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Todd Takala

Todd Takala

Certified

Lead Data Scientist

Caterpillar Inc. | Phoenix, AZ Area

Technologies

My Portfolio Highlights

My New Track

Data Scientist in R (previously Data Scientist Professional with R)

My New Course

AI Ethics

My New Track

Data Scientist in R (previously Data Scientist Professional with R)

Thought leader and strong communicator with an ability to share complex ideas as simple solutions.

My Work

Take a look at my latest work.

track

Data Scientist in R (previously Data Scientist Professional with R)

RPython
track

Data Engineer

Python
course

AI Ethics

track

Data Scientist in R (previously Data Scientist Professional with R)

RPython

My Certifications

These are the industry credentials that I’ve earned.

SQL Associate

SQL Associate

Data Scientist Professional

Data Scientist Professional

AI Fundamentals

AI Fundamentals

Data Literacy

Data Literacy

Other Certificates

University of California, Berkeley The Science of Happiness at Work

Empire-Cat Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

DataCamp AI Fundamentals

DataCamp Data Literacy Certificate

Canonical Ubuntu Linux Professional Certificate

CSCMP Supply Chain Foundations Demand Planning Professional Certificate

GitHub Career Essentials in GitHub Professional Certificate

IBM RAG and Agentic AI Professional Certificate

Komatsu North America Certified Technical Communicator

Udemy Streamlit for Snowflake Masterclass

DataCamp Course Completion

Take a look at all the courses I’ve completed on DataCamp.

Courses

Introduction to Python
Introduction to SQL
Understanding Artificial Intelligence
Introduction to R

My Work Experience

Where I've interned and worked during my career.

Caterpillar Inc. | Sep 2022 - Present

Lead Data Scientist, Service Capability

- Architect and developer with solid programming skills to deliver end-to-end data products, including an award-winning AI platform to predict equipment repair times, resulting in an $80 million reduction in warranty costs and a CEO Award - Collaborated with senior leadership and stakeholders to facilitate understanding of the project’s broad impact and create precise user requirements, ensuring alignment with the business road map through written and verbal communication - Performed data mining on structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data to assemble a training dataset from multiple sources, considering thousands of parameters derived from dealer and product information - Used LLMs to find similarities in service jobs and performed feature engineering to retain important parameters, which increased model accuracy by 40% - Utilized Python and Autogluon to train the AI model, leveraging machine learning algorithms such as neural networks, PyTorch, XGBoost, TensorFlow, and LightGBM, which improved model performance and led to more accurate predictions of equipment repair times - Engineered and deployed robust MLOps pipelines to production systems in AWS and Snowflake, as a database administrator, and established best practices for cloud and system architecture. Managed project lifecycles and created comprehensive monitoring plans to validate business impact - Implemented robust information management strategies to ensure data integrity and accessibility for the Snowflake data lake, improving data reliability and supporting informed decision-making
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Amazon | Feb 2022 - Sep 2022

Reliability Analytics Manager, Amazon Robotics

- Applied advanced analytics and statistics to create a new KPI for autonomous robots used in warehouse automation through big data analysis and wrote an influential white paper on statistical programming, resulting in its adoption by senior management - Led a team of business intelligence engineers and data analysts to deploy a pipeline using Shiny R, which improved real-time communication of robot status at all global fulfillment centers, enhancing operational efficiency and data analytics capabilities - Utilized advanced data science techniques to extract actionable insights, driving strategic decision-making and improving operational outcomes - Designed and optimized regression and recommendation systems, achieving two-time champion status in Amazon Machine Learning University competitions, which improved predictive accuracy and recommendation quality in practical applications - Designed and implemented solutions utilizing large databases with Redshift and PostgreSQL, supporting data-driven decision-making and enhancing business intelligence capabilities

Empire Cat | Jan 2012 - Feb 2022

Data Engineering Manager

- Created predictive ML model for engine reliability, durability, repair, preventive maintenance and intervention leading to $62 million in savings within 90 days - Developed an MLOps pipeline with ARIMA and SVM for AI-driven forecasting in supply chain management, integrated data, managed a component exchange program, collaborated with clients on durability forecasting - Led a team of 8 engineers and acted as a client-facing expert on mining equipment. Implemented a data-driven failure analysis program, boosting an aging fleet’s physical availability to over 90%. - Applied the DMAIC Six Sigma methodology with complex problem-solving using R and SQL to identify opportunities for improving operation, manufacturing, and maintenance of equipment fleet, yielding $1.2 billion in savings over six years as Reliability Engineering Manager prior to promotion - Leadership experience with business acumen to build trust and enhance customer experience and relationships to promote data-based decisions. Partnered on design of experiments to improve reliability, safety and durability

My Education

Take a look at my formal education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical EngineeringArizona State University | 2006

About Me

Todd Takala

Results-driven Data Scientist and Reliability Engineer with over a decade of experience in leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning to enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs.

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