Movers & Makers: Women in Engineering Day, Conexus Indiana adds five new board members and more!

Celebrating women in engineering in Indiana

Last month, we celebrated International Women in Engineering Day, brought to you by the Women’s Engineering Society, to recognize the vital role women in the engineering industry play and to inspire future generations of female engineers.

To shine a light on a few of Indiana’s female engineers in advanced manufacturing and logistics (AML), we met with three 2024 Rising 30 honorees to learn more about their journeys to the engineering industry.

Meet Katie Murphy of Arcamed, Adrianna Swift of Endress+Hauser and Karlie Banacka of Boston Scientific and hear what being a woman in engineering means to them.?

Conexus Indiana adds five new members to its board

Conexus Indiana is pleased to announce the additions of Andrew Ball, Joe Guerre, Darryl Floyd, Kevin Trivett and Dave Cappelleri to its board of directors.

President and CEO Frederick Cartwright says, “Continuing to develop our board is pivotal for an industry-led organization like Conexus,” said Fred Cartwright, Conexus Indiana president and CEO. “Andrew, Darryl and Joe are insightful leaders with a history of success in advanced manufacturing and logistics. I look forward to seeing how they work alongside our existing board members to help the industry achieve its aggressive goals.”

The Conexus board now includes 23 individuals representing industry, academia and the public sector.

IBJ's spotlight on manufacturing innovation

Last month, the Indianapolis Business Journal published its annual Innovation Issue. In this year’s issue, the IBJ focused exclusively on advanced manufacturing innovation—covering everything from wearable devices to robotic sleeving.

The Conexus team and several of its industry partners were featured. Here are our top four stories:?

The path to Industry 4.0

Indiana manufacturers are making significant investments in Industry 4.0 technology. But as Mitch Landess, Conexus’ VP of Innovation and Digital Transformation shares, making sure employees have the know-how to unlock the technology’s full potential is a top priority.?

Wearable devices promise improved safety, productivity

Adapting to Industry 4.0 is often about adding sensors to machinery and collecting data, but it can also mean using sensors for employee safety. As Landess explains, wearables are often used in AML to “understand whether or not the physicality of the tasks [employees are] performing are overstraining.”

Smoker Craft and Circle Bev's unique robotics projects

Conexus team members provide insights into two Indiana AML robotics projects—robotic welding at boat manufacturer Smoker Craft and robotic sleeving at beverage manufacturer Circle Bev.?

Conexus CEO shares 5 keys to driving Indiana's manufacturing future

While there is much conversation in Indiana regarding the future of advanced manufacturing, most of the challenges—and opportunities—the industry faces are not unique to Indiana. Conexus’ President and CEO Fred Cartwright was reminded of this when he participated in a U.S. Industrial Policy Roundtable in D.C. in May. The event had five key takeaways, which he expanded on in the piece, that mark the need for advancing regional and national discourse concerning this critical sector of Indiana’s economy.

Read Cartwright’s recommendations for industry innovation, which include focusing on education and training of our future workforce, providing strategic funding and proactively building the powerful partnerships necessary to effect real change.

Batesville Tool & Die sees results with integrated machine vision

“Under the new bin picking process, a machine vision system tells a robot to verify that it is the correct part and in the correct orientation for the next step in manufacturing. The robots are also programmed to understand that, if the part is bad, it needs to be put in a separate bin.” - Justin Fledderman, Automation Manager

Ripley County’s Batesville Tool & Die utilized Manufacturing Readiness Grants funding to deploy robots with integrated cameras to pick up parts from a random position out of a bin using a gripper tool. The technology investment enables the company to increase its volume with the consistent quality required by its automotive customers.

Conexus's parent company, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) celebrates 25 years of driving collaboration and innovation

Last month, Conexus’ parent company CICP celebrated its 25th anniversary. Started in 1999, CICP set out with a bold vision to bring together corporations, foundations and educational institutions to transform the economy of Indiana.

“The formation of CICP, 25 years ago, has long since been heralded by other regions of the country as the way to grow and prosper the local economy. By organizing its initiatives to focus on the most essential business sectors of Indiana’s future, CICP has been and will continue to be instrumental in shaping the future of work in our state. The advanced manufacturing and logistics industries, in particular, have come to rely on the work of CICP and Conexus Indiana to affirm Indiana as an industry powerhouse.” – Frederick Cartwright, president and CEO of Conexus Indiana.