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OPERATIONS TRACK

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Day 1 - Tuesday, Feb. 7th

Quality Assurance

11:00 AM - NOON

Making Quality Assurance Everyone's Role

Session Track Sponsors

In the manufacturing environment, quality management is an important process for manufacturers of any size, ensuring consistent, error-free and timely delivery - protecting the company's reputation. Join us as we take a closer look as best practices in quality management during the manufacturing process and principles, helping to streamline production. Everyone in that process plays an important and active role in maintaining quality assurance management.

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Michael S. Stanley, Quality Manager  I  CNH Industrial REMAN

   Michael Stanley has been the Quality Manager with CNH Industrial Reman located in Springfield since 2012, where he has also served as Process Engineering Manager and Supplier Quality Manager.

   His official quality career began in 2001 when he was responsible for designing and testing asphalt. From there, he transitioned to the role of Quality Manager for a local Precast concrete company, where he was accountable for their overall quality and attaining certification with the National Precast Concrete Association. During his time at CNH Reman, Michael served as chair of CNH Reman’s Community Relations Committee. During this time, he helped to facilitate employee participation in local events such as United Way Day of Caring, Habitat for Humanity, and, most important, the yearly Christmas Kid adoption, where the employees sponsored 45 kids' Christmas lists.

   Michael graduated from Evangel University in 2010 with a business and administration degree, then obtained his MBA from Webster University in 2015. Michael also holds an ASQ-CQT certification and Green Belt from Missouri Development Institute.

   He has served 24 years as a volunteer firefighter and first responder for his local department. Michael and his wife, Ronda, have been married for 30 years and have four children and six grandchildren.

OSHA

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

OSHA: The Human Factor with Safety and Updates

Safety is everyone's responsibility.  Employers want their employees to return home in the same (or better) condition they arrived to work that day. Join us for the latest updates from OSHA and learn how "The Human Factor" impacts Safety at your workplace.

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In this session, attendees will learn:

  • Organizational culture on workplace safety - how to get buy-in from everyone.

  • How to ensure equipment is safe, effective and properly guarded

  • Hierarchy of hazard control (elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls & PPE)

  • How to handle employee misconduct

  • How to lead with a safety mindset and attitude

  • EHS Today's 3 E-words - engineering, education and enforcement.

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Joseph Foderaro III, Assistant Area Director - KC Area Office | OSHA

   Joseph M. Foderaro III enlisted and served four years active-duty in the United States Air Force as a Bioenvironmental Engineering Technician from 2006 to 2010. As a Bioenvironmental Engineering Technician, Mr. Foderaro was tasked with reducing health hazards for Air Force personnel and their work environments. This included detecting radioactive materials, checking for pollutants in drinking water, and ensuring safe industrial hygiene conditions.

   Mr. Foderaro began their career with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in June of 2018 as a Compliance Safety and Health Officer. Specializing in workplace and jobsite safety, Mr. Foderaro conducted numerous investigations. The investigations covered workplace complaints, employee hospitalizations, amputations, and fatalities in general industry and construction. Mr. Foderaro was also a part of the Kansas City Area Office Process Safety Management team, which dealt with the hazards associated with processes using highly hazardous chemicals. Mr. Foderaro would work with industrial hygienists within the Kansas City Area Office to submit health referrals as well as work with different government agencies such as Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

   In September of 2022, Mr. Foderaro applied for, and was promoted to an Assistant Area Director within the Kansas City Area Office. As an Assistant Area Director, Mr. Foderaro is responsible for leading a team of Compliance Safety and Health Officers to achieve the Agencies mission of Assuring safe and healthy working conditions for working men

and women.

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Process Solutions

Process Solutions: Automation & Robotics

It doesn’t matter what size of a manufacturing operation it is, automation and robotic solutions are becoming more realized as obtainable solutions for workforce shortage, higher productivity, safety concerns and improved quality. Learn about what some of these solutions are and how they can easily be implemented and integrated into most any production operation – for a lot less than you would expect.

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Robert "Bob" Weller, Senior Account Manager - MMCI Automation

   Bob Weller has been a senior account manager with MMCI Automation in St. Louis for the past 34 years, responsible for business development, sales engineering, and project management for his customers in Missouri and throughout North American. He and his company develop automation solutions utilizing robotics in two industry segments: Factory Automation and Distribution Automation.    

   Bob graduated from Missouri State University (Southwest Missouri State University) in 1980 with a BS in Marketing and Management and shortly after launched his career helping companies improve their processes with automation. In his session Bob will discuss how advancements in robotics technology and a tight labor market makes 2023 a great year to automate your factory. 

Process Waste

Day 2 - Wednesday, Feb. 8th

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Everybody's Busy, But Nothing's Getting Done - Process Waste

Discerning between value added and non-value added processes is a critically important skill to stretch scarce resources. This session will explore the concept of process waste and teach the proper way to evaluate processes to uncover the wastes. Even more, this discussion will teach people the 8 wastes of processes. This lens will foster high quality discussion in their organizations leading to breakthroughs in seeing the issues all around.

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Chad Smith, Owner | Continuous Improvement Solutions

   Chad Smith applies continuous improvement methodologies to help organizations leverage their scarce human and material resources through breakthrough improvements.

   Chad has 26 years of Continuous Improvement experience in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, refining, high-tech and food having served many clients including Tyson, Ernst & Young, Anheuser Busch In-Bev, ASQ, St. Jude and SpaceX.  

   As a seasoned Continuous Improvement practitioner, Chad has helped many companies drive breakthroughs by helping organizations find their TruNorth through strategy deployment, uncover the major constraints through Value Stream Mapping and focus on the vital few improvements needed.  

   Chad continues to leverage his passion for helping people through adult facilitation and executive coaching through his business. Chad utilizes the adult learning and works to maintain fun and energetic sessions that keeps participants in the training moment, eliminating their potential to be distracted.  In the same way, Chad makes project work with teams engaging and interesting.  Above all, Chad sees he and the team’s work each day as an opportunity to give doses of hope.  Through the premise of (GI)^2 (that is Give it and You will get it), servant leadership is the cornerstone of leading culture change.

   Chad is an ASQ Certified Master Black Belt (#8) and an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (# 4615) as well as being named an ASQ Fellow in 2015.  Chad is the past-chair of the ASQ Master Black Belt Exam Review Committee and is also the past-chair of ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum advisory council.
 

Reasonable Suspicion

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Reasonable Suspicion: Recognizing 'Under the Influence'

With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana use in Missouri, employers face a new challenge in keeping their employees safe while at the workplace. Join John Throckmorton from Tomo Drug Testing as he explains how employers can best handle this challenge through reasonable suspicion training, drug testing methodologies, and understanding an employer's responsibility for compliance.

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At the end of this session, attendees will: 

  1. Be able to identify suggested steps for updating controlled substance testing policy and addressing safety issues related to marijuana and other medications

  2. Know recent trends in marijuana, CBD, and impact on safety in the workplace 

  3. Understand options in drug testing methodology 

  4. Learn an employer’s responsibility for compliance with state and federal regulations

  5. Be able to define training requirements for employees and supervisors 

  6. Recognize the potential safety impact and benefits of a Drug-Free Workplace

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John Throckmorton, Director of Engagement | Tomo Drug Testing

   John Throckmorton is a Senior Trainer and Account Executive with Tomo Drug Testing. He has been with Tomo since December 2000, serving as a collection technician, field manager, breath alcohol and drug collection trainer, and operations manager.  Often referred to as “JT”, John has assisted businesses with the development and implementation of substance misuse testing programs, performed program reviews for compliance with State and Federal regulations, and annually conducts over 100 educational and training seminars. John is a 1979 graduate of Baptist Bible College where he met Carol, his wife of 44 years. They have two grown children and three grandchildren. John has been involved in public speaking for over 45 years. 

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