Upon returning from our American Automotive Summit, we spoke to Steve Johnson, Manufacturing Engineering Director at Motherson SAS. Read below to learn more about his experience onsite and following the Summit.
As Manufacturing Engineering Director at Motherson SAS, my responsibilities include:
- Ensure flawless launch of our automotive OEM programs in North and South America.
- Develop the strategy and roadmap for automation, Industry 4.0, digital tools and autonomous logistics and industrialize.
- Support and develop the corporate and production engineering teams in the Americas region with their growth and development.
- Create, implement, and govern our standards and norms for first class production in automotive including MES, safety critical traceability, JIS/JIT, predictive and preventative maintenance, quality control, digital tools, and contingency planning.
One of our main challenges/goals is to stay at the forefront of our competitors when it comes to innovation, so we can provide the best possible solutions to our customers. The American Automotive Summit helped first and foremost provide many solutions and supplier contacts in regards to innovative topics in the industry.
I was keen on attending the Summit to hear the exclusive industry insights we could only get at an event such as this one. Through speaking with fellow industry professionals and hearing from leading executives, we were able to compare our processes with others to see where we were in terms of industry standards. I was glad to see that our OEM strategies for implemented innovations are ahead of the industry, mainly through specific methods and implementations that we have pioneered.
On top of this, our company had the opportunity to hold a keynote speaking session on the first day of the Summit, which I was excited to hear. Through the session, Pawel Zarek presented advanced machine learning capabilities in manufacturing to further assembly line processes. This was a wonderful way to enlighten the industry stakeholders own Motherson SAS's robust JIS assembly and logistics abilities to support all car manufacturers.
Attending the Summit in search of new business connections proved to be a success, as there was a wide variety of technology suppliers present from the Tier 1 sector. Many of these mainstay technology companies on-site presented solutions beyond their core product offering, which is interesting to see and learn. One of these companies is Autodesk, whom we had the chance to connect with and are exploring a partnership with post-summit.
In addition, we were exposed to a deep dive into the roadmap and values of some of our OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), which allows us to tailor our solutions to best suit their needs for assembly and logistics going forward.
This event served as a great platform for networking, as we have already started communication with multiple vendors on their technology offerings. Our goal moving forward is to continue to connect with our current customers and raise awareness to all OEMs of the Motherson SAS group capabilities.
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American Manufacturing Summit | March 28-29, 2024 | Westin Chicago Lombard
American Biomanufacturing Summit | April 10-11 2024 | Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
American Supply Chain Summit | April 30-May 1, 2024 | Hyatt Regency Dallas
American CIO & IT Summit | May 2024
American Packaging Summit | June 18-19, 2024 | Westin Chicago Lombard
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