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Digital Enterprise Society is the authority on the transformation to a digital enterprise, impacting all areas of an organization. Tune in for discussions among industry leaders about operations and action needed to drive digitization principles forward for the future of product development and life cycles. 

In today’s episode, Craig Brown and Thom Singer welcome Nate Hartman, department head for computer graphics at Purdue University and Co-Executive Director of the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center to discuss industry updates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us are looking for ways to help during this pandemic, and this episode offers an inspiring look at how one university is taking on the challenge of medical equipment shortages. Purdue University has transitioned several of its manufacturing research labs to manufacturing centers in a matter of two weeks and is now manufacturing personal protective equipment including face shields, gowns, and prototype face masks. Nate shares both the motivation behind the change and the lessons that the manufacturing industry is learning in this unprecedented time of COVID-19. 

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

How the manufacturing industry is battling the pandemic

• Colleges at Purdue University with the ability to design and manufacture needed medical supplies have been doing so for over a month.
• Production includes both hard and soft PPE (personal protective equipment), including ventilator components, face shields, face masks, and hospital gowns.
• One university alone is producing 1,000 face shields, 1,000 ventilator components and 500 body gowns every day.

Lessons learned from tackling this challenge

• Collaboration between diverse academic units and businesses is greater than ever.
• Tackling a common challenge brings people together in a way that no other situation can.
• Effective product lifecycle management is more important than ever.
• The lack of capacity in the medical supply chain shows how critical a supply network is.
• It is essential that we continue to design and manufacture within the United States.
• Companies who have the expertise and capacity to help need to do so now.

Industry growth that will come as a result of COVID-19

• Manufacturing companies and their supply networks need to learn from the countries that were hit earlier or to a lesser extent than the United-States.
• Collaboration and communication will increase as we continue to problem-solve together.
• Measures of success are shifting away from financial success to greater collaboration and preparedness in any circumstance.

Do you have an example of extraordinary efforts during these unprecedented times? We would love to hear your story and possibly interview you for an upcoming episode. Please reach out to us at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org