Keynote Speakers

Nolen Akerman

Associate Director of Information Technology and Software Development R&D
Stryker Medical
Kalamazoo, MI

Nolen Akerman is the Associate Director of Information Technology and Software Development, R&D at Stryker Medical in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In his present position, Nolen is responsible for managing all facets of Stryker Medical’s IT department, including development, network & telecommunications support, and ERP maintenance.

Before his role in IT, Nolen worked for five years in research and development at Stryker Medical, most notably as the project lead for the Stair-Pro® line of patient evacuation and transport chairs that were awarded the Medical Device Excellence Award for EMS products in 2002.

Nolen graduated as Presidential Scholar in the industrial and manufacturing engineering department at Western Michigan University (WMU) where he received a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Management and a Master’s of Science in Industrial Engineering. Nolen is also a member of the computer science advisory board at WMU and has sponsored several research projects, most recently regarding IT system monitoring and fault management.

Buz Brosnan

b brosnan Buz Brosnan worked for 30 years in the Ford Casting Operations in various engineering and production manufacturing assignments always using his industrial engineering training to optimize the solutions for the problems faced. His most challenging assignment was to work with a small team of engineers to develop a new aluminum casting process, design and build a production plant for a capacity of a million engine blocks per year and then be assigned as the manufacturing manager of this plant. The plant utilized leading edge controls and equipment and had over 100 robots to accomplish its task. There was extensive use of lean manufacturing and worker involvement principles in the design and operation of the plant.

A similar plant was designed in 2004 for operation in Melbourne Australia with many incorporated improvements due to recognition of opportunities in the initial plant and from significant improvements in technology and automation.

William Higgins

President

Steel Collar Associates

bill higgans William Higgins is President of Steel Collar Associates, a company providing engineering services and production automation systems utilizing pedestal robots and automatic guided vehicles. The company also supplies robot and automatic guided vehicle units as "contract production employees" at hourly rates. He graduated from Western Michigan University in 1969 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology and has spent his entire career in sales and sales management related to robot based production automation.

Tony Lorentz

Technology Team Leader

Parker Hydraulic Systems, Parker Hannifin

t lorentz Mr. Tony Lorentz hold a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He has worked at Parker for more than twelve years in various positions including: production functional tester, production sustaining engineer, team leader of sustaining engineering, team leader of a new product design team, and engineering test lab manager. Lorentz has been exposed to almost every aspect of manufacturing, design, and test from and engineer and manager role. His key areas of interest within that environment are employee development and empowerment, lean manufacturing, and qualification testing.

Mark Rivera

Manager of Manufacturing Engineering,

K&M Machine- Fabricating Inc.

Mark Rivera joined K&M Machine-Fabricating Inc. in 2007 as the Manager of Manufacturing Engineering. K&M provides machining, assembly, and fabrication services to the mining, power generation, wind power, agriculture, construction and locomotive industries. K&M’s 335,000 square foot facility includes more than 40 state of the art machining centers, 5 robotic welding cells, oxy-acetylene, plasma and laser burning. Mark’s role at K&M is to introduce new processes and technology to support the rapid growth of K&M and the continuation of K&M’s focus on quality and rapid startup of new products.

Mark was plant manager of two plants for the Braking Systems Division of Robert Bosch LLC during a ten year career. During that time he lead the implementation of lean practices such as value stream mapping, 5S, standard work, OEE improvement, and kan ban in the pursuit of meeting the vision for Braking Systems. Mark has also worked in operations management and manufacturing engineering roles at General Motors, Kolbenschmidt and Holley Automotive. He has a BSIE from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

TOP