Better Product Solutions Podcast

Steve Davis

The Better Product Solutions Podcast is hosted by Steve Davis, President at Tapecon, Inc. He's joined by experts in the manufacturing space to discuss a variety of topics ranging from flexible materials and chemistries to application technology and manufacturing processes. All conversations follow a singular theme - how we as an industry can continue to make products better. read less
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Episodes

04 - Dave Shoemaker  of Tapecon - Internal Perspective - The Better Product Solutions Podcast
Dec 2 2020
04 - Dave Shoemaker of Tapecon - Internal Perspective - The Better Product Solutions Podcast
In this episode of The Better Product Solutions Podcast, we speak with Dave Shoemaker, Senior Manufacturing Engineer Manager at Tapecon.  In this podcast, Dave gives us an internal perspective through working at Tapecon for over 37 years. He explains how new applications are captured based on the stage of the prospect, how to approach requests for cost reductions on products and how to address overbuilt designs.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bringing a product to market is challenging. Having confidence in your contract manufacturing partner is critical.Tapecon works with product teams to improve your market competitiveness through outsourced manufacturing solutions. Tapecon is a trusted partner of OEM contract manufacturing. We work with product teams to manufacture prototypes, components, assemblies and provide full production services involving custom materials converting and specialized application printing.Our extensive application engineering experience and collaborative partnerships enable us to assist in materials selection and process design for cost-effective functionality, performance, and reliability for medical, electronics, and industrial industries.Website - https://tapecon.com/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Tapecon/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tapeconinc/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/tape...Twitter - https://twitter.com/Tapecon--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Transcript:- Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. This is episode four of the Better Product Podcast. And I'm really excited about this podcast because we decided to try something a little bit different. We have an employee of Tapecon, a long-standing employee Dave Shoemaker joining us. And I'll just give a quick title intro for Dave and then Dave, I'll let you kinda introduce yourself on your own and tell us about yourself. But Dave Shoemaker, Senior Manufacturing and RND Engineer at Tapecon. He's been with us for a long time. Capital L or all capitals on the long so. Dave, I'll let you say the big number, but thanks for being on the podcast Dave and trying something new. Because up to this point, I've been interviewing some suppliers of our raw materials and I think this is gonna be an interesting episode because it's gonna bring a little bit more, I'd say internal perspective from Tapecon. So, I'll stop talking and just Dave tell us about yourself and your role at Tapecon.- Hello and thank you Steve. But one fun thing that I look at is every time I look out the front window, I was actually born right across Arizona. And that was in 1960. So I'm a long founding member of the area. So that's kind of a fun thing to play with. Anyways, it was 1983 when I started for Tapecon. We had, I believe it was 17 employees at the time. And my capabilities that I brought here was die-cutting. And I worked in the die-cutting department for about three years, but I always had a strong passion for all the capabilities that Tapecon had. And they'd had a lot, even at that time. And I think your father saw it as passion within me and before too long, I found myself dabbling in all the capabilities Tapecon had to offer. And as I learned, I became the go-to guy for new opportunities. I often find myself at a crossroads of the customer or prospect's needs and Tapecon's capabilities. It's my job to figure out how to combine suppliers, materials and Tapecon manufacturing processes to achieve the desired outcome.- You've been with us for such a long time and you've seen the evolution kinda through the organization of all the different capabilities coming in and out.
03 - Bill Sullivan from FLEXcon - Films and Coatings - The Better Product Solutions Podcast
Sep 15 2020
03 - Bill Sullivan from FLEXcon - Films and Coatings - The Better Product Solutions Podcast
In this episode of The Better Product Solutions Podcast, we speak with Bill Sullivan, Executive Vice President, business and technology discovery at FLEXcon. In this podcast, Bill gives us a breakdown of more functional technologies to films and coatings, some of the capabilities, bringing new technology to the forefront and how to help brand owners launch products faster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bringing a product to market is challenging. Having confidence in your contract manufacturing partner is critical.Tapecon works with product teams to improve your market competitiveness through outsourced manufacturing solutions. Tapecon is a trusted partner of OEM contract manufacturing. We work with product teams to manufacture prototypes, components, assemblies and provide full production services involving custom materials converting and specialized application printing.Our extensive application engineering experience and collaborative partnerships enable us to assist in materials selection and process design for cost-effective functionality, performance, and reliability for medical, electronics, and industrial industries.Website - https://tapecon.com/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Tapecon/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tapeconinc/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/tape...Twitter - https://twitter.com/Tapecon------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Transcript:- Hello, everyone for episode three, bringing you Bill Sullivan, executive vice president business and technology discovery at FLEXcon. So for anybody interested in adding more functional technologies to films and coatings, this is the podcast for you. Talking about all the capabilities at FLEXcon. Some of the interesting things that they're doing to bring new technology to the forefront and use their capabilities to help brand owners launch products faster. So without further ado here is Bill Sullivan from FLEXcon episode three, Better Products Podcasts. Thanks.- Thanks for joining me Bill on episode three, this should be an end up being episode three, and I'm so excited to have you on, and I'll just give you a quick intro and then I'll kind of let you take over and give yourself, you know, your own intro. Bill Sullivan, vice-president performance products at FLEXcon overseeing a business team performance products. I believe it's still called performance products, that is responsible for the development, marketing and commercialization of high performance adhesives, functional coatings, film castings, and the creation of functional micro structures, which I'm excited to hear more about. And recently correct me if I'm wrong, Bill, but board chairman of the Massachusetts MEP, which is the manufacturing extension partnership, I saw that press release. So that's what I have written down. And I guess I'll let you jump in, tell us about yourself, FLEXcon and I guess the functional technologies division.- Good. So thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. I consider this kind of an honor. I've known you for a few years now and certainly your entrepreneurial spirit and your willingness to try new things is exactly what technology startup community needs. So appreciate the opportunity. I've actually got an upgrade to my position, and I'm now the executive vice president of technology and business discovery. So you could see how the business team has evolved from when I first met you to where we are today. And it's all because of what you and I are passionate about, which is helping advance new technologies. So a little bit about FLEXcon. So FLEXcon is a graphics and label manufacturer films for those businesses. The division I manage is the functional te