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.

Chattanooga E Week committee started planning for E Week 2023 in October.

Gabe Kurtz will be chairing E Week luncheon; Kelli Richardson will be leading award banquet.

Save the dates plus info for luncheon and banquet - 

Chattanooga E Week Kick-off Luncheon

Tuesday, Feb 21 at UTC University Center's Chattanooga Room

Speaker:

Matthew Rasmussen, SVP of Engineering Operations, TVA

Presentation:

Creating the Future and Solving Global Challenges

Chattanooga E Week Award Banquet

Thursday, Feb 23 at the Chattanooga Downtown Marriott

Speaker:

Dr. Justin Robertson, Superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.

Nominations are open for:

• Engineering Leadership
• Outstanding Engineer of the Year
• Young Engineer of the Year
• Technician of the Year
• People to People

Additional information and nomination forms can be found on the 2023 Chattanooga E Week site. 

The submittal deadline for nomination packages is Monday, January 16, 2023.  The awards committee will vote on the awards prior to Friday, January 20, 2023, and notify winners.  The awards will be presented during E-Week at the Banquet.

Thank you to Carmen Harvey for serving as 2023 Award Committee Chair. 

Nomination committee consisting of four past presidents, Steve Poteet, Al Curtis, Timothy Lee and Lulu Copeland announced the following:

Nomination for President – 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.

Nomination for Vice President – 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.

The nomination committee will accept additional nominations up to the date of election.

Election will be on October 24.

This is from Joe Robbins, Jr.

To Engineers Club members:  

(Please share with others)

I have some really sad news to share. 

My Dad, Joe Robbins Sr, had heart surgery recently a few weeks ago.  

My Dad passed away Wednesday Sept 7.  He had 80 good years. Its been a really tough week.

He really enjoyed spending time learning with you all at the Engineers Club meetings and tours. 

 

Obituary found here. 

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2022/9/10/455630/Joseph-Williams-Robbins-Sr..aspx

 

Arrangements by Lane Funeral Home here. 

https://www.lanefh.com/tributes/Joseph-RobbinsSr#tributewall

 

Thanks.

Joe Robbins Jr

Robbins & Bohr, LLC

423-756-4430

Job Description

The Branch Office Manager will be responsible for the overall office success, including sales, business plan development, and growth plan for the office. This position will manage the development and implementation of objectives, programs, procedures and initiatives for the office. The Branch Office Manager will successfully manage the financial results, oversee project management, cost control and client satisfaction.

• Responsible for the managerial direction of a Branch office.

• Ensure profitable and sound growth. Achieve stated targets and standards for financial performance.

• Manages the office financials to generate a positive net return.

• Manages office wide billability and utilization goals, which includes managing work assignments and reviewing performance to ensure the efficient, cost-effective utilization of staff.

• Champion sales and marketing activities. Identify opportunities and manage team efforts for submittals, proposals, presentations, contract negotiation and related activities.

• Serves as the technical advisor and provides senior-level input and evaluation on projects.

• Lead go/no-go evaluations, ensure establishment of project work plans and review fee estimates. Participates in project risk reviews as needed.

• Provides counsel, assistance, and problem-resolution to office employees guided by company's policies.

• Responsible for development and retention of managers and staff. Interpret policies, purposes, and goals of organization to staff.

• Ensure quality and safety standards. Adhere to Burns & McDonnell Quality Control program. Responsible for maintaining the Burns & McDonnell Safety program.

• Provide professional support in recruitment and assist in all human resources related matters.

• All other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Architecture, Construction, Science or related field from an accredited curriculum. Master’s degree preferred.

• Minimum 12 years related management experience, including 5 or more years managing an office with multiple technical disciplines

• Excellent written & verbal communication skills.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Demonstrated ability to meet finical goals, project management, business development, sales and marketing, recruitment and retention of staff.

• Ability to apply intensive and diversified knowledge of principles and practices to broad areas of assignments.

• Must be capable of devising new approaches to problems encountered. Previous consulting experience preferred

Please apply through company career site.