This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with InDepth Engineering Solutions, following the American Automotive Summit 2018. “The automotive industry is looking at a global skills shortage in which not enough engineers are sufficiently qualified to support the advancements of emerging technologies or operate sophisticated automated machinery. How does InDepth Engineering Solutions address this talent gap?
Read More →Ask the Expert: EU MDR
HCL hosted a Lunch & Learn Roundtable Discussion at the American Medical Device Summit 2018 last month in Chicago, IL. The session, “Ask the Expert – MDR and Lifecycle Management”, was led by Associate Vice President, Hilde Viroux. Hilde addressed questions surrounding the uncertainty of EUDAMED and UDI, the transition period, and how to obtain compliance. This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with Hilde Viroux, AVP, Regulatory of HCL, America Inc. prior to the American Medical Device Summit 2018. “What are some of the biggest challenges in the new MDR that will impact device manufacturers? There are a lot of changes in the EU MDR that impact device manufacturers. Generating clinical data for all devices, developing the required reports and updating technical files to be compliant with Annex II and III is where most of the budget will typically go. In addition, there is the requirement to trace hazardous substances in devices and identify them on the label. The new regulation also requires manufacturers to set up a proactive approach to following the performance and safety of the device throughout its lifecycle.”
Read More →Q&A with The Austin Company
The environment facing automotive-related manufacturers is fierce. Changing regulations, competitor landscape, technology and customer preferences, along with a fluid global economy, create challenging conditions for automakers and their suppliers. The Austin Company understands this landscape. This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with Brandon Davis, Vice President of Operations and General Manager at The Austin Company prior to the American Automotive Summit 2018. “How can automotive manufacturing facilities decrease project capital costs through engineering and re-design concepts? There are a few ways to look at reducing costs today, compared to how traditional automotive plants used to be designed and built. Throughout most of my career in the industry, we would build plants with what I would call ‘oversized’ structural steel. By doing this, we built in maximum flexibility for the plant, so equipment could easily move around and the plant could be easily adapted in the future, as much of the production processes were “hung loads” from the structure. As the industry has evolved, equipment has become lighter, many production processes can now be floor-mounted, and – in general – equipment has become more flexible and able to support different product types. In this setting, we are working hard in the production layout efforts to see what really needs to be supported from the structure and to design structures specifically for what is needed. That reduces the cost of the facility construction and saves the use of …
Read More →Interview with Frans Cronje, Managing Director & Co-founder, DataProphet
This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with Frans Cronje, Managing Director & Co-founder of DataProphet prior to the American Automotive Summit 2018. “How does AI work with an existing production team to eliminate defects, scrap and minimize downtime? Our flagship product, OMNI, is a powerful process parameter optimization solution that significantly reduces waste in manufacturing processes. OMNI recommends optimal parameter values to the production team, enabling them to continuously improve the individual processes for which they are responsible.
Read More →LEADERS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SUMMIT: INTERVIEW WITH FABIAN SCHMAHL
Fabian Schmahl was named President & CEO of thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc. in April 2008. He is responsible for managing the development and manufacture of premium quality, high performance automotive suspension solutions for Original Equipment, Aftermarket and Motorsports applications. Schmahl oversees the operations of thyssenkrupp Bilstein locations in Hamilton, Ohio (headquarters); Poway, California; Troy, Michigan; and Mooresville, North Carolina. As President & CEO of thyssenkrupp Bilstein, Schmahl has earned extensive recognition for his commitment to his employees, community and the manufacturing industry. Under his leadership, thyssenkrupp Bilstein has been recognized as a Top Workplace in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by Enquirer Media and Best Workplace in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by Business Courier. In 2015 and 2017, Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities voted thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America Employer of the Year. In November, Fabian will join us at the American Automotive Summit.
Read More →LEADERS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: INTERVIEW WITH CHERYL THOMPSON
Cheryl Thompson is the Director of Prototype at American Axle & Manufacturing and Founder of CADIA (The Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement), an organization dedicated to doubling the number of women leaders in the automotive industry by 2030. Cheryl has 30 years of experience at Ford Motor Co. and has held positions in skilled trades, operations, engineering, and leadership. She is a Six Sigma trained and certified Black Belt and is the winner of two Diversity and Inclusion Awards from Ford Motor Company. In November, Cheryl will join us at the American Automotive Summit to speak about the components and decision-making tips that are critical to any team’s success as well as the mistakes that leaders should avoid.
Read More →Leveraging Artificial and Business Intelligence to Drive Productivity Improvements
This is an excerpt from an interview Generis Group did with Jaime Velez, Co-founding Partner and Senior Consultant at Operations and Quality Systems Improvement Experts (OQSIE) prior to the 2018 American Medical Device Summit. “By combining AI and BI, companies can get the best of both worlds – speed and scale. They benefit from the massive data-processing capabilities and speed of computers (AI), combined with actionable, business-impacting information driven by analysis, exception identification and escalation protocols (BI). What is the number one reason to begin thinking about leveraging AI/BI? Speed is the biggest reason. Today’s businesses have massive amounts of information generated by more and more sources. In many ways, there is a human factory of people spending significant amounts of time accumulating, organizing and manipulating data. Instead of using data to drive rapid decisions, achieve business objectives and generate a profit – companies are spending time and resources to find relevant information buried in their data with often such a lag in time that the issues needing attention have happened without a timely response. This is where AI and BI can make a huge impact – by making large amounts of data actionable. A combination of AI/BI system assimilates and analyzes large data sets, but also allows for the right conclusions to be consistently made, at the speed of computing. It finds patterns in data, augmenting human analytics and automates escalating the exact piece of information, in the most appropriate …
Read More →Interview with Victoria Yeager, Head of Contracts and Compliance, Genentech
We were honored to have Victoria Yeager, Head of Global Pharma Procurement Contracts & Compliance at Genentech, join us as a key speaker at the 2017 American Pharma Outsourcing Summit where she discussed “To Outsource or Not to Outsource? Developing Your Ideal Contract Support Model.” We sat down with Victoria at the summit to gather her insights on the current and future state of the pharma outsourcing industry. Watch the full video interview above or read a partial transcript below. What do the next 5 years in the outsourcing space look like? The next five years in the outsourcing space, in my opinions, looks like more outsourcing. I think if we go back to the (Peter) Drucker Quote – to paraphrase – “do what you do best and outsource the rest.” I think that’s going be even more and more important and the reason is, in the pharma industry, things are changing so fast we have to be agile, and so allowing companies to focus on what they do best and their partners to focus on what they do best will allow everything to operate much more smoothly and agilely, which I think is really important.
Read More →Leaders in Aerospace & Defense: Interview with Rod Skotty, President, MHSco
Rod Skotty is a veteran helicopter pilot. After leaving active duty in 1985, he joined Lockheed Martin, and became President of the Maritime Helicopter Support Company (MHSCo), a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, in 2004. MHSCo has provided performance-based logistics support for over 550 Navy helicopters. Worth nearly $5 Billion, MHSCo is the largest logistics enterprise in naval aviation and key to the MH-60 enjoying the highest readiness and lowest cost per flight hour in the Navy’s inventory. MHSCo has been recognized as a superior supplier to the Navy since 2014. Rod has worked within the defense industry worldwide, including senior management positions for Lockheed Martin in the U.S., U.K., and Canada while residing in those countries. He now lives and raises beef cattle on his farm in upstate New York.
Read More →A History of Innovation at Mayo Clinic: Interview with Mark Wehde
This October, Mark Wehde, Section Head of Technology Development at the Mayo Clinic Division of Engineering, will join us at the American Medical Device Summit in Chicago to talk about how engineers at Mayo Clinic have teamed with physicians for over 100 years to find new ways to better care for their patients. In advance of the summit, we spoke to Mark Wehde about this relationship and the culture of innovation at Mayo Clinic. What does it mean to you to ‘innovate’? For most from my generation, technology has grown up around us. The things we take for granted today were only barely imaginable 30 or 40 years ago. To this day I still find it amazing that I can walk into our lab and make a radio. I can make an ECG monitor. I could make a respiratory monitor. This afternoon. To me, that is one of the singular pleasures of being an engineer – we can make the things we use.
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