The HIA Manufacturing and Technology committees held a joint session on 5/5/21. This was the first time the two groups held a session at Inspirence Studios in Bohemia. Featuring a panel of manufacturers and moderators live in the studio, the audience participated virtually over Zoom.
Panelists
Paul Angelico, Anthony Ovale, and Ron Loveland
Panelists were Paul Angelico, Vice President of Global Operations at Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc., Anthony Ovale, Production Management at Banner Metalcraft Inc., and Ron Loveland, President of Summit Safety & Efficiency Solutions (Co-Chair of the Manufacturing/International Trade Committee).
Moderators
Charlie Ward and Chris Coluccio
Moderators were Chris Coluccio from Techworks Consulting, Inc. (Co-Chair of the Technology for Business Committee), and Charlie Ward from TopCat Technology Services (Co-Director of the Cloud task force).
Manny Morales, President of 2M Technologies, Inc. (Co-Chair for Tech for Business Committee), and Kevin Devecioglu, Managing Director at Bimser International Corporation (Co-Chair for Manufacturing/International Trade Committee) were also instrumental in planning the session.
Get the Recorded Section
The key theme of the discussion was that technology is changing by the minute. As manufacturers expand and put up new facilities or upgrade their current facilities, what technologies should they be considering? Topics ranged from what technologies are out there, how we are impacted by rising costs, new regulations, increasing compliance requirements and persistent extreme weather conditions, and what tech should we be thinking about to grow and sustain manufacturing companies.
The panelists, while all in manufacturing, operate in varying modes. Chembio is a publicly-traded medical device and test manufacturer (i.e., COVID testing). Headquartered on Long Island with all manufacturing performed locally, Chembio is an international company with multiple locations and is regulated primarily by the FDA and the SEC. Their work is characterized by large production runs with like outputs. Banner has more unique job runs that are made to order. Serving the aerospace and defense industries, Banner has a single location in Ronkonkoma, is regulated primarily by the DoD, and is ISO9000/AS9100 certified. Summit is a safety, quality, and efficiency consultant to manufacturers and is intimately familiar with all modes of manufacturing.
Discussion topics were wide-ranging and included energy efficiency, resiliency, and renewables, robotics and cobotics, predictive maintenance, IoT and cybersecurity, physical security, inspection automation as a productivity gateway/enabler for all manufacturing processes, increasing automation of manual processes, lean Kanban thought process, continued reduction of paper usage, 3D prototyping, tech planning and project management, ROI, when best to invest in new tech, drone inspections of building exterior structure and systems, and more. Please check out the recorded session for detail on the discussion.
One overarching highlight – there is a shortage of manufacturing talent on Long Island. When given a final question on what tech they were most keen to bring in, the panelists were united in underscoring that manufacturing talent on Long Island is now a big concern. All panelists felt that replenishing the local talent pool was key and that manufacturing should be brought further into the local school system. The panel felt it would be advantageous to set up internal training programs within their companies to take in graduating high school students and raise up the next generation of manufacturing leaders through training and experience in all operations from the ground up.
Join us for Next Business Meeting
Our next Technology for Business Committee Meeting will be June 2nd at 8:30 AM and will feature our Software & Business Solutions Task Force. The next Manufacturing/International Trade Committee meeting is June 9th at 8:30 AM. Be sure to check out the monthly sessions of these exciting and informative groups, both of which are open to new members.