Assembly - February 2009 - (Page 24) Sponsors / Exhibitors: Conference Tuesday, March 24, 2009 6:00pm-8:00pm Welcome Reception Sponsored by: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 7:00am-8:00am Registration Tote Bag Sponsor: Lanyard Sponsor: Seminar Notepad Sponsor: 7:00am - 8:00 am Continental Breakfast Sponsored by: 8:00am-8:15am 8:15am-9:00am Opening Remarks Tom Esposito, Publisher, ASSEMBLY Magazine Made in the USA: Why and How We Keep Assembly Here This session will explore the importance of automation investments in the United States. While many companies have shifted production offshore, the investment in domestic plants still provides customers with a superior experience through delivery, quality, and responsiveness. 9:00-9:45am High-Mix and High-Volume Assembly Duk Kim, Plant Manager, Lear Corp., 2006 Assembly Plant of the Year Lear is one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive interior systems and components. By applying Six Sigma and lean manufacturing principles, in addition to state-of-the-art production tools and equipment, Lear builds car seats just a few hours before they are inserted into vehicles at OEM assembly plants. Lear prides itself on timely delivery and it has perfected the art of sequenced delivery, which helps reduce parts inventory, eliminate waste and increase efficiency. As automakers add more standard features to meet consumer demands, seats have become more complex. As a result, Lear builds many different seat combinations on its assembly lines, such as the flexible factory in Montgomery, AL, that was the recipient of the 2006 Assembly Plant of the Year award. 9:45am-10:15am Morning Networking Break Sponsored by: 10:15am-11:00am Making Auto ID Work for Assemblers and Getting Payback Tim J. Shinbara, Jr., Manufacturing Engineer, Northrop Grumman Corp. Manufacturing managers in every assembly plant need to know how many parts, subassemblies and finished products are in the plant, where they are, and where they should go next. Profitable operation depends on this information, and automatic identification systems provide it in real time. In this presentation, you’ll learn how to match the attributes of auto ID systems with your specific needs, how to integrate auto ID into your assembly systems and how to ensure that your investment in auto ID systems will really pay off in terms of productivity and profitability. 11:00-11:45am The Role of Robotics in Profitable Assembly Steve Thomas, Senior Project Engineer, Delphi Automotive Systems Robots have never been more affordable and user-friendly than they are right now, and yet, ironically, many manufacturers are not taking full advantage of the technology. In this session, one of Delphi’s best and brightest will relate how his company designed and built a simple, flexible robotic platform to meet a variety of assembly challenges. You’ll learn how to integrate robots into your own assembly line and how to modify your products and processes to take advantage of robots. 12:00pm-1:30pm Luncheon Sponsored by: Exclusive Insider Report: The U.S. Auto Industry’s Global Future John McElroy, Owner & Host, Autoline Detroit GM, Ford and Chrysler are no longer the Big Three. Toyota has surpassed GM in production and sales, and is selling cars assembled in America as fast as it can put them together. But at the same time, GM is earning a major share of its profits selling cars in Asia. With American and foreign automakers buying and selling each other’s marquees almost daily, the key questions facing the auto industry and its suppliers today are: What is the U.S. auto industry and, more importantly, what is its future in the global marketplace? Get the inside story from a real “car guy” who’s been reporting on American automakers for more than 40 years. 1:30pm-2:30pm Lean Leaders: Challenge and Success Panel Chair: Jamie Flinchbaugh, Partner, Lean Learning Center Pa nel i s ts : Debra S. Levantrosser, Executive Director, Business Improvement Services, Johnson & Johnson Sean Hilbert, President & CEO, Cobra Motorcycle Manufacturing Inc. Lean manufacturing is not reaching a goal and then moving on to some other project; it is a never-ending journey, and success is measured in terms of accomplishments along the way. Levantrosser and Hilbert are lean leaders who accepted the lean challenge: Establish the mindset, build on success, and maintain momentum in the face of the inevitable failures. You’ll learn from Levantrosser how J&J, a decentralized corporation with 230 operating companies, has succeeded-and struggled-in applying lean to supply chains, research and development, and sales and marketing. At the other end of the company-size spectrum, you’ll learn from Hilbert how Cobra Motorcycle-a small company with 33 employees-is moving forward on its lean journey while building the only off-road motorcycles truly made in the USA. Then Flinchbaugh will wrap it up in a Q&A with these lean leaders. http://www.assemblymag.com/summit
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