Overcoming the Challenges of Implementing a People-Focused Production System to Be Topic of Keynote at The ASSEMBLY Show

ROSEMONT, IL--(Marketwired - Jun 13, 2016) - Raymond Muscat, the former Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Research and New Product Operations at furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, will be the keynote speaker at the 4th annual ASSEMBLY Show. Now the Industry Director of the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan, Muscat will speak on the opening day of the show, Wednesday, October 26, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

"We are looking forward to hearing from Ray Muscat, whose career has been a tour of some of manufacturing's biggest sectors. He's worked for GM, Ford, Raytheon and Ball Aerospace, and he spent more than 20 years at furniture maker Herman Miller sustaining a lean manufacturing system. No matter what sort of product our attendees make, they'll benefit from Muscat's 40 years of manufacturing wisdom," said Tom Esposito, publisher, ASSEMBLY Magazine, sponsor of the event. "To sustain a lean manufacturing system requires significant employee engagement. Ray will tell the story of the Herman Miller production system, the lessons learned and changes made along the way."

Mr. Muscat started his career on a Ford assembly line to pay his way through college. He then worked his way up the engineering and leadership ranks, to head of engineering and operations at award-winning furniture manufacturer, Herman Miller. There, he led a team that developed and implemented the company's lean manufacturing program. Through Muscat's leadership, Herman Miller cut average product lead times in half.

In addition to this dynamic opening day keynote presentation, The ASSEMBLY Show will offer several half-day workshops on Tuesday, October 25^th, and two concurrent Showcase Education Theaters on the show floor with presentations by knowledgeable speakers from high-profile companies and industry associations. The event's closing session will feature a panel discussion on women in manufacturing, on Thursday October 27^th from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Speakers will include Elizabeth Rolinski, vice president of manufacturing engineering at Johnson Controls Power Solutions; and Shelly Ryan Carlson, director of global manufacturing engineering technology at Danfoss.

The ASSEMBLY Show 2016 will be held Tuesday, October 25 - Thursday, October 27 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. The Show is sponsored by ASSEMBLY (www.assemblymag.com), a monthly trade magazine read by 56,000 engineers and managers responsible for manufacturing and designing cars, computers, catheters, coffee makers, etc. ASSEMBLY covers the processes, technologies and strategies for joining discrete parts into finished products. The event is produced by BNP Media (www.bnpmedia.com), one of the country's leading business-to-business media companies serving professionals across 50+ industries. For more information, visit www.theassemblyshow.com.