What We Learned At The Assembly Show

The QLS team had a great time at the Assembly Show in Chicago’s Rosemont exhibition hall on October 24-26. We met a lot of good people from all kinds of disciplines in manufacturing and assembly. We came back to Nashville, (and Montreal,QC,  Denton, TX and Sainte-Thérèse, QC – The QLS team has folks in lots of places) with the following thoughts in mind:

The turnout for the show was large, indicating that the economy is positive and the manufacturing community is investing capital for growth. The energy in the hall was tremendous and we left Chicago with rising expectations for a strong 2018.

There was real substance at the show. We had solid, in-depth discussions with people representing a wide range of company disciplines from the manufacturing floor to product development to C-level executives. We met people who are passionate about what they do and knowledgeable about their company’s value – an enlightening experience in a world that seems a little crazy these days. It is good to know that manufacturing innovation is alive and well in North America!

We had lots of opportunities to discuss our favorite topic – quality liaison services. It was interesting to meet so many people who were not aware of the value provided by a company like QLS. In our discussions, we were able to explain that Suppliers benefit from having an on-floor representative in their assembly OEM customers’ facilities by gaining instant reaction to quality issues and by having strong technical expertise available for special projects. We also talked to several OEM assembly folks who readily acknowledged the positive impact on both quality and throughput provided by on-site Supplier representation. If we met you at the show – thanks for stopping by. If we didn’t see you, we’ll catch you next year – or better yet, give us a call at 615-590-4280 or send us a message to discuss how we might help you prosper in 2018!

There were substantive presentations at the show on issues affecting the manufacturing community. If you attended you might have gained a totally different perspective on the impact of robots on manufacturing labor or learned some great techniques for eliminating complexity from strategy implementation. You could have taken a deep dive into how the Internet of Things will drive a new expansion of lean principles. And, of course, there was the ever-popular bowling ball pulverization demonstration!

And finally, we had a lot of fun running a little contest to give away a beautiful YETI 65 cooler. John Irvin of Caterpillar was the lucky winner. Congratulations John! We hope you enjoy the cooler for years to come!

We hope to see you next year at the Assembly Show.