2023 Agenda

Fundamentals of lean are improving your company. UT CIS will show how Kata can reinvigorate your lean programs and help your teams consider next level technologies that haven’t been considered before, including I4.0 and collaborative robots.

Our traditional LEAN and Continuous Improvement systems can lose energy, and gains over time. Toyota Kata, developed by Mike Rother after studying Toyota’s management system, is a daily management practice resulting in a culture that is focused on daily improvement. There are two key elements of Toyota Kata; the Improvement Kata, and the Coaching Kata.

The Improvement Kata is the daily routine of practicing rapid PDCA cycles to continuously improve a process from its current state toward a target condition. The Coaching Kata is the daily routine for teaching the Improvement Kata thinking pattern to sustain continuous improvement.

CIS works with your team to identify these opportunities and implement solutions. Lean is a cultural transformation to an environment where everyone is continually seeking improvement. To facilitate faster implementation and enhance return on investment, CIS combines classroom and in-plant activities to meet the specific needs of your company.

Introduction to IPC and WHMMA recognized encapsulation technique using Low Pressure Molding (LPM) with hot melt adhesives. Comparison of various sealing and encapsulation methods to LPM including but not limited to conformal coating, potting, gasket/laser sealing and where each are relevant and overlap on the Ingress Protection scale (IP). Attendees will gain confidence in the durability of the product with real world harsh environment examples from Aerospace, Automotive, Oil and Gas Mining and the Medical industry. Workshop will include hands on comparison of the different products and grades along with a small-scale immersive demonstration of encapsulation of connector shells, printed circuit boards and wire splice and strain relief where the attendees will get a feel for the ease of manufacture. There will be a 30 minute finish for Q&A.

• Different options for parts feeding
• Tip and tricks for designing parts for optimal feeding and techniques for orienting parts
• Guidelines to help identify promising applications to get started with collaborative robots
• How to successfully incorporate automated manufacturing systems designed to meet your unique needs
• Implications of Industry 4.0 on the design of multistation automated assembly systems

• Role Policy plays and 2035 targets
• Electrification of transportation
• Infrastructure
• Battery Energy Storage Systems
• Supply Chain – Tier 1 vs Tier 2 and trend to Hyper localization
• Case Study examples: Dendrites got you down? Why Solder Mask Matters. Get ready for 1200Vs and beyond…

"My independent manufacturers' reps work hard to promote my products every day," says one manufacturer, "and I get great sales growth every year." Says another manufacturer, "I've tried working with independent manufacturers' reps, but I didn't get the results I wanted."

Why do some manufacturers have decades of success selling through independent manufacturers reps, and some manufacturers never get much traction? Higher commissions? No. Big-prize sale contests? No. In this presentation, Manufacturers' Agents National Association (MANA) CEO Charles Cohon will share research showing that financial rewards are not the top driver for reps' effort and loyalty, because, for reps, It's Not Business, It's Personal.

Joining Cohon for the Q&A portion is Marty Grimes, President and Owner of Assembly Solutions, Inc., a manufacturers' representative firm based in Covington, KY. ASI represents industry leading principals in Kentucky, SW Ohio, SE Indiana, and central Tennessee and focuses on assembly and test applications such as leak testing, plastic joining, assembly, riveting, material handling, automated screwdriving, and data collection.

Collaborative robots (cobots) are designed to be cost-effective and safe and to share a workspace with humans, making automation easier than ever before for businesses of all sizes. Additionally, cobots are increasingly attractive to manufacturers who require flexible solutions for their growing product mix but may not have the scale of work or capital resources needed to justify larger investments in automation systems. Gain an introduction to Cobots, including application examples, hardware and system control, and then spend the afternoon with time for hands-on programming activities using Cobots provided by Blue Collar Automation.

This presentation will follow the below schedule:

• 10:45 AM – 12:15 PM ~ Cobot Introduction & Presentation
• 12:15 PM – 12:45 PM ~ Break
• 12:45 PM – 2:15 PM ~ Hands-On Demonstrations & Activities