NORTH LIBERTY, IOWA (August 27, 2019) — The Corridor Business Journal announces keynote speakers for its 2019 Manufacturing Conference, to be held October 4 at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center.
The event invites industry leaders to network, learn about best practices in the region, and build a stronger talent pipeline.
Steve Flann, senior director of environmental health, safety, and security for Vermeer Corporation, will deliver the morning keynote. Through discussion, videos, and photos, Flann will share how Vermeer’s robust planning efforts helped protect the lives of its team members and visitors during an EF-3 tornado on July 19, 2018. He will emphasize lessons learned regarding preparation, emergency response, and recovery, and how the facility is leveraging this opportunity for future use.
Following Flann’s keynote, attendees can choose from three breakout tracks: Workforce, Technology, and Operations. Speakers and topics include:
- Hiring and Retaining to the Future World of Work Mary Bontrager of Greater Des Moines Partnership
- Let Cobots Tackle your Toughest Workforce Challenges Mike Davis of Universal Robots, Chad Engelkes of Van Meter Inc
- Value Stream Mapping and Its Benefit to Organizations Vijay Muralidaran of Lean Enterprise Builders
- Iowa’s Workforce: What it looks like now and what’s next Beth Townsend of Iowa Workforce Development
- And much more.
Attendees will reunite for a luncheon keynote by Stan Askren, retired chairman and CEO of HNI Corporation. Askren served as CEO for 15 years and held various other senior executive roles at the company for 26 years. He will share the benefit of his experience addressing workforce shortages and touch on other challenges and opportunities in the manufacturing industry.
After Askren’s keynote, attendees are encouraged to network with speakers, high school guidance counselors and other manufacturing leaders over a brief cocktail reception.
Tickets are $70 through Labor Day, $95 after. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. For more information or to register, visit corridorbusiness.com/manufacturing-conference. The reservation deadline is September 27.
About Corridor Business Journal:
The Corridor Media Group Inc (CMG) is a family-owned media company based in North Liberty, Iowa, and the publisher of the Corridor Business Journal (CBJ), a weekly source of comprehensive business coverage for Iowa’s Creative Corridor. CMG also provides custom publishing, digital news, business data, and hosts the region’s most popular corporate and awards-based events. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.corridorbusiness.com.
