Dan Carnovale is the Power Systems Experience Center (PSEC) at Eaton and he has been taking a unique approach to helping others learn about the exciting world of power. On an average year Dan hosts 7000-8000 people at the PSEC and the engagement with others is what he loves. Through these interactions he noticed consistent themes around power topics and began addressing these areas with outstanding videos. The topics can be complex, and their team has been extremely creative in developing ways t...
Mar 25, 2021•32 min
Our hero Brandon Mendoza has a passion for engineering and helping people. He found a great intersection to be the exciting world of sales engineering. He first got exposure to this world working with Rockwell and now leads Oden Technologies as their director of sales. Brandon offers up many areas of advice for those wanting to pursue their passions and practical tips for making those dreams a reality. He emphasizes how important it is to find mentors that care about your success. He refers to h...
Mar 23, 2021•25 min
If the topic of Machine-as-a-Service (MaaS) is new to you this conversation covers the model in detail. Michael Cromheecke is the CEO of Steamchain and he unpacks this exciting new approach to industry. Essentially it is a business model that uses the data from the machinery to establish a contractual relationship. In traditional business models OEM's build equipment to a designed set of standards and once the solution is running the manufacturer owns it from there. In the MaaS model end users a...
Mar 21, 2021•31 min
K Sorsenginh has a powerful story and shares his journey as one of our heroes. K has supported industry in many ways and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and is skilled in many areas such as welding, HVAC and mechanical services. As a solution architect he is on the front lines and living out Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing every day for the clients he supports. He's constantly building new solutions that help industrial end users grow. He has great advice for young engineers and e...
Mar 18, 2021•19 min
Don't get trapped in your own head. Referencing how things used to be done doesn't always work and that stops progress. Ray Ziganto is the Manufacturing Unicorn and he has a passion for helping those in manufacturing get unstuck and move forward in their pursuits to be the best in their industry. Engineers learn from other engineers and Ray speaks to how embracing others can help you grow personally and create meaningful relationships that your career will benefit from in the future. Organizatio...
Mar 16, 2021•30 min
Our hero Bill Medcalf has been a regular contributor on EECO Asks Why and in this episode he opens up about his journey throughout his career. After graduating from Florida State (Go Noles) he's career blossomed and he's been able to make a significant impact in many different roles. Bill discusses the challenge of living up to Industry 4.0 and how being ready to accept new challenges has always kept him moving forward and being in a position to help others. He is intentional about mentoring oth...
Mar 14, 2021•23 min
What do system integrators of the future look like? What better way than to hear directly from an integrator that is leading the way in this space. Bobby Cole is the president and founder of Think PLC and let's just say that Bobby is shaking up things in his industry. He focuses on helping OEM's see the future that could exist and then takes ownership of designing and supporting new solutions to give them a competitive advantage. Think PLC has been embracing remote monitoring technologies before...
Mar 11, 2021•35 min
Solving problems and helping people - that is what drives our hero Mike Tricario. He serves as the Plant Electrical Engineer at CertainTeed and gives us an inside look at his journey. After completing his degree at State University of New York at Binghamton he found his way to the largest shingle manufacturer in the world (possibly universe per Mike)! He's worked his way to the plant engineer and is loving every minute of his career. Working at an aging facility provides Mike opportunities for m...
Mar 09, 2021•27 min
Lifecycle services is a comprehensive approach to professional services that provides long-term partnership to end users, their needs and how others can support them meeting needs. This applies to whatever stage of the life cycle journey they're in. It's really providing end users a simplified approach at solving their problems. End User needs are changing the way they want product is shifting to more of an on demand requirement. Lisa Scanlon unpacks how partnering for lifecycle services can hel...
Mar 07, 2021•23 min
Dr. Travis Hodge shared his impactful journey and opened up his world in this conversation. From his childhood days of working at the family True Value he was intrigued at how business works. He attended Virginia Tech and has a Sugar Bowl ring as one of his prized possessions. At Vulcan Materials he is a proven leader and is leading several projects that will continue to keep Vulcan as a leader in the aggregate industry. Dr. Hodge attended Liberty University and endured a rigorous curriculum whi...
Mar 04, 2021•48 min
BluePrint Automation is leading the way as a premier OEM of packaging solutions. Chung-Chee Tai is an innovative thinker and is on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing industry. He discusses how OEM's are focusing on making their solutions easy to implement with new automation technologies. Operator to machine interface is evolving and Chung-Chee is creating new design criteria to help their solutions continue to be an industry leader. As OEM's grow and their equipment is deployed across the w...
Mar 02, 2021•29 min
Growing up in Chicago our hero Andrew Hastert had an early passion for learning how things worked. He took that passion to the next level and after completing a degree in mechanical engineering he pursued a career where he helps businesses solve their biggest challenges. He speaks to how staying curious and understanding your own personal values are critical in life. Andrew recognizes the talent gap in industry and is passionate to help mentor and support others in their journeys. He is a huge a...
Feb 28, 2021•29 min
How do you build an engaged team? It can be extremely difficult especially in today's business climate as everyone learns how to move forward with COVID. The game is changing and Nirpal Sihota brings wonderful insight and wisdom on how he is addressing this and seeing amazing results. He defines an engaged team as when people feel comfortable and confident in bringing their best self to work on everything they do. As a leader that doesn't happen over night and Nirpal unpacks areas to consider to...
Feb 24, 2021•34 min
Jason Simon is making big waves by helping those wanting to begin a career in industry learn the skills necessary to hit the ground running. After serving his country as a United States Marine, he transitioned to a role in education and fell in love with training others. He had the opportunity to lead AMTEC and develop cutting edge training solutions. Workforce attrition is a major issue in industry and Jason is helping the rubber meet the road by truly bridging the education/industry gap. He is...
Feb 21, 2021•28 min
With so many metrics out there in industry OEE stands out as important for all manufacturers to understand. Mike Caccia walks through the different components of OEE and how that can be impacted in the industrial environment. He discusses production, event and fault data and how that affects the important KPI's that management focuses on. An analogy of a three legged stool is discussed and shows the importance of each factor of OEE and how they affect each other. In order to have maximum availab...
Feb 17, 2021•23 min
Zach White is an amazing coach for engineers and shares his story on this hero episode. After graduating from Purdue he had a great opportunity at Whirlpool and from there found that his passion was helping others grow in their careers. He took a leap of faith and created OACO and has never looked back. Zach shares about his passion for serving others and some of the innovative items he's pursuing. He has a great way of getting others to realize the potential that exists within and helps them bu...
Feb 14, 2021•30 min
Joe Frank leads us through a discussion about the power of network assessments. As the old saying goes “you have to know where you are to get to know where you’re going”. This rings so true for industrial networks and the network assessment is key to getting started on the right foot. Joe discusses the ins and outs of an assessment for all the items on the physical layer. He discusses what he looks for in an assessment for items such as grounding, cabling, switches, and the overall environment. ...
Feb 11, 2021•30 min
This episode provides a unique perspective on how to tie business goals with the OT network. Amos Purdy has an illustrious background with having a Masters in both Electrical Engineering and Business Administration. He had a passion to learn how to speak the language for everyone on both the technical and business side of a company. He provides great insight on how operations and business leaders can align to achieve better results together. So often, as with IT and OT, the barrier of understand...
Feb 10, 2021•28 min
K Sorsenginh breaks down how Ethernet/IP and interoperability converge in industry. Interoperability is the ability of a machine or product being able to exchange or send information and the other node that is receiving it can process and utilize the information. When you begin to utilize Ethernet/IP the ability to move data throughout an industrial environment becomes even more critical. K does a great job of breaking down these terms for those new to industrial networks while going deep in som...
Feb 09, 2021•15 min
Scott McNeil is the expert in all things WiFi and does a phenomenal job of breaking down what exactly is industrial WiFi. He walks thru the hardware and client requirements as there is a wide variety of things that impact a system and zoning in on the key objectives is key. Connectivity is critical with an industrial WiFi system and ensuring that those that need access to the network can do so in a safe, reliable and secure environment. The industrial environment can be challenging and reducing ...
Feb 08, 2021•19 min
In this episode Chase Boehlke gives a great breakdown of what a soft starter is and where they fit best in industrial settings. He walks us through how to properly size the solution as this can be an area that people struggle with. He digs deep on applications to help understand when soft starters are not the best solutions. Finally he reviews when other alternatives should be considered. Chase brings a tremendous amount of knowledge to this topic and we hope you find the information helpful. Th...
Feb 03, 2021•17 min
Jonathan Fuller is a rising star in industry and loves helping others solve their problems. As the Automation and Power Product Manager, he is on the front lines with manufacturing and loves the different challenges he faces while striving to bring the best solutions to the table. For those that support industry, it is well known that no two days are the same and that is something Jonathan enjoys about his journey. He graduated from the University of South Carolina and is a proud Gamecock. He's ...
Jan 31, 2021•25 min
The pandemic has thrown everyone for a loop and learning how to communicate with others virtually is becoming a necessary skill. But how do you learn this skill and what do you need to know to move forward? In this episode, Tim Pollard shares some of what he and his team at Oratium live out every day. Tim's mission is to help everyone be better communicators. He recognized very quickly that as more communication is shifting to a virtual platform that the game changed dramatically and those that ...
Jan 27, 2021•54 min
Our hero, Matt Hussey, grew up in the Pittsburg area and graduated from the University of Pittsburg with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (side note his minor is Nuclear Engineering which means he loves a challenge). In this episode Matt walks us thru his career and offers insight and advice to what has helped him grow professionally. He embraced new opportunities that opened a door to make an impact in the electrical industry. He speaks about how we shouldn't let our degrees dictate our futur...
Jan 24, 2021•26 min
Sit back and dream for a minute about what areas of your manufacturing process could be enhanced if it had a digital solution. Perhaps items such as scheduling are still being done via a manual process. What if there were options available to enhance some of these areas that make a significant impact? In this episode Bill Migirditch unpacks this idea and discusses several ways manufacturers could begin embracing digitization and areas of low hanging fruit to consider. Think about how much data g...
Jan 20, 2021•32 min
Brett Melancon is a rising star in Engineering and shares his passion for industry. He loves technology in electric vehicles and had opportunities in his career to grow his knowledge in that space. Currently at Bühler he's working on many projects and some are tied directly to the medical field which impacts so many people. With the rapid development of the medical field it's directly impacting manufacturing which can be challenging and exciting at the same time. Typical 3 year projects are bein...
Jan 17, 2021•39 min
Companies that embrace digital transformation will be able to attract great talent in the future. That in itself should be enough to get everyone on the train. In this episode Tessa Myers unpacks how companies can begin a digital transformation journey that leads to success. This topic can be confusing and knowing where to get started is tricky. Tessa gives examples to consider around some of the new technologies that are developing and how to use this newly available data can improve manufactur...
Jan 13, 2021•26 min
If you're looking for inspiration this conversation hits the mark. Jack Lawson shares many lessons and stories he had throughout his stellar career. Jack served as the President and CEO at EECO and was able the lead through several areas of significant change. In fact being a "change agent" was something he remembers fondly and gives wonderful advice for those that truly want to make an impact around them. From implementing the first computer system, fax machine and automated inventory system he...
Jan 10, 2021•35 min
A load flow study (LFS) determines proper loading as well as whether the proper voltage is maintained at each circuit due to voltage drop. In simpler terms, it helps to determine how much current load you have and whether the equipment is overloaded or not. Kareem Josephs shares what is needed to get started on a load flow study. Items specific to the total load demand in the facility are factors that will play into the LFS. Kareem explains how often a LFS should occur and what changing variable...
Jan 08, 2021•17 min
In this episode Dan Leeman breaks down what an arc flash study (AFS) is and how to use that information to make better decisions in the future to enhance safety and reliability. The AFS takes a holistic look at the entire electrical power system, all the way down to the individual piece of equipment that is being reviewed. An AFS gives valuable information about voltage class and characteristics, incident energy – the arc energy at a distance from electrical equipment, limited approach distances...
Jan 07, 2021•25 min
