and launching manufacturing, web, and mobile software ventures.

Open to technical, operations, and manufacturing roles. On-site, hybrid, or remote.

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Experience

Carns Lead Systems

2025 – Present

Founder & Developer — subscription website platform for Oregon trade businesses

  • Designed and built the platform end-to-end: generates, hosts, and manages marketing websites for trade businesses (roofing, tree service, machining, electrical, and more), with a live paying customer, CAD Custom Machining (cad-custom.com).
  • Integrated Stripe subscription billing and built automated GitHub Actions pipelines to manage pricing, discount codes, and API credentials safely, using least-privilege keys and verifying every change against the live account before it takes effect.
  • Architected the backend on serverless cloud functions and cloud data storage; built and maintain 25+ automated deployment and quality-control pipelines covering testing, data validation, commercially-licensed photo/video sourcing and compliance, and live-site verification.
  • Built a companion sales toolkit (mobile-first cold-call console, offline-capable notes sync, traffic-analytics dashboard), plus PROSPECT (lead-generation: business search, website audits, owner lookups) and WATCHTOWER (keyword monitoring across classifieds, forums and RSS with digest alerts).

KALIV Manufacturing

Jun 2025 – Present

Founder — managed manufacturing service, Portland Metro · kalivmfg.com

  • Founded and operate a managed-manufacturing service for the Portland Metro area, covering CNC machining, turning, screw machine work, sheet metal fabrication, 3D printing, and assembly. Each job is quoted by KALIV and placed with the vetted partner shop best equipped for it, giving the customer one point of contact and one accountable partner from a single part to a finished build.
  • Applies the vendor-sourcing and quality judgment built over 19 years at Duyck Machine to choosing which partner shop a job goes to, and holding it to the drawing through first article and delivery.
  • Built kalivmfg.com and an AI-assisted quoting intake that gathers material, tolerances, CAD files, and quantity and release schedule before a job is scoped.

Ember

Aug 2026 – Present

Custom Android TV web browser, built on Firefox

  • Restores full mouse-cursor control from a standard D-pad remote, a feature the original Amazon Fire TV browser removed.
  • Adds support for installing modern browser extensions, including ad blockers, which Android TV browsers have historically blocked.
  • Tuned specifically for using Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail comfortably on a living-room-scale interface.

Reframer

Jul 2026 – Present

Privacy-first mobile video editing app

  • Turns wide, horizontal game footage (e.g. a school's own recording) into vertical or square clips sized for social media, built for parents of student athletes.
  • Subject-focused reframing, a clip-and-reel editor with music and transitions, and one-tap export for social platforms or coaches.
  • All video processing stays on-device; nothing is uploaded to a third-party server.

Clarios

Sep 2026 – Present

Quality & Battery Repair — maker of roughly one in three of the world's car batteries

Duyck Machine, Inc.

Jan 2006 – May 2025

Operations, Purchasing & Technology Specialist — Forest Grove, OR

Held a multidisciplinary operations role supporting purchasing, information technology, customer projects, inventory, CAD/CAM, manufacturing, and the company's online presence.

Project Manager & Sales May 2012 – Dec 2023

  • Coordinated an estimated 15–20 concurrent customer projects — timelines, schedules, equipment, and requirements — and carried the communication between customers, management, and production personnel. Prevented delays on at-risk jobs by drawing on relationships with coworkers and suppliers to find an alternate path to each customer's requirements.
  • Managed customer accounts and grew both the relationships and the revenue behind repeat work, acting as the shop's point of contact from first enquiry through delivery.
  • Developed and formalized bids and quotations, with accountability for the profitability of quoted work and for the major accounts behind it.

Purchasing · Drafting & Design · Information Systems Jan 2006 – May 2025

  • Purchased raw materials, components, tooling, shop supplies, equipment, and outside services from an estimated 120 suppliers, comparing quotations on price, quality, and lead time to reduce costs by an estimated 20% over time. Maintained purchasing and inventory records for an estimated 475 items using E2 Shoptech and ProShop ERP.
  • Handled shipping and receiving from 2006 to 2015, loading and unloading trucks and semi-trucks by hand and by forklift without causing damage, inspecting incoming packaging for damage in transit, and coordinating with carriers including USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and DirectTransit. Created the shop's process for international shipments.
  • Supported the shop's approximately 30 employees across its Windows computers, peripherals, software, network resources, and data-backup processes, and selected and purchased replacement computers and equipment as needed.
  • Proposed and built the company's first website, duyckmachine.com (the shop had none for the first four years), created its brand identity and logo, and maintained the site for approximately 15 years.
  • Created and revised manufacturing drawings using SolidWorks, Mastercam, and Omax, and reverse-engineered customer-supplied components when drawings were unavailable.
  • Automated part of the quoting, purchasing, and inventory workflow to cut down repetitive manual work.
  • Earlier responsibilities (2006–2008) included CNC lathe programming and setup.

USF Reddaway

Oct 2002 – Feb 2006

Dock Worker — Clackamas, OR

  • Loaded and unloaded trucks against shipping manifests, manually and using a forklift.

Roadway Express

Jan 2000 – Oct 2002

Dock Worker — Portland, OR

  • Loaded and unloaded trucks against shipping manifests, manually and using a forklift.

Community & volunteer work

OC3X3 Basketball Tournament

2022 – Present

Co-organizer & Web Developer · Oregon City High School · oc3x3.com

  • Co-run OC3X3 equally with one partner — an annual 3-on-3 fundraiser for Oregon City High School girls' basketball, five consecutive years: sponsorships, teams, registration, day-of operations.
  • Built its platform: registration, live brackets, sponsorships, and a secure staff portal for waivers and event data.

Recommendations

David is one of those rare individuals who can operate effectively across multiple areas of a business while still understanding how each decision affects the organization as a whole. … He does not simply identify problems—he takes ownership of them and works toward measurable results.
Darrell Rustrum Manufacturing Sales Rep — David’s manager at Duyck Machine throughout the Project Manager & Sales years, 2012–2023
He didn’t treat a problem as someone else’s job just because it fell outside his own title. … He can talk to people in the office and on the shop floor with equal ease, and he understands that technical work only matters if it works for the people using it.
Charlie Duyck Owner, CAD Custom Machining & Design — formerly Production Manager at Duyck Machine; worked with David for sixteen years

Excerpts from letters of recommendation. Full letters and references available on request.