1. Robert F. Surmani
580 Ahwanee Ave #101
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
Cell: 408-215-8391
rfsurmani@yahoo.com
Objective: Planner, Reverse Logistics, Buyer, Program Manager, Project Manager
Summary: Detail-oriented professional with over 20 years of combined Production &
Return Material Authorization (RMA) repair planning & scheduling experience. A great
team player or self-starter, quick learner, organizational & analytical skills, extensive
peer training. Excellent communication, interpersonal, follow-through skills and a multi-
task master.
Employment History:
2006 – 2014 – Elo Touch Solutions, Milpitas, CA
Logistics Analyst: Managed multiple On Site Exchange Programs through third party,
coordinating large display swap-outs, dispatching field technicians, tracking defective
unit through service center and back to replenishment pool warehouse; created
hundreds of RMAs, generated replacement units to be shipped out; customer
conference calls to resolve issues and customer concerns; researched & resolved
discrepant returns; worked customer approvals for damaged returns; created credit
memos; numerous process improvements; managed spreadsheets; worked with repair
facility on backlog of repairs turnaround time (from over 3 weeks to 3 days) and
discrepant returns; wrote operating procedures; interacted with Quality, Planning,
Customer Service, Engineering & Finance Departments. Constantly received excellent
compliments and appreciation from customers resulting in continued loyalty and sales
rather than losing customers, because the interaction was due to repeated failures of
our product; contributed to reduction in repair turnaround from 2 weeks to 3 days.
2005 – 2006 – SkyPilot, Santa Clara, CA
Materials Analyst: Coordinated shipments & materials movement with Contract
Manufacturer, worked with Contract Manufacturer through year-end physical inventory
with auditor; managed in-house materials; created & edited purchase orders; coordinate
RMAs in & out; create international documents: Commercial Invoice, Shipper’s Export
Declaration & Certificate of Origin; worked with vendors, customers, carriers, freight
forwarders & re-work sites, Finance, customer support, Order Administration, planner,
engineers, Document Control, technicians; trained manager in numerous operations:
strived for process improvements & to streamline operations with workload running at
steady 57 hours a week pace.

2. 2005 – LyChron, LLC, Palo Alto, CA
A/P Accountant/Inventory Coordinator: Created purchase orders, entered invoices,
bills, adjusted sales tax, blanket purchase orders; maintained weekly invoice log per
cost center & amounts; balanced Accounts Payable Aging Summary Report; worked to
improve inventory situation with no secure area, no part numbers, no shelf
identifications, no material transactions & no inventory software; coordinated inventory
data into spreadsheet in preparation for import into Coreflex Inventory System.
2003 – 2005 – Bookham, Inc, Sunnyvale, CA
Production Coordinator: Managed (including re-identifications) PCB boards from Test
location to Inventory location, managed Production Consumables, binning optical
components per insertion loss, material transfer transactions, work order & purchase
order transactions, kit assembly, worked with Buyers & Planner to maintain workflow,
meet production commitments, shipping & receiving, Bill Of Material familiarity, worked
with Material Review Board, daily cycle counts, physical inventory, numerous process
improvements implemented, discrepant reconciliation.
2003 – SanDisk Corp, Sunnyvale, CA
RMA Coordinator: Researched & resolved aged discrepant backlog for Retail RMAs,
clearing $1.05M off the accounting books; worked with Domestic & International
Finance Departments, shipping & receiving offsite contractor and retail customer
contacts to secure proof of deliveries and prepared paperwork for manual credits where
appropriate.
1998 – 2002 – Harmonic, Inc, Sunnyvale, CA
Customer Support Operations: Managed RMAs for Receiver & scalable Node
factories from receipt through repair & final shipment; scheduled Priority Reports, cycle
counts, repair reports, pursued un-received returns from advance replacement; created
advance replacement & out-of-warranty Billable Sales Orders, proof of deliveries, re-
identifications (to different part number), peer training, extensive internal/external
communications & multi-tasking. Volume managed was 5 times that of other
coordinators, which I requested.
* * * *
System Knowledge
SAP, Pay Pal, Oracle, Quick Books, Agile, QAD, Oracle, Vantive, Microsoft Outlook,
Microsoft Access, Power Point, Microsoft Word & EXCEL.
Education
BS Degree in Business Marketing, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
AA Degree in Graphic Arts-Communication, Laney College, Oakland, CA
References provided upon request.