MANUFACTURING TRACK
Dale Parmenteri
VP Consulting Operations, NEPIRC
Intro to Collaborative Robots
During this fast-paced session, attendees will learn about the latest manufacturing trends and applications in the integration of collaborative robots into the workplace. The session will cover the types of collaborative robots, a collaborative robot (or “co-bot”) success story and how to perform a quick co-bot ROI calculation. Common myths and misunderstandings about co-bots will also be discussed.
Dale Parmenteri joined NEPIRC as Vice-President of Consulting Operations in 2013. Prior to joining NEPIRC, Dale served as Vice President of Balester Optical. During his tenure with Balester, Dale automated the firm’s manufacturing processes by incorporating robotics, programmable controllers and other technology into critical tasks and conveyor systems. Dale continues to serve at national and international conferences on optical advances and technologies as a Certified American Board of Opticians speaker. In addition, Mr. Parmenteri recently completed his Executive Education at MIT.
Janelle Farkas
Industrial Engineer, NEPIRC
Exploring Cloud Collaboration
Constant connectivity across an organization offers many benefits, but the numerous methods of communication and connectivity can quickly lead to sifting through massive amounts of information, over-analyzation and, ultimately, duplicate work and redundant efforts. Cloud collaboration tools are one avenue to increase organizational focus and productivity from almost anywhere at any time. This session will explore a few relevant examples and applications of cloud collaboration tools can benefit a team or organization. Many low-cost and no-cost “tools you can use” will be introduced.
Dabbling in Data
Data can help any business – regardless of sector or size – make better decisions, improve efficiency, boost productivity of operations and effectively explore new revenue opportunities. Those benefits create a lot of internal excitement – but uncertainty or intimidation can stop that energy in its tracks! This session will address some of the uncertainty and anxiety about “big data” by discussing common data myths and mishaps and will provide tips for starting to make data work for you and your business.
Janelle Farkas joined NEPIRC in 2018 after accumulating nearly 10 years of successful continuous improvement experience, including a Six Sigma project that yielded over $1.2 million in financial benefits over a three-year horizon for the Department of Army and led to her certification as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. That certification joins her other credentials as a certified Project Management Professional and Engineer in Training. Ms. Farkas is an alumnus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Eric Joseph Esoda
President & CEO, NEPIRC
Innovation in NEPA – Local Innovation Resources
NEPA is home to some of the latest high-tech, cutting-edge resources that can assist manufacturers of all sizes and across many sectors embrace and accelerate innovation. Many of those resources can be accessed at a very low cost and are literally a phone call away. This session will recap some of the innovation resources available within the region’s incubators, universities, maker-spaces and innovation labs and provide information on how to access each facility quickly, easily and at little or no cost.
Eric Joseph Esoda has over 20 years of serving NEPA small and mid-sized manufacturers and currently serves as the President & CEO of NEPIRC. Under his leadership, NEPIRC obtained Center of Excellence designation by the U.S. Department of Commerce and was recognized for Excellence in Economic Development at the international level by IEDC. Throughout his tenure at NEPIRC, Eric has served as an advocate for the region’s manufacturing community – an effort which led to his nomination as a national Champion of Manufacturing by the nationwide Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. As a member of the Board of Directors of several economic development organizations and advisor to an equal number of incubators and technology centers, Eric promotes manufacturer usage of those resources as a way to grow their business and innovate new products.
Kenneth (Ken) Chvilicek
Business Advisor, TriMech
Wayne White
Application Engineer, TriMech
Latest Advances in Additive Manufacturing
When initially introduced, Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) was viewed by some as a disruptive technology and by others as a “flash in the pan” that would not significantly impact manufacturing processes due to its inherent inability to create high-volume products reliably and consistently. Since then, however, manufacturers of all sizes have integrated Additive Manufacturing into their processes in one way or another. This session will cover not only the latest technological advances in 3D printing, but also how those technologies are being utilized by small, mid-sized and large manufacturers.
Additive Manufacturing: Touch the Technology
During this interactive session, participants will be able to touch and try-out some of the latest 3D scanning technology, which allows manufacturers and entrepreneurs to capture accurate, high-resolution 3D images of physical objects and manipulate the resultant data file in a variety of editing software. Presenters will scan, edit and begin printing an object in real-time while attendees sample the technology as well.
Kenneth (Ken) Chvilicek and Wayne White together possess more than 30 years of Additive Manufacturing, CAD/CAM and Product Design experience. Ken’s background, which includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from DeVry University, coupled with Wayne’s Penn State education and design experience with Honda and Aquion Energy, make them a dynamic presentation team. Their “A Look Into the State of Manufacturing in 2019 & Beyond”, “Design Validation” and “Moving Into the Future” sessions are always popular at national conferences. Benefit from their knowledge of the latest advances in Additive Manufacturing in this smaller, more intimate setting.
Marc Gonzalez
Co-Founder, Site2
Cybersecurity for Department of Defense Suppliers
Uncle Sam needs your help! Actually, Uncle Sam requires your help. The first step in modern warfare is now on the cyber battlefield. Like it or not, Department of Defense vendors are on the front line of that battle every minute of every day, even if you are a Department of Defense (DoD) vendor or sub-contractor receiving and storing unclassified information. To help prepare its vendors for this daily confrontation, the Department of Defense now requires vendors to comply with NIST 800-171, a cyber security framework with the fundamental controls needed for cyber defense. In this session, attendees will learn the fundamentals of this framework and the controls needed to protect the DoD’s data.
Cybersecurity for Automotive, Aerospace & Other Manufacturers
Business risk is at an all-time high with the increased threat of cyber security attacks from a growing range of sources. Despite new and inventive methods for exploiting a businesses’ security defenses, the best ways of preventing a hack are still the most basic. In this session, attendees will learn the innovative methods that attackers, ranging from foreign adversaries to former employees, are using to steal data or bring down a business’s computing systems. More importantly, the presenter will identify the fundamental ways of protect against these risks.
Marc Gonzalez is a cyber hygiene and cyber compliance specialist with over 26 years’ experience. Marc is the Information Security Officer at Site2, a data management and security consulting services firm that he co-founded to help organizations comply with federal and industry regulations such as HIPAA, NIST 800 and ISO 27001. For non-regulated organizations, Marc’s team helps improve cyber security practices and employee cyber security awareness. Marc’s career has included positions with three fortune 100 companies with Information Systems audit responsibilities, application development, IT management, help desk & infrastructure support, and business continuity planning. Learn more at Site2.
Adam Waraska
Digital Software Applications Engineer, 3D Systems
Adam Waraksa is a Digital Software Applications Engineer with 3D Systems, operating out of their Cary, North Carolina offices. Prior to joining 3D Systems, Mr. Waraksa was an Account Manager for FARO Technologies, a Facilities Manager and Engineer for the innovative NextFab Studio in Philadelphia and an Engineer for Drexel Formula SAE. He has a degree in Engineering from Drexel University.
Kristiaan Wiedergreen
Business Development Manager, 3D Systems
Kristiaan Wiedegreen is a Business Development Manager for 3D Systems, the world’s premier provider of 3D products and services, including printers, print materials, on-demand manufacturing services and digital design tools. Prior to his tenure at 3D Systems, Kristiaan served as a Territory Manager for TriMech Solutions and was an Operations Specialist in the United States Navy. Kristiaan holds several degrees, including a Bachelor’s from Virgina Polytechnic Institute and Master’s from Radford University.
Manipulating the Physical World Through Digital Touch
This session will focus on how manufacturers can tweak existing products, develop new products and collaboratively find solutions to customer design problems using scanning, digital manipulation and forecasting/simulation modeling.