Manufacturing Tomorrow

Vance Greene is senior director of global quality and operational excellence at Clopay Plastic Products.

Clopay is a global leader in specialty films, extrusion coatings, and engineering laminations. With plants in the United States, Germany and Brazil, the company specializes in hygiene, healthcare, and protective apparel products. Clopay's world headquarters and technical center are in Mason, OH - other centers are in Augusta, KY, and Nashville, TN.

Vance was previously responsible for Clopay’s manufacturing operations in North America and across Europe. He received a Master’s in business operational excellence at the Ohio State Fisher College of Business, and a bachelors in paper science at Miami University. Before Clopay, he worked as a paper mill superintendent for Georgia-Pacific. He serves as the company’s representative on the College of Engineering non–governing advisory board and Fisher College Center for Operational Excellence.

Clopay started out making low-cost paper window shades. They then made waterproof laminated paper and board for packaging during WWII (as well as airplane drop tanks and blackout window shades).).

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.

Harry Moser founded the Reshoring Initiative in 2010 to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Prior to starting the Initiative, he held leadership positions at GF Machining Solutions, formerly known as GF AgieCharmilles, where he began in 1985 as the company’s president and retired in 2010 as Chairman Emeritus.

Glenn Daehn, Ohio Manufacturing Institute’s executive director and Mars G. Fontana Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Ohio State, outlines how manufacturers and universities can best work together. He also provides details about the latest trends in metal forming and lightweighting.

As founding director of OMI, Daehn developed the initial mechanisms to promote and improve engineering services engagements between Ohio manufacturers and the university. He currently has leadership roles in several Ohio State manufacturing initiatives and programs related to manufacturing technology development. He is a technology leader for the national Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT), a collaboration among Ohio State, EWI and the University of Michigan to develop the specific tools and skills to make research breakthroughs practical for industry’s production of parts primarily for vehicles, airplanes and other forms of transportation. Glenn is also director of the Honda-OSU Partnerships Program.

Glenn’s expertise is in impulse-based metal forming for joining, welding, cutting and forming as well as novel material processing.

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.

Matthew Roberts, divisional VP of Global Product Development at Abbott Nutrition, joins the Manufacturing Tomorrow podcast. Abbott is an international healthcare company with a presence in over 150 countries and over $22B in sales.

Building upon the 125+ years of innovation at Abbott, Matthew focuses on driving market opportunities across the company’s food, nutrition and well-being sectors. This has led to outstanding results for the company’s commercial and research functions, where Roberts has led teams that have introduced over 100 new products to market. He also has assisted in billions of dollars in merger and acquisition transactions. As a scientist, Roberts is the author of numerous scientific publications and holds four patents.

He’s in the studio after presenting at the Fisher College of Business Center for Operational Excellence quarterly professional development meeting – we appreciate them helping to arrange this interview.

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.

Ned Hill, dean of Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, discusses all things manufacturing and offers recommendations on what universities should do to support manufacturers.

Dave Mayewski, Rockwell Automation regional industry manager, discusses how big data, the Internet of Things, and automation technology affect the manufacturing production floor and administration on this podcast.

Chuck Speelman, superintendent of Tri-Rivers Career Center, visited the Manufacturing Tomorrow studio recently. He has been the superintendent at Tri-Rivers Career Center in Marion, Ohio since 2007. During that time he has worked locally and at the state level to develop and operationalize educational initiatives - including the Robotic & Advanced Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative (RAMTEC) training center.

RAMTEC is the first training facility of its kind in the State of Ohio. Bolstered by a $15M Straight A grant, high school students, adult students and incumbent workers have access to an industrial training center that provides industry certifications in robotic operation, robotic welding, CNC operation, and industrial maintenance. RAMTEC’s vision is to help modernize Ohio’s education system – and manufacturing. Most recently, the RAMTEC initiative was selected as the statewide winner of the 2014 Excellence inWorkforce Development Innovation Award by the Ohio Economic Development Association.

Chuck has worked in school administration. At Tri-Rivers he has made significant improvements to curriculums and now all career tech programs at the school provide students with transcripted and/or articulated college credits. Chuck has his Master’s degree in education administration and has additionally graduated from special training programs such as, the Seton Hall University Executive Educational Leadership Doctoral Cohort Program and the Ohio Superintendents’ Leadership Institute. Chuck has been awarded numerous local educational service awards, serves on multiple boards and/or advisory councils, and is an active member of Rotary Club.

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast

Manufacturing Tomorrow invited Becky Bach, Global Director of Continuous Improvement for Anheuser-Busch InBev, to give us the inside scoop on the world’s largest brewer’s workforce culture . She is responsible for the Lean Six Sigma program growth from 60 to 700+ participants in four years and the success of their Business Excellence Programs.

Before AB-InBev, Becky was a Director of Strategic Operations & Business Development for NBC Universal and led the Operations Management Leadership Program for General Electric. She is a Master black belt in Six Sigma and has led Lean & Six Sigma deployment in all of these organizations. She arrived in town to present at the Fisher College of Business Center for Operational Excellence summit – thanks to them for carving out time for our discussion. We are lucky to have her here in the studio.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global portfolio includes Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Beck's. The company operates 13 breweries in the US, including three in the Midwest.

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.

This week's Manufacturing Tomorrow podcast features Milt Kniss, adult education RAMTEC coordinator at Tolles Career & Technical Center and former vice president of operations at Autotool. Autotool is a single source tooling and automation supplier of complete automation systems and custom automated weld cells in Plain City. Prior to Autotool, Kniss was operations manager for Precision Edge Surgical Products and Executive Vice President of Seating Systems for Commercial Vehicle Group. He also served as president of control systems for Dura Automotive Systems.

Autotool and some manufacturing allies hope a mobile laboratory that visits schools to promote technical education can help shed the bad reputation.

In a recent Business First article about Autotool’s mobile lab effort. Kniss said, “Manufacturers across the country have made clear the disconcerting lack of qualified workers for skilled manufacturing jobs. Part of the problem is bad marketing – guidance counselors, parents and students still envision manufacturing jobs as grease-covered, outdated relics of a bygone era.”

The mobile lab would serve Central Ohio counties and would provide manufacturing lab experience at technical schools in the seven-county area.

Covering the latest topics, Manufacturing Tomorrow guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.

This week's Manufacturing Tomorrow podcast features Alex Bandar, founder and CEO of Columbus Idea Foundry. At the Foundry, Alex and his all-volunteer team teach classes on design and fabrication, provide consulting and production resources, perform micro-manufacturing services for local businesses, and incubate 30+ individuals, artists, entrepreneurs and small businesses within the walls of the shop. In leading the Maker Movement wave, he is redefining what it means to manufacturer.

Covering the latest topics, our guests include company C-suite executives and engineers to industry-facing academics, supportive government and regional economic development agents of change. More information is at http://omi.osu.edu/podcast.