CEPEX hosted a seminar at Ivy Tech Fort Wayne’s North Campus on October 9, 2018. The second largest city in Indiana, over 30% of the economy in Fort Wayne is based on manufacturing. SMEs located in the area including BF Goodrich, Steel Dynamics, and Sweetwater. Before the seminar Ivy Tech Fort Wayne’s Dean Darrel Kesler and Professor Nick Goodnight provided an informative tour of the labs and facilities. Tour participants included speakers, Mr. Tada and Mr. Sasaki, as well as Consul-General Naoki Ito and Consul Motohiro Hayami from the Consulate-General of Japan in Chicago.
Ivy Tech is a public community college system in Indiana. Classes are organized in 4-hour blocks, and include hands-on activities in labs. Ivy Tech Fort Wayne has 7,000 students who are 18-50+ years old. Ivy Tech teaches industry standards and students learn how to problem solve and develop critical thinking skills. Students can earn certificates (18 credit hours), technical certificates (24 credit hours), or Associate degrees (60 credit hours), along with workforce certifications.
The Steel Dynamics Keith E. Busse Technology Center was built in 2010. The group toured Industrial Electric, Mechatronics, Hydroponics, Aquaponics, HVAC, Welding, Robotics, 3D printing, Construction, Design, and Hydraulics/Pneumatics labs. Equipment in the labs were purchased with the help of state grants, or donated by companies. Equipment included Lincoln Electric CNC machine, OKUMA machines, Makerbot 3D printer, plus Anduino and Raspberry Pi for building robots. Ivy Tech is partnering with Sweetwater Aviation for a flight school to train pilots in Fall 2019.
The CEPEX seminar “From ‘Product Out’ to ‘Market In’, Beyond Just in Time and Kaizen, Don’t Waste New Opportunities” began with two presentations before a panel discussion. Mr. Tada’s presentation focused on the need for changing 1980s mindset as the manufacturing industry considers how to approach training and reskilling employees. When Japanese companies first began to enter the U.S. and build factories, a main issue was training employees to reduce the gap between Japanese business styles and American work culture. As automation, robotics, AI and machine learning are incorporated into manufacturing systems, the larger gap will be between the analog and digital generations.
Mr. Sasaki, CEO and President of Funai Service Corporation (FSC), followed Mr. Tada with a presentation on New Reverse Logistics. Mr. Sasaki encouraged his employees at his reverse service logistics company to create in-house IT systems to increase productivity. While FSC has two IT employees, workers on the line have the knowledge about how to improve systems and work flow. FSC employees used open source software to create in-house IT system to monitor employees’ touch time on each item on the line. With an RFID tag, scanner, and in-factory cameras taking photos every 10 seconds, the managers can easily monitor productivity throughout the floor.
