Eddie Smith

Director, Operations
Kuhn Krause

Eddie Smith has over 40 years in a variety of industries and held numerous high-level management positions, including Manager of Quality Assurance, Director of Quality Assurance, Manager of Manufacturing, Manager of Operations and Director of Operations. He has experience in automotive, off-road wheel manufacturing, gas and oil, construction and agriculture. He is a strong proponent of LEAN and has employed this approach to drive changes. Under his leadership the Wichita, KS Case New Holland Construction Plant received Bronze Status in application of LEAN. Smith currently holds the position as Director of Operations at Kuhn Krause a manufacturer of agriculture equipment which are distributed globally. Through his direction Kuhn Krause has incorporated the use of LEAN principles and smart machine technology. Kuhn Krause has been on their journey of continuous improvement for the past 4 years which is moving them toward a world-class manufacturing facility.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Eddie.

Download The Latest Agenda

Day One – Emerging from Pilot Purgatory to Realize Full Scale Implementation

Monday, August 31st, 2020

11:10 AM Keynote Panel: Best Practices for Increasing Factory Uptime and Equipment Utilization

Keeping factories humming and never having to shut down lines for maintenance or equipment failure is the Holy Grail of manufacturing – it’s like printing money. Experienced operations and engineering experts will share how they measure success and maximize equipment utilization, as well as how they use:

-Machine learning and artificial intelligence to enable predictive maintenance to reduce downtime

-Advanced data analytics to identify patterns and processes that can be tightened up and improved

-A variety of asset management techniques to help improve uptime

Day Two – Building an Agile Organization, the Vital Foundation for Digital Transformation Success

Tuesday, September 1st, 2020

9:20 AM Keynote Panel: Robotics Automation --The integration of Man and Machine, and How to Quell Job Loss Fears

Many claim robotics create a stronger, faster, and more powerful workforce, one that elevates—not eliminates— human roles in manufacturing, but job-loss fears still concern factory workers and managers. Our panel of experts will:

•Help separate fact from fiction about the impact robotics has on jobs and workers

•Explore the role of robots to carry out very repetitive and/or unsafe tasks so that the human workforce can perform higher-value manual tasks

•Discuss how manufacturers should address job loss fears and manage expectations about robotics -- what is realistic and what is not

11:20 AM Case Study: Using Software Integrators to Accelerate Implementation

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of new and innovative technologies out there and can’t keep pace with the number of vendors who knock on your door? Eddie has some tips that may make it easier for small and medium manufacturers with limited resources:

-Learn how Kuhn Krause, an industrial and agricultural equipment manufacturer with more than 2000 patents worldwide, uses technology integrators to ensure smooth interoperability and deployment.

-By working with a handful of integrators that bring them myriad solutions, Kuhn Krause virtually eliminates vendor friction and system compatibility issues.