During our October 9 joint meeting with CRMA on Resources for Manufacturing Companies, George Aslinger announced the nomination committee members:

Al Curtis, Gabe Kurtz and Steve Poteet, three past presidents of the Club.

CEC is seeking nominations for vice president.

Our 2023 VP Rama Etekallapalli will assume the role of 2024 President in January.

Please reach out to any of the three past presidents if you want to serve as an officer or a committee member.

Election will take place at our Nov 13 meeting before proceeding with the scheduled program:

Announcing and Planning Discussion or CEC's 100-year Anniversary.

Branch Technology is hiring!

Did you read about their recent world record structure in Nashville?

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Branch Technology exists to create a beautiful built world, impacting a wide variety of industries including construction, aerospace, logistics, and more. Its patented technology utilizes the power of creative design, software, robotic automation, and lean manufacturing to provide solutions to our diverse customer base. We’re growing and are attracting top talent from all over the world. Our team includes seasoned leaders from 3D printing, software, architecture, robotics, manufacturing, design, material science, and product development.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Product Development Engineer (PDE) will lead Branch’s efforts on two prioritized fronts: primarily (1) moving new products from ideation stage to full commercialization; secondarily (2) find and implement solutions for optimizing and improving existing products and processes. The PDE will enable solutions for new product concepts through the integration of engineering, material science, and manufacturing principles, all with an eye toward long-term company growth and profitability. This team player is tenacious to overcome the many “known-unknowns” and be able to adapt quickly when “unknown-unknowns” arise. The PDE challenges the status quo on a daily basis, digs deep into the “why” with a continuous-improvement mindset, and considers how their work impacts all other areas in the company. We need someone who is an aggressive self-starter and who realizes the sense of urgency that comes with being a steward of nascent technology. This person is attentive to detail and motivated to exceed deadlines because of the greater impact on enterprise value. The best candidate is business-savvy, driven by the reality that the work they and their team does each day catalyzes the company to perform at its best. Most importantly, they exemplify our six core values of humble genius, other centered, relentless execution, designed beauty, intense collaboration, and wise stewardship.

For more details and to apply, visit their job site - https://branchtechnology.bamboohr.com/careers/64

Celebrated nationally on the first Friday in October, MFGDay is manufacturing’s biggest annual opportunity to inspire the next generation, positively shift perceptions about the industry, and build the foundation for the manufacturing workforce of the future.

Here are some MFGDay celebration events around the area:

October 6 - TN Made: MSC Industrial Supply Co.: Manufacturing Day 2023 at MSC Machining Research Laboratory, 2030 Valley Vista Rd, Knoxville, TN

October 6 - Cornerstone Building Brands: 1274 Industrial Blvd, Jasper, TN

October 7 - TCAT Knoxville: TCAT Knoxville Manufacturing Day, 1100 Liberty Street, Knoxville, TN

October 9 - CEC, CRMA: Resources for Manufacturers, 5600 Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN

October 12 - ABB: Manufacturing Day 2023, 400 South 4th Street, Selmer, TN

October 18 - SWE CA: Eaton - Manufacturing Tour, 3990 Old Tasso Rd NE, Cleveland, TN 

October 20 - Peak Performance, Operators of the Smart Factory Institute: 9th Annual Peak Performance Symposium, 2215 Parker Street Northeast, Cleveland, TN

Details for each can be found at MFGDay site, we also included three events on the CEC site.

Bryan College’s Bachelor’s degree program in Engineering has been accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.

ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public.

Developed by technical professionals from ABET’s member societies, ABET criteria focus on what students experience and learn. ABET accreditation reviews look at program curricula, faculty, facilities, and institutional support and are conducted by teams of highly skilled professionals from industry, academia, and government, with expertise in the ABET disciplines.

ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization with ISO 9001:2015 certification. It currently accredits 4,564 programs at 895 colleges and universities in 40 countries and areas.

More information about ABET, its member societies and the accreditation criteria used to evaluate programs can be found at http://www.abet.org.

The Chattanooga Technology Council (ChaTech) has named Austin Corcoran as executive director, following his term as interim head of the technology trade group in Chattanooga.

Austin has a bachelor's degree in business administration and has served in leadership roles in both the local non-profit and private sectors, most recently serving as chief of staff at CO.LAB and director of talent engagement at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. He has served on the ChaTech board for over three years before stepping in as interim executive director for ChaTech in March.

"Austin will bring additional leadership, energy, and creativity to the organization's programs and a deep commitment to our community and businesses," Daniela LaCelle, assistant vice president of IT delivery at Unum and chair of the ChaTech board, said in a statement. "He has served other area non-profits at the program, fundraising, and leadership levels, and has a range of perspective and experience."

ChaTech also announced the upcoming fourth annual Chattanooga Technology Excellence Awards, scheduled for Sept. 28 at the Signal. Nominations and event details can be found at ChaTech.org/TechX. A calendar of in-person events, tech-related affinity groups, and additional resources can also be found on ChaTech's website.

  

Process Engineering Supervisor

Nokian Tyres, Dayton, TN

About the job

Reporting directly to Quality and Technology Manager, the Process Supervisor is responsible for assigned process management duties which includes identifying opportunities and implementing solutions for continual improvement of tire quality and processes and reducing scrap and waste throughout the factory.

Requirements

• Minimum Undergraduate degree from an accredited institute of higher learning preferred or equivalent experience.
• MBA or other higher education degree a plus
• Minimum of 5 years manufacturing experience with minimum of 3 years in a supervisory role
• Demonstrated knowledge of lean manufacturing principles, lean certification a plus
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications
• Must be available to work over-time and weekends when needed.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Logistics Specialist

Nokian Tyres, Greater Chattanooga Hybrid 

About the job

Reporting directly to the Transportation Manager, the Logistics Specialist will be responsible for coordination of inbound and outbound transportation of non-finished goods for the Dayton, TN factory. This position will play a key role in the import process for raw materials, working with our customs broker, global logistics team, procurement team, and transportation providers. S/he will also assist in delivering cost savings & efficiencies, strengthening relationships with our transportation partners, and ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations. This position is based in our Dayton, TN location. Remote/hybrid work is acceptable with occasional onsite meetings at company offices in Dayton, TN, Nashville, TN, and vendor locations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Supply Chain, Transportation/Logistics, Operations, or equivalent experience
• Minimum 5 years' experience within Logistics with 2 of those years focus in international transportation and strong understanding of Inco terms.
• Thorough understanding of US Customs processes and regulations
• Strong working knowledge of Air & Ocean Transportation; drayage; full truckload; LTL; rail; and freight forwarding/customs brokerage processes.
• IMDG/IATA HAZ Certificates and/or other industry designations a plus
• Experience with Oracle EBS, or other TMS and WMS systems
• Advanced level proficiency in MS-Excel
• Ability to work well in a matrixed team environment.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Must be willing and able to travel up to 15%, mainly in US and Canada but occasionally internationally.
• Lean/process improvement tools experience and interest in advancing applied knowledge in this area.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States - this position will not offer relocation or visa sponsorship.

click on Link to job details.

Project Engineer / Project Manager

Thompson Engineering, Lima, Peru

About the job

This is a construction management position for an engineer with mechanical engineering knowledge and experience, i.e. HVAC, piping, fire protection, etc.  The NAMRU project is with the US Navy laboratory. Duties include construction inspection, shop drawings review, RFI responses with contractors.

contact Lulu Copeland for additional details.

Several members of the Engineers Club again helped referee at the Lego robotics championship held at the VW Training Center this past Saturday.  Twenty-four teams competed, involving several hundred students, teachers, coaches, and family members cheering them on.  This is a great way for engineers and IT professionals to introduce 4th-8th graders to automation skills through a very uplifting program.  See more at the TN Valley Robotics website or view a short video here.

Today

Happy New Year 2023!

George Aslinger is our new president and Rama Etekallapalli is our new vice president.  With support of many past presidents, treasurer, longtime members, we have another year to plan and look forward to.  

Past

Looking back, we are thankful for many past presidents that continue to contribute to the club and activities important to the "community".  Two shared their thoughts recently...

From Greg Sedrick:

We joined CEC in 1990 as personal career and service activities.  Greg was a new young assistant professor at UTC and Mary a practicing engineer.  Joining CEC and activity participating was a path to know the STEM community as well as fill out the community service requirement for Greg’s faculty tenure and Mary’s consulting practice.  What also happened was the incorporation of our family into this new and wonderful professional family.  Paul Shoun, Jack Anderson, Marty Johnson, Lynn Russell, Tom Lyons, Terry Reynolds, Almeda Frazier, Iris Sesko, Norbert Koch, Myron McCay, Bob Bradshaw, Jay Floyd, Doug Jacobs, Jack Wagner, Ed Chapin, Uwe Zitzow, Lulu Copeland and many others became sisters and brother to us as well as aunts and uncles to our children. Being from Missouri this was a great personal benefit!

On the professional side we were supported by the weekly technical meetings that allowed Greg to sully pass both the FE and the PE exams and Mary to increase her technical knowledge.  We have no doubt the technical sessions were instrumental in Greg’s teaching and applied research at the university and Mary years of contributions to the region. The professional fellowship led to the creation of a Chattanooga Technology Council (not the same entity as today’s CTC) when Greg served as dean of UTC’s engineering and computer science college.  The council united the officers of all the Chattanooga’s STEM societies as we faced declining membership and participation.  The STEM family came together to not only tackle their society membership decline but also to re-energize their involvement in community building activities. Additionally, when Greg and the engineering faculty needed community support for the approval of both the UTC Challenger Learning Center and the new engineering, computer science and math building, the members of the CEC answered the call without hesitation.  

These gifts from CEC membership led to our continuing our connection to our Chattanooga HOME as our careers took us across Tennessee. We decided to retire in Chattanooga and remain in touch with our CEC family!

From Gabe Kurtz: 

I first attended a CEC presentation somewhere around 2014 and was impressed by the broad engineering knowledge within the members and presentation material at that time. For several years with the meetings being in person, I was only able to go to a few meetings per year with not being able to get away from job responsibilities during lunch time for the presentations.

With the onset of COVID and meetings going remote, this allowed me flexibility and being able to attend most of the meetings and tours to become much more involved, even to the extent to help by volunteering to become the VP and Chair in 2021 and 2022 to help steer the club, which has been an excellent location to expand being able to serve outside of being involved with Orange Grove Center, UTC, TVA’s ABLED ERG, IEEE, NSPE, EPRI, and others. The most impressive item that I’ve noticed about the membership are not only the broad width of types of engineering background and skills within the membership, but also the amount of continued active ex-chairs that bring large amounts of experience and help to continue to promote, support, and help drive the CEC path forward.

The CEC has provided many resources to me along the way and a path to continue to help serve others. I’m privileged to being a member, to pick up more actively to support the club within the last few years, and to serve with implementing new streamlined tools to help with online programming, additional funding approved to expand in giving to Bryan College for student scholarships, making new and/or stronger ties with greater Chattanooga educational and industry partners, and am looking forward to continued growth with learning from others and service going forward.

Future

Looking forward, the Club hope to continue to make a difference in growing the engineering community, support education and be the convener of groups sharing our vision.  We hope you will share your vision and stories; we hope more will join this profession and HOME.  March 2024 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Club.  Greg has graciously volunteered to lead the planning committee for the event(s).  Please sign up and recruit others to participate.

Nomination committee consisting of four past presidents, Steve Poteet, Al Curtis, Timothy Lee and Lulu Copeland held election on October 24 and announced:

2023 CEC President will be George Aslinger

George Aslinger is a Solution Consultant with University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services. George holds a MS in Operations Management from Georgia State University and a BS in Engineering from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. George is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt with years of coaching and training experience.  George is currently serving as the Vice President of Chattanooga Engineers Club.

2023 Vice President will be Rama Etekallapalli

Rama Etekallapalli is the Quality Manager at Arch Plastic Packaging. Rama graduated with BS in Engineering Technology in Polymer and Plastic Engineering and MS in Plastic Engineering Technology, both form Pittsburg State University. Rama is a certified Six Sigman Black Belt. Rama is a member and the immediate president of ASQ Chattanooga.

BRIC (Building Recognition in Chattanooga)

We are excited to announce the return of the BRIC Awards for 2023, for Chattanooga-based professionals and organizations in architecture, construction, engineering, and design to recognize the people and projects that highlight the best of the best in the building industry. 

The current schedule is:

January 12, 2023 – Applications Open

March 9, 2023 – Submissions Due

April 20, 2023 – Awards Banquet

Chattanooga Engineers Club will join ACEC, ASCE, TSPE and SWE to recruit and judge the Engineering Award. 

All proceeds from BRIC benefit the ACE Mentor Program of Southeast Tennessee & Northwest Georgia and serves to promote careers in the design and construction industry (Architecture, Construction and Engineering) to high school students.  Each year through the generous support of local organizations, companies, and individuals ACE provides scholarships to local students to help them pursue ACE career fields through higher education and training opportunities, post-high school.