Leandro Fontanarrosa

MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Skills Overview

Leandro is a Mechanical Engineer with over seven years of experience delivering capital equipment projects across the dairy, food, and energy sectors, from concept and detailed design through to site commissioning. He is skilled in translating complex process requirements into robust mechanical solutions, with hands-on experience in heat transfer systems, P&ID development, and FEA validation. Active Engineering NZ member on the path to be chartered.

• HEAT TRANSFER & THERMAL ENGINEERING – Leandro has developed a strong specialisation in the thermal sizing and mechanical validation of heat exchanger systems across dairy, food and beverage, HVAC, and power generation applications. Working with plate heat exchanger technology, he translates client process requirements (flow rates, temperatures, fluid properties, and duty cycles) into optimised equipment configurations, supported by manual engineering calculations and selection software. Compliance with ASME VIII, PD5500, and New Zealand design verification requirements is a routine part of his process rather than an afterthought.
• MECHANICAL DESIGN – With over seven years designing process equipment for the food, dairy, and energy sectors, Leandro is comfortable across the full mechanical design lifecycle. His work at a stainless steel manufacturing company involved detailed CAD modelling in SolidWorks and AutoCAD, structural and thermal validation using FEA tools like Samcef, and the production of complete fabrication drawing packages for workshop execution. Projects included pasteurisers, reverse osmosis and nanofiltration plants, CIP systems, and certified pressure vessels. He approaches design with manufacturability and field serviceability in mind from the outset, which reduces rework and keeps fabrication timelines predictable.
• PROCESS DOCUMENTATION – Leandro recognises that clear documentation is what allows good engineering decisions to survive contact with the workshop, the site, and the client. His documentation practice covers P&IDs, flowsheets, equipment schedules, datasheets, and fabrication drawing packages, developed to define design intent precisely and support execution at every stage. At a stainless steel manufacturing company, this documentation formed the backbone of project delivery across a large portfolio of simultaneously active projects, where ambiguity in drawings or specifications had direct consequences on fabrication timelines and cost.
• PROTOTYPING, AUTOMATION & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS – Beyond his professional work, Leandro builds things. His personal projects span embedded systems, FDM 3D printing, CNC machining, and control systems using Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms, with a current focus on FPV drones and RC systems. This hands-on culture of making informs how he approaches engineering problems more broadly: he tends toward building and testing over theorising, and is comfortable moving between digital design and physical fabrication.
• PROJECT ENGINEERING – Leandro has led end-to-end delivery of over 30 capital equipment projects, coordinating across clients, internal teams, workshop supervisors, and external contractors. His role has consistently spanned the full project arc: from initial process consultation and scope definition through detailed engineering, fabrication oversight, and on-site commissioning with teams of three to seven personnel. He is direct in his technical communication and comfortable holding the thread of a project across multiple stakeholders without losing sight of either the engineering or the schedule.

Project Experience