The Sussex Solution Episode 9: Manufacturing Engineering & Automation

In this episode of The Sussex Solution, hear from our Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Matt Rosner, about the automation and robotics capabilities that Sussex IM has to offer its customers in the injection molding industry. Our automation team can control the process from start to finish without outsourcing, whether it be assembly, labeling, pinning, vision systems, or a fully automated cell;
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How long have you worked at SIM? Did you start out in a different position?

I have worked at Sussex IM for 22 years. I was hired as a Manufacturing Engineer.

What does your job entail?

I have multiple responsibilities. I am a member of the executive management team and am involved in many aspects of how the company runs. I also manage a team of 8 engineers and automation techs that design and build in-house automation along with supporting all the secondary equipment out on the shop floor.

In addition, I look at all new projects and quote the necessary equipment and automation to manufacturer that product. When I am not busy managing the team or quoting new projects, I still get involved in designing and programming automation cells along with troubleshooting equipment problems out on the shop floor.

What do you like most about your job?

I enjoy coaching and mentoring my team members the best. As a team, we often get together and brainstorm ideas before the assigned engineer gets too far into their individual design. Coaching the team has been very rewarding as everyone on the team continues to refine and broaden their expertise in various aspects of machine design, programming, etc.

Are there any specific projects you are working on?

I am always sitting in on meetings discussing Design for Manufacturing (DFM) with various customers along with constantly quoting new opportunities. I recently dusted off my PLC programming skills and helped the team by programming a new automation cell that auto feeds RFID tags into a fixture that are ultimately inserted with a press robot into the mold and over molded. It always feels good to dust off some of my technical skills and help the team out.

As a team, we are also putting together a couple of new proposals for one of our customers to automate some of their assembly operations. Since we currently manufacturer this product, we are very familiar with the challenges of automating some of those processes, so we are doing some prototyping before putting together a full-scale proposal. By automating some of these processes we will be able to help our customer lower their cost to manufacture their product which is a huge value-add that our Manufacturing Engineering team does for our customers on a regular basis.

Favorite part about working at SIM?

I enjoy and appreciate the sense of family that SIM has for a culture. I also enjoy the variety of work. From sitting in on high-level executive management meetings to working with an engineer on how to fixture a part for assembly and everything in-between. It is very rewarding to be involved in everything from quoting a job to helping the customer design the product for manufacturability (DFM) to designing and building an automation cell and finally seeing everything come together and running out on our plant floor.