PODCAST: Challenge Yourself and Your Mold-Building Business to Push Boundaries

During this episode of The Manufacturing Alliance Podcast, Christina Fuges and Tony Demakis sit down with Wayne Daniel, director of business development and outside tool in sales at Canon Virginia. Wayne has been with Canon for 30 years. He describes himself as a “molding guy”, having spent about 27 years of his career in injection molding, supporting Canon’s in-house molding operations and manufacturing.

Here’s just several highlights from their conversation:

Wayne’s the process guy. He’s the guy that blames the tool.
It’s important to learn to trust. Wayne had to learn to do that by opening up and allowing his team to try things they've been wanting to do for years, but maybe necessarily couldn't or were afraid to do.
Design and maintenance goes both ways. Everyone learns from each other.
Wayne’s an outdoors type of guy; he enjoys hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, etc. And over the last couple of years, he’s gotten more into wilderness camping. “It’s a way to challenge pushing yourself into further boundaries.”
Canon is more than printers and cameras. There’s a lot that goes into manufacturing those products from the mold building side of it.
The latest technology from Canon Virginia would have to be the company’s new shuttle molding system. Introduced at NPE in 2018, it was developed originally for Canon’s internal production. It's a system that allows the user to run two molds and one machine at the same time simultaneously to increase productivity.
Find out how Canon basically eliminated its tool replacement program.
Develop your maintenance culture; focus more on reactive maintenance versus preventative maintenance.
For employee development, the company’s has it’s web-based Canon Academy, which offers everything from basic computer skills to technical writing, to drawing and an apprenticeship program, as opposed to the traditional classroom.
Technology will be what draws the next generation in.
Wayne and Canon both adhere to the motivation that they’re never satisfied. ‘What’s next?’ is the big question. “It's always what's next, what's the next big thing, or even small thing that can make up and give back.” Keep trying to challenge yourself to be better.