In every way, technology is quickly transforming the globe. Be it sports, business, or leisure—they are all adapting to changes in technology. The introduction of artificial intelligence, smart technology, and virtual reality have all changed how things are being done today. It is not different in manufacturing, as it heavily relies on technology.
An expert in this field is required to understand the changes and how they can be used to our advantage. Dr. Dean Bartles is an advanced manufacturing expert who has been around to see all sorts of changes. He has been in the industry for decades, overseeing several progressions over his long career.
Who Is Dr. Dean Bartles
Dr. Dean Bartles is the president and CEO of MTDC. Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group is a non-profit holding company, and it works alongside both the National Centre for Defence Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and Advanced Manufacturing International, Inc. (AMI). The latter is a new subsidiary and sister company to NCDMM. He has been a board member at several organizations and CEO of quite a few. Dr. Bartles graduated with a Ph.D. from Indiana State University.
After graduation, he worked on defense technology, which led to his first role in the Fairchild Republic Company. He worked there as an industrial engineer for five years before working for General Dynamics. General Dynamics is a prominent aerospace and defense company that boosted his work. In this company, Dr. Bartles ensured several manufacturing operations were designed and developed. He ensured that this did happen not only in the United States but also in the whole world.
As far as manufacturing is concerned, the MTDG CEO has made an exciting discovery. He found that leading-edge machinery and technology can optimize the processes and systems manufacturing that companies usually utilize. This is because demand is constantly growing, and the manufacturing companies have to keep up. The production demand is over the roof, and advanced manufacturing has to find a way to bridge the gap.
There are many skills that Dr. Dean brings to the table, not just his brain. Alongside his Master’s in international business and the Ph.D. mentioned above, his experience is invaluable. With the incident, he has become very knowledgeable and creative on how the companies need to navigate challenges. When you head companies for as long as he has, you only learn to make profits. The market values of his companies have risen from an estimated 135 million dollars to 600 million dollars. A company with such magnitude can change the world.
His biggest asset is project management. It was evident in a crisis when he helped Shalimar Research & Technology to run a smooth operation by providing consultation. He offered advice to a confused Daniel Matuska, and Daniel, the company owner, later gave his gratitude and testament. The confusion came from rapid mergers and acquisitions, which Dr. Dean had dealt with before.
As a chief executive officer now, Dr. Dean sites trust as a key ingredient to his success and the success of his companies. The trust founded between his and other manufacturing companies has always come to play when sharing ideas on ways forward. Also, finding professionals to work with him has been easier. It probably happens because of his reputation that only speaks for itself or his agility and expertise to assemble a team.
Dr. Dean holds an extremely high opinion on modern technology like additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. It is the reason why he supports it and pushes for more production of such technology. He believes it will shape the economy in the future, and that is why he is helping it grow. Products made will be of higher quality and larger quantity for a fairly reduced price or cost. Spearheading the development of additive manufacturing only shows that Dr. Dean cares about the future and wants to secure it.
Data collection is an emphasis made by Dr. Dean that should not be overlooked. He describes data as digital gold, just to show how treasured it should be. He believes that if data is collected and fed to the machine builders and manufacturers, it will change the industry. Boosting uptime while reducing costs is one of the biggest positives of data collection, and this alone is reason enough to implement this tactic around the world. Data provides deeper insights into how machines are performing, like monitoring production status and understanding the condition of a given machine. Also, it predicts the malfunctioning of machines and optimizes the decision-making process.
Another contribution of Dr. Dean to the industry that has grown on him and his abilities is problem identification. He has been in the industry long enough to identify a problem before it turns into a catastrophe. He sees a problem in the standard way: machines are built to communicate. It is closely linked to smart manufacturing, which he has played a significant role in to make it big. It is because smart manufacturing depends on statistics that are passed on from one computer to another through communication. If the communication between the machines is flawless, Dr. Dean suggests that production and manufacturing will also be of higher quality.
The most common problem among manufacturing companies right now, especially technology companies, is security. To be specific, cybersecurity involves the security or insecurity of linked computers. As expected in a high-level production company, there are many linked computers. Cyberattacks may therefore be a common theme that needs to be fixed. Dr. Dean has developed ways to prevent such attacks, which involve secure blockchain technology. It also entails high-level encryption, making it harder for outsiders to break through a system. This way, the data stays safe, secure, and remains valuable.
Technology keeps on changing, and keeping up can be a challenge. However, all industries, especially the manufacturing ones, have to keep up. Dr. Dean has not only been a backbone to the industry but a spearhead as well. He has shown he can handle whatever sort of change, and so can the whole industry.
