Read what Bob Brzozowski, President at Techniplas North America thinks about shaping the future of transportation, using data-enabled cognitive tech for personalization and sustainable mobility, and leveraging wireless or the internet to enhance connectivity. Question : Thank you so much for taking our questions! Tell us a little about your business and your specific role? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : Techniplas develops and manufactures products, components, modules and parts for the automotive, electrical, and mechanical markets. We are based in Wisconsin, serving customers in the United States and internationally, with facilities in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Techniplas was founded in 1941, but more recently we are engineering products and services that are shaping the future of transportation. By continuously expanding the reach of our data-enabled cognitive technologies into everything we do, we deliver personalized, performance-enhanced and sustainable mobility. As president of Techniplas North America, I’m responsible for the company’s core business operations in North America. The work we do in digital and the connected world is on the edge of our business, without disrupting our core business. This way we can continue working with our customer base and continue to make money while we’re in this digital transformation. Our digital group in Ventura develops technologies, systems, programs and products. Once we can commercialize it and make it feasible for our manufacturing sites and trade partners, then we can move it from the edge of our business to the core. Question : When did you first realize that you had an issue that needed a digital solution? What was the nature of the problem you set out to solve? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : That awareness started to come in 2015 to 2016. We were in some workshops through Singularity University, and participated in workshops in San Francisco focused on Industry 4.0, algorithms that would predict failures in our equipment, and the acceleration of autonomous vehicles becoming reality. We recognized that there’s a race going on and others in our industry may not be aware of it at this point. EOM’s (Equipment original Manufacturer) were aware of it, but tier 1 manufacturers like ourselves weren’t, so we got a jump on it. Question : What were the challenges you faced at the time as you began the process of evaluating solutions? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : Our challenge is to recognize the parts we currently make that can participate in the move to further connectivity. So we are developing solutions to take the simple products we’ve been making for many years and integrate sensors and other components to connect to vehicles and to the rest of the world, whether that’s through wireless systems or through the internet. The challenge is in identifying which parts we currently make and what components or new technologies are available to acquire or develop to integrate into our manufacturing process, what algorithms we can develop to lightweight current products, such as topology algorithms we can create to reduce the weight of parts through computer redesign and topology optimization. Read the full interview of Bob Brzozowski, President at Techniplas on The Digital Enterprise.
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