SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Executive Briefing Conference announced program details as it brings its 2019 edition to San Jose, California, in the heart of America’s engine of innovation - Silicon Valley.
Targeted to attendees from all type and size of wood products manufacturers, the three-day event is a stone’s throw from Apple, Google, and Facebook headquarters.
EBC’s setting in Silicon Valley also opens the door to an infusion of high-tech thinking and next level technologies for the wood manufacturing industry. Attendees will also gain insights into the strategies that Silicon Valley businesses use for recruitment in one of the most competitive markets for high-tech workers and creative craftsmen. Those issues, which rank at the top of all managers’ minds, will be a recurring theme during EBC 2019.
Unique among wood manufacturer gatherings, the Executive Briefing Conference provides a high-energy, rapid pace delivery of intensive briefings, trenchant speakers, plant tours, and a mix of advanced and futuristic technology and materials briefings, along with revealing case studies delivered by top execs shooting straight from the hip.
Because of the high caliber of its sessions, EBC draws a unique audience, providing unparalleled opportunities for business networking. Top managers and manufacturing execs who have met at previous EBCs have formed a high-value network of peer-to-peer communications.
The 2019 EBC, running April 14-16 at the San Jose Marriott, provides strategic and practical information that addresses manufacturing challenges, and a forum for discovery. EBC helps executives anticipate business opportunities and beat the challenges that lie ahead and will ignite and inspire business leaders to create change when they return home. www.executivebriefingconference.com
EBC 2019 Keynote Presentations
Luke Williams, esteemed professor of innovation and design at New York University’s Stern School of Business, delivers the opening keynote. Founder of the W.R. Berkley Innovation Labs and holding more than 30 patents, Williams has lectured in 21 countries and addressed the World Innovation Forum and the United Nations General Assembly, among other venues.
Danielle Clark, Director, Talent Development at Adobe, will talk about strategies her firm uses to realize the potential of its people, getting the most from its workforce in one of the most competitive markets in the world. Launching her career in workforce recruitment, Clark then moved to consulting with Korn Ferry - Hay Group and now leads the Adobe team to develop the best talent possible.
Natalie Engels, Technology Leader, Design Director, Architect at Gensler, the nation’s largest architecture firm, has focused her 20-year career on designing experiences that help companies like Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, and Amazon appeal to employees in one of the world’s most fiercely competitive job markets.
Alan Beaulieu, president of ITR Economics, returns to EBC with his dead-on economic forecasts. Based on a unique formula that tracks moving averages in financials, Beaulieu consults around the world, optimizing company forecasts and supporting efforts to outguess the market and increase profits through his mastery of business-cycle trend analysis.
Glenn Ripley, CEO, Mission Bell Manufacturing
EBC 2019 Plant Tours
Mission Bell Manufacturing - Attendees will visit Mission Bell, just one of several tours on tap (announcements coming soon). Based in Morgan Hill, California, Mission Bell specializes in quality architectural woodwork, millwork and custom casework, and is renowned for its business excellence and technological prowess.
Recent work includes major projects for influential digitally driven businesses such as Amazon, Google, Broadcom, Cisco and Lyft. “Mission Bell is a technology company that happens to work with wood,” said Glen Ripley, president and CEO. “Technologies like 3D printing and virtual reality are the future of millwork. By working with these tools, we can better visualize projects and see constructibility issues prior to build out.”
Adobe Headquarters Campus - The nearby campus of Adobe, inventors of the ubiquitous PDF document and the leader in marketing systems and visual design applications was an early entrant in technology in Silicon Valley. Their headquarters campus received a refresh designed by Gensler and with fabrication by Mission Bell Manufacturing, keeping competitive with workspaces such as Apple, GOogle and Facebook.
Other highlights on the 2019 EBC agenda include:
Case studies presented by wood manufacturing managers:
• Butch Reimer CEO of Tru Cabinetry, Ashland, Alabama – a completely retooled 370,000 square foot, 260-employee plant is a unit of United Cabinet Holdings.
• Don Casebier CEO of Bierson Corporation, Central Point, Oregon – a rapid-development innovator of store fixtures using unique applications of materials, fasteners and hardware.
• Bobby Lewis, CEO, and Beau Lewis, Board Advisor, Lewis Cabinet Specialties, Tremonton, Utah
The classic Tulip chair rendered in Lingrove Ekoa, a linen-based panel product.
Technology & Materials Briefings from Innovators:
• Joe Luttwak, Founder, Lingrove, San Francisco: A newly-launched product development center for bio-fiber wood panel alternatives like linen-based Ekoa.
• Wes Love, President, Taurus Craco, Toronto: The Wood-Ed Augmented Reality apprentice training system.
• Tino Go, Founder, Dimensionally Yours, Elyria, Ohio: A parametric furniture configurator transmits G-code for CNC output close to consumers.
• Kenn Busch, Publisher & Founder, Material Intelligence: A preview of materials trends with a panel of key influencers tracking next-wave designer moves in surface, color, hardware and texture, and how that will affect manufacturing processes.
• Tech Shorts – Woodworking Network Senior Editor Bill Esler curates provocative video briefings for EBC, including dye sublimation finishing, flexible acoustic wood panel, “sewn” hardwood furniture frames, color-hued MDF, and digital staining of wood panel.
• Technology Forecast – Gary Wernlund, Office Furniture Sales Manager at Stiles Machinery, forecasts technology trends we will see at Ligna 2019 and beyond.
High-level Management Discussions
• CEO Panel: Executives from leading wood products firms examine rationales for capital investment.
• Manufacturing Execution Systems – Early adopters describe this new breed of shop-floor integration, linking design and operations management.
• Tariffs & Import Rule Impacts – John Sherwin, Project Manager in custom research at market analyst group Freedonia will present a compendium of studies and original research for EBC 2019, into impacts that countervailing duties on plywood and softwood, tariffs on steel and aluminum, and other panel product restrictions have on U.S. cabinetry manufacturers.
• Industry Education: A look at the Woodwork Career Alliance workforce training and certification system by Patrick Molzahn, Madison Area Technical College; followed up by a panel of educators, recruiters and trainers who share strategies for workforce development.
Networking Events
• Opening Reception
• Visits to Area Attractions
EBC attendees get special rates at the San Jose Marriott, a destination for Silicon Valley meetings.
The 2019 EBC, running April 14-16 at the San Jose Marriott, provides strategic and practical information that addresses manufacturing challenges, and a forum for discovery. EBC helps executives anticipate business opportunities and beat the challenges that lie ahead and will ignite and inspire business leaders to create change when they return home. www.executivebriefingconference.com
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.