Being an Engineer

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Barbara earned a degree in chemical engineering then learned she found manufacturing and design more interesting than chemicals. Beginning her career supervising a manufacturing team, she quickly learned the importance of humility when working with others, and developed a love for helping those on her team. She continues to develop professionals as she leads her team at Irwin & Associates. Join us in this episode as we hear how she found her dream job, then eventually bought the company, and how she continues to develop her team’s skills supporting medical device product companies while offering an incredible work life balance. 

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

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Elizabeth shares her unique perspective having worked at a “theory X” company prior to her 10+ years at Gore, and contrasts those experiences with the “theory Y” environment that has been intentionally developed at Gore. Learn about how the enterprise’s principles of supporting and building individuals has led to it success, and how these principles and processes can be implemented in other progressive companies looking for ways to improve their culture and performance.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Matt shares his deep and valuable experience with us from testing pharmaceutical compounds and understanding the mechanics of the universe on an atomic level through implementing truly practical quality systems that help teams work more productively without weighing them down in paperwork and bureaucracy. Learn more about his work by visiting PSN’s website.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at https://teampipeline.us

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Like many great engineers, Blayne Roeder (pronounced like “raider”) grew up on a farm with a strong work ethic and in a culture that valued the ability to maintain (and sometimes build) your own equipment. Those skills helped Blayne quickly advance through a senior level engineering role and into multiple engineering director roles. Having provided guidance to hundreds of junior level engineers throughout his career, Blayne shares with us not only the skills that make great engineers, but skills that make great people. 

[email protected]

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at https://teampipeline.us

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Ryan Frederick has spent his career building software product companies and during this episode shares just a few insights he has learned over the years. Directly applicable to both software and hardware companies, listeners will find his instruction a valuable asset in their bag of development tools. Ryan has also written two books, one about starting a new company (The Founder’s Manual) and the other about managing a services company (Sell Naked). 

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Alexander Slocum is a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and is one of the authorities in the realm of mechanical design. He has written two books on machine design, Precision Machine Design and FUNdaMENTALs of Design (free download on http://pergatory.mit.edu), published more than 150 papers, and has 130+ issued patents. Alex regularly works with companies on the development of new products and has been significantly involved with the invention and development of 11 products that have been awarded R&D 100 awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was the assistant director for advanced manufacturing in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House in 2013.   

 In this episode we discuss how to tinker, proactivity hacks, achieving work life balance, how to monetize your mechanical design ideas, managing mechanical design engineers and designers. 

Interviewed by Rafael Testai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/testai/

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Ogun Unal’s expertise is in industrial engineering and metallurgy. He shares a particularly interesting example with us describing how the oxidized top layer of molten Aluminum can be pushed sub-surface and lead to failures in the cast components if not handled properly. Ogun also shares an interesting take on how engineers spark change in the world, and what life might be like without the innovations brought to us by engineers.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

 David Oh is the former flight director for the Mars Curiosity rover, and current systems engineering manager and system architect at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the upcoming Psyche launch. During this episode David shares his insights and experience working with large engineering teams on (literally) mission critical systems and subsystems. He also shares what it is like living on “Martian time” (with his family, no less), as well as the indescribable excitement and fulfillment one feels when experiencing the success of a space mission at 2am in the control room knowing you and your team are the first people on earth to learn something new about our neighboring planets. 

Update - David asked me to include this quick correction to the podcast: when the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012, it actually took 14 minutes (not 7 minutes as stated in the interview) for the signal from the rover to reach the Earth. It takes seven minutes to land on Mars, so when we received the first data showing the rover had entered the Martian atmosphere, it had actually already been on the surface of Mars for seven minutes.  For more information, see the video “Seven Minutes of Terror” on YouTube. 

The Being An Engineer podcast (not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA) is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Daniel Kurnianto is a Product Manager Owner, R&D Senior Mechanical Design Engineer of lab equipment & automation. Daniel’s F.A.S.T. Liquid Handling Automation Positive Displacement Pipette Tips device captivated me and prompted me to invite him to the podcast. Watch his automated Displacing Pipette Tip device here: https://tinyurl.com/yytyokfu

Interviewed by Rafael Testai.

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Send us Fan Mail

Paul Schaffner has worked for Benchmark Electronics for over 30 years. These days it’s hard to find individuals who have stayed with a company for effectively their entire careers. Join us on the episode and listen to what factors have motivated Paul to develop his long-term strategy, and the benefits he has enjoyed through doing so. Along the way, learn a little about what it’s like to work in a field developing test equipment for electronics hardware and why it’s more fun than working at Tesla!

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.testfixturedesign.com and www.designtheproduct.com 

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus