Patti Perspective
October 2015
When you're working on a big project with a tight deadline, the last thing you want is more stress.  Collaboration is a key focus for us.  We pride ourselves on working with our OEMs and end users to make the experience as simple as possible.  This month, we're featuring an example of our partnership with an OEM at a big auto manufacturer.

For his strong customer relationships, Ed Maurer has earned the spotlight this month!  His amiable personality and many talents are assets on our team.  His talents extend beyond engineering - read on to find out!

Our Bench is Deep
How Smooth Cooperation Got the Job Done
  
Having more business than manpower is a great problem to have.  Unless you're on a tight deadline.

That's exactly the tough spot that our customer- a manufacturer of industrial products and automation systems we'll call "Sterling Cooper" - was in at the end of 2014.  One project became three, as Sterling Cooper was asked to add two additional part styles on an assembly line for a large automotive manufacturer. Timely project implementation during scheduled production shutdown is critical for auto manufacturers. With just a few weekends left before the December shutdown, the window of opportunity to implement, test, and verify the updates was quickly approaching to meet the manufacturer's deadline for project completion.

It was time for Sterling Cooper to bring in the reinforcements - Patti Engineering.  As our long time customers know, when you hire Patti Engineering, you're not just getting one engineer.  Our bench is deep with degreed engineers. You won't have to deal with one-man-show issues such as a better opportunity coming along, illness, winning the lottery, etc.

The project involved Mitshubishi PLC/HMI software programming and FANUC robot programming.  Sterling Cooper hired Patti Engineering to work closely with their internal staff to manage the schedule, complete the software programming, implement the updates in the plant, and verify the operation of the system.

We sent three of our engineers to Anna, Ohio to help out.  All three had the necessary skills to complete the work.  Ryan Hibbert is a Mitsubishi software expert; Dave Calme is a Mitsubishi programmer; and Brian Parkham is a Mitsubishi programmer as well as a FANUC robot programmer.  All were equally capable of completing the task at hand. 

It's not just about what we can do, it's how we can do it.  We have the technical experience, but we also have the experience of working with many different teams.  Our engineers are very comfortable adapting to another team's work style.

In this case, Sterling Cooper set the schedule. Then, Steve Buffmyer, our project manager, worked with them to determine that three engineers would be best for the project.  It would be enough people to make sure the work would be completed within the timeline, but not so many that they would be seeing a new face every day. 

In the end, both the customer and the auto manufacturer were pleased.  Sterling Cooper received the help they needed and were pleasantly surprised at how easily the "temporary team members" slid into the project.  Above all, the auto manufacturer had the results they had hoped for on the time table they required. 

If you have a project which will require additional staff, we are here to help. Call us at 800-852-0994, or submit a contact form.

Patti Personnel Spotlight - Ed Maurer

 We have chosen Ed Maurer to spotlight this month.  Ed is known for being approachable - a quality that has earned him excellent feedback from customers throughout the years.  Over the last decade and a half, Ed has developed admirable rapport with many, many clients.

"As one of our longest tenured team members, Ed has developed strong relationships with many of our customers," said Sam Hoff, CEO.  "His ability to maintain those relationships is valuable to our team."
 
 Ed wears many hats on our team!  He is a senior engineer and he also works on our internal IT team.  As senior engineer, he has worked on several garment sortation projects including with Ross Stores and Men's Wearhouse.  His work at long-time customer Johnson Controls was nominated for their internal Merit Award for Quality. 
 
In addition to his normal job functions, Ed heads up our Fun Fund, organizing events for the whole team.  Recently, he organized a team to participate in the Boy Scouts of America Dodgeball Competition.
 
Ed has a variety of interests outside of work, too.  He stays in shape doing Crossfit. He's an impressive photographer. He enjoys the outdoors (camping and exploring nature). For example, in his college years, he worked at a summer camp taking youths on 4 day canoe trips along the Ausable River in northern Michigan. 
 
Ed has three children: Charlie, Jacob, and Catherine. Charlie is a diver for MSU (Michigan State), Jacob is an athlete at Albion College, and Catherine is an outstanding vocalist for the Lake Orion choir. The choir most recently sang the national anthem at Comerica Park.

"Patti Engineering has been a great place to work for the past 15 years. I've had the opportunity to work on great projects that challenge me and are fulfilling. I've had the opportunity to work with some talented engineers that share my passion for this job. It makes Patti Engineering a fun place to work. When my daughter Catherine was going through treatment for Leukemia and Lymphoma, I received a lot of support from Sam, Patti, and the whole team. I'm happy to say that this year we celebrated her 11th year of remission!"



We work as partners with our clients. When you need an expert to help solve automation challenges, we are here to add value to your solution - enhance efficiency, increase productivity, and work with your team as a trusted resource. Visit our website for more information on our areas of expertise, or call us (248)364-3200 for a free initial consultation.

Thank you for your interest in Patti Engineering.

Best regards,

Georgia H. Whalen
Director of Marketing
Patti Engineering



What do we, as programmers, need to consider when choosing to use a timer in a control system?

Our Texas engineers were recapping the week, and they got to talking about timers. Timers can be great when they are used well, but overuse can actually hamper cycle time.  With that in mind, our engineers wanted to share their tips. 


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