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Four of our Sandalwood Engineering & Ergonomics team members, Director of Systems Integration Paul Lagroix, Systems Integration Manager Brent Severn, Injury Prevention Manager Dan Mines and Systems Engineering Associate John Osborn Jr. are attending the Manufacturing and Technology Conference in Pittsburgh PA from April 1 – 3, 2019

Check out the Day 1 recap from John Osborn Jr. for insights and happenings from the conference!

Day 1 of the conference was an eventful one. We kicked off the day with workshops/tours of multiple areas of the manufacturing world. I attended a workshop on Lean and Continuous Improvement of today and tomorrow, lead by Jean-Paul Lerailer and Jabril Bensedrine of Sesa Systems. We discussed the general concept of Lean, where it is today, and where it is going in the future. I captured the highlights in the following photos, which included an eye-opening presentation, a game to teach lean concepts, and several very informational slides.

After lunch, Paul, Brent, and I attended a workshop, put on by the MESA staff, focusing on smart manufacturing. This was a discussion forum of about 100 participants. We came together for a quick explanation of topics, then broke off into groups of 8-10 to discuss specific topics of smart manufacturing, ranging from smart factories, augmented reality, digital thread, industrial internet of things, etc. At the end of the discussion, we all came together and gave a quick summary of our group’s discussion.

Once the workshops wrapped up, we went to the keynote speaker, which for Monday was Bill Peduto, the Mayor of Pittsburgh. After Mayor Peduto’s speech, there was a social hour/networking event, which lead to a lot of great discussion with several industry leaders.

The conference was highlighted by the closing “fashion show” that was a great display of the latest in safety clothing, shoes, and wearable devices.


We wrapped up the night with a dinner at Tenpenny restaurant, put on by the MESA staff.

Looking forward to more interesting and insightful discussions tomorrow!

-John