Conference Program
Saturday Evening Reception
Earn your pit pass at this new interactive reception designed to get your engines started. Four cocktail tables will be set for unique networking opportunities. One table will welcome all first timers with a committee member preview. Dennis Arter, well known author and ASQ professional will staff a "Meet the Quality Guru" table. Your raw material knowledge will be tested when you stop by our "table full of chips." And finally, a unique item will be on one table - your job: guess what it is. All winners will be recognized throughout the conference.
Lunch and Keynote Speaker
Derek Daly is known in motor sports circles around the world as a talented and passionate driver, writer, broadcaster, racing advisor and businessman. Since forming his own company in 2002, he has used the platform of motor sports to emotionally engage business people and racing enthusiasts with the objective of creating powerful teaching and solution design moments. Daly's presentation will explain the principles of high performance. His personal reflections and experiences will enable you to integrate the techniques used by the world's most successful racing teams.
Innovative Problem Solving
Critical to every shop's success is the ability to use the data at hand to solve their problems. Dennis R. Arter of Columbia Audit Resources will show us how to recognize the critical data and use the relevant tools to solve process problems.
How to Implement Change
Are you a change master or a change victim? The rate of change that our businesses face is breathtaking. Ed Brooks of Huron Automatic Screw Co., Jeffrey Gleich of The G&G Manufacturing Company, and Jeff Ohlemacher of Elyria Manufacturing Corp. will share their experiences to encourage, empower and give you the confidence to implement today's high rate of change back at your shop.
Technical Member Exhibits
Over 70 exhibits for you to discuss the latest technology with the industry experts. Your own personal "Pit Stop" will be set up with food and beverages made available for a nominal fee. A drink ticket will be provided for the beverage of your choice. You could win a GPS system, a new iPod Nano, or a Wii game system just by visiting with the exhibitors!
Competing Process Forum - Print Provided
Which factors in a quote determine your shop's failure or success? There are two of these sessions this year. The print provided will have four lot sizes identified; the discussion will focus on how well your machine would compete within each of these lot sizes. How could you adjust in order to compete?
Shop Innovations
Enjoy this interactive look at process innovations and improvements set with a panel of progressive and knowledgeable speakers. Listen to quick stories of other's successful implementation, including Robin Rutschilling of Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc., Mike Bartizal of Permac Industries, and Slavko Grguric of Acroturn Industries, Inc. Your moderator for this session, Dan Murphy of Tsugami Corporation, will share his experience and team up with committee member Dan Vermeesch of Micron Manufacturing Company to facilitate sharing and learning.
Facilitation & Coaching for Greater Productivity
Hate meetings? Most people do. But, if you know how to conduct effective meeting and coaching sessions, they can be highly productive ways to spend your time. Mike Donahue of Newgrange Consulting will teach you: 1) How to conduct one to one coaching sessions, 2) The value of daily 'huddles" lasting just ten minutes, 3) Creative ways to facilitate staff meetings to make them engaging, effective and brief, 4) How to make accountability an integral part of your meetings.
Predictive Tool Failure
How should tools fail? How do tools fail? Tool failure causes downtime, increased scrap, and increased shop operating costs. John Detterbeck of Lester G. Detterbeck Co., Kevin Johnson of FISCHER Special Tooling Corporation, and William Shaffer of Conicity Technologies will describe how tools fail and how to respond to operate your tools predictably and cost effectively.
Post Machining Processes - Prints Provided
Unique processing concerns will be listed on a flip-chart before this session gets started. Tables with post machining "problems" will be identified, including Quality & Inspection, Packaging, Cleaning and Handling issues. The session will focus on how to best handle these issues.
Preparing for the Labor Crisis
Are you an employer of choice? What are the new rules for retaining talent from the different generations in the workforce today? Nationally recognized talent management expert and ground breaking author Nancy S. Ahlrichs of EOC Strategies, LLC will help you identify the changes you may need to make to cultivate and retain the best talent.
Process Auditing and Product Validation
What is the role of a process audit? When is a product audit appropriate? How are these two complementary techniques combined to validate your process to achieve zero PPM? Quality guru and author Dennis R. Arter of Columbia Audit Resources and Rod Chaffee of FARO Technologies will discuss the challenges and opportunities ranging from traditional auditing through vision inspection.
Best Practice Round Tables
This session will begin with a brief slideshow of 'best practice' innovations already implemented in shops like yours. Round tables will be set for you to discuss topics such as Lean Manufacturing, Quality Management Issues, Predictive Index Experiences, and Global Sourcing Concerns. Network with your peers to discuss this year's winning practices.
One Page Strategic Planning
Frustrated by prior efforts at strategic planning? Nationally recognized planning authority, Dr. Jeanette J. Shallop of Change Strategies / Vistage International will give you unique "outside in" techniques so you can leave this session with a first draft that identifies your company's goals, clarifies your approach, and asks the big questions that will help you reach your desired future.
ROI - A Winning Investment
How can we stay competitive in today's market of escalating costs, tighter tolerances, and more difficult to machine materials? Olaf Tessarzyk and Klaus Voos of Index Corporation will review how staying current with technology is the critical factor for your shop's competitiveness and sustainability. With the "easy" jobs gone, understanding the concept of return on investment is just as critical as knowing how to quote.
Material Video MyTube
Where does my bar stock come from? Watch the actual process of your raw materials being fabricated to meet your requirements, including steel bars, brass, and aluminum. Mike Mulligan of New Dimension Metals Corp., Will Klages of Laurel Steel, Joe Napolitan of Mueller Industries, and John Collins of Stainless and Aluminum, Inc. will provide a series of short videos with supporting commentary.
Going Green, $aving Green
Can we minimize our environmental impact without maximizing costs? Which "green" technologies can actually save us money in our operations? Come hear Jim Tyree of General Plug and Manufacturing Co. describe the success they have had in moving into the world of eco-operations.
Determine Your Process Capabilities
Whether you are trying to assess, improve, or trouble-shoot your process, you end up looking at process capability and sources of process variation. What tolerance can we hold? Why are we having trouble holding this dimension? These are the questions you probably face every day. Dealing with multi-stream processes - such as multi-spindle machines or multi-cavity fixtures - presents additional complexity. Alex Zaks of Altegra SPC Software, Inc. will show how machine shops can perform practical and effective process capability studies to tackle daily process challenges.
Drills Gone Wild
If we always do what we have always done…when was the last time that you really challenged your operations to significantly and measurably improve performance? Innovations in drill technology and chip removal are one means of obtaining better performance in your machining operations. Hans Liechti of Mikron Corp. Monroe and Greg Antoun of ChipBlaster, Inc. will present these new and radical technologies that are "blowing holes" through the old norms in drilling.
I Have a Problem: Solutions to Your Information and Technical Issues
Have a problem? Can't get the information you want or need? We have winning solutions for your information and technology concerns. Come and ask the experts in this interactive panel discussion staffed by members of PMPA's Information Technologies Committee. Application software, bar-coding, networks, policies, shop applications, websites, wireless, security and more, are all topics open for lively discussion.
Team Planning: Speeding Up Set-up Reduction
Say the word 'lean' and most people think of setup time reduction. But setup time reduction is more than just activities on the shop floor. Don Thomason of Hardinge Inc. will explain how creating product families based on processing will enable your company to reduce costs of setup. The focus will be on team planning and minimizing changeovers through standardized turret and gang tooling.