In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy Deo engages in an insightful conversation with Brian Geary, President, and Owner of Stretch Forming Corporation, and Mike Russell, General Manager. They delve into the company's history, growth, and its key role in complex metal forming, machining, and innovative solutions for the aerospace, defense, and space industries. The discussion touches on their experiences, the recent recognition by Boeing, upcoming...

Teach kids how cool it is that engineers get to MAKE stuff! In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Randy Mees, the Director of Design, Transcatheter Heart Valves at Edwards Lifesciences. He shares how luck would bring him to the world of engineering and his early experiences with CAD and other tech. Randy then talks about his approach to tool design and getting the input of operators to get their feedback. As an educator, Randy also...

Finding validation in designing for the greater good of humanity In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Kevin Saginian, a mechanical engineer at Saratech. Kevin shares his unique experience of finishing college through the pandemic and the adaptability and motivation he needed to finish mechanical engineering. He also gives his insights on how different school was compared to the real world of mechanical engineering where he gets to...

PLM is not the same as deploying IT software In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Sassan Khoubyari, Senior Manager of PLM Solutions at Saratech. He explains that PLM is not just an IT initiative, but a business process transformation initiative that needs to be understood and executed by the CEO and other executives in order to be successful. Sassan also discusses some misconceptions about PLM. For instance, PLM systems must be...

Get it right the first time with design engineering In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Jed Bullwinkle, Director of Design Solutions at Saratech. Jed discusses the creativity needed to find the best possible solutions to solve a single design problem. He then takes a deep dive into his involvement with the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program and the advancement and complexity of CAD today. Lastly, Jed digs into the skills aspiring...

Smart robots bridge the gap in the manufacturing workforce In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcomes Dr. Ariyan Kabir, Co-Founder, and CEO of GrayMatter Robotics. Ariyan combines available robot sensors and tools with their proprietary AI technologies to turn them into smart robotic assistants, a critical role given the increasing lack of skilled labor in manufacturing. Ariyan discusses the concept of robots as a service, which is essentially...

THE EXCITING FUTURE OF 3D PRINTING In this episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development, Andy welcome another 3D expert, Isabel Sanz-Ananos. Isabel is a 3D Category Business Manager at HP and will be talking to Andy about additive manufacturing technology, education, STEM, exciting projects, and the future of 3D printing. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Introducing Isabel Sanz-Ananos What drove her interest in technology The gender gap in the industry Misconceptions about 3D...

From developments in CAD and Siemens NX software to communicating between teams, there's a lot that goes through the Saratech Customer Support Team's day-to-day. In this episode of The Human Side Of Engineering & Product Development, we are joined by Chad Evans, Technical Manager for the Customer Care Team at Saratech to talk about the increasing complexity of the software being used and how the team approaches customer support. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Chad's interest in engineering and...

Welcome to another episode of The Human Side Of Engineering & Product Development. In this episode, we welcome a guest who brings the best of both worlds, 3D printing technology, and medicine, Dr. Justin Ryan, Director of the 3D Lab at Rady Children’s Hospital. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Meet Justin Ryan, PhD, Director of the 3D Innovations Lab 3D technology really helped out during the pandemic Creating surgical models for doctors and surgeons before surgery Using 3D printing to create...

“I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHEN YOU LIVE HERE ANYMORE” These are the words of Dr. Saeed Paydarfar’s daughter, Sara, that pushed him to the edge and decided to leave his job, and start a company of his own so he can spend more time with his family. Saeed is the CEO and Founder of Saratech. He will be sharing his engineering journey and how his human side gave life to Saratech, only here, in The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development podcast. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: How Saeed became an...

It’s another episode of The Human Side Of Engineering And Product Development, and today we have Ken Scherwinski, Senior Vice President of Engineering Services of Saratech. Ken will be sharing his story and will talk about how to deal with engineering resource issues and challenges in a distributed work environment. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Introducing Ken Scherwinski The need for engineers who work in the field today The importance of human-to-human connection The most important thing you can...

NOTHING BREEDS SUCCESS LIKE SUCCESS These are powerful words from our special guest today, Ken Blakely, a Senior Business Management Consultant. Join Andy and Ken as they talk about the definition and key components of the Product Development process. The benefits and challenges of streamlining this process, as well as some tips for organizations looking to improve their product development. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: The human side of Ken Blakely The parallels between art and...

SYSTEMS HELP US BUILD THE NEW WORLD, BUT HOW ARE SYSTEMS BUILT? Andy will be tinkering this out as he welcomes Michael Ali, Vice President for Engineering Operations at Saratech. Mike will be sharing his journey into systems engineering and will help us understand what it is and how it benefits everyone. Tune in and learn more here in the latest episode of The Human Side of Engineering and Product Development. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Mike’s background in engineering An early fascination with...

Welcome to The Human Side of Engineering & Product Development podcast, a show about the human element of developing new products with some of the brightest minds in the industry, where they share their stories and the human aspect of how they develop their products, and many more. For today’s episode, we have Chris Decker, CEO of Salescast as our special guest host to join and help you get to know our host, Andy Deo, VP of Marketing at Saratech. HUMANIZING MOMENTS: Getting to know...