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Conference

Job Shop Operations

F050: Leading Real Transformation: Why Incremental Improvements Fail & Strategic Change Wins

  • Date

  • Time

  • Experience Level

    Intermediate

  • Location

    N203-204

Presentations

Stop OPTIMIZING What’s Possible. Start CHANGING What’s Possible

11:00 am – 11:45 am Intermediate

In today’s manufacturing environment, uncertainty is the baseline. Demand shifts unexpectedly. Supply chains fluctuate. Competitors move faster. And speed to market increasingly determines who wins and who falls behind.

Most organizations respond by optimizing what already exists – investing in automation, refining workflows, and pursuing incremental gains within the same physical constraints. These efforts feel productive, but rarely change outcomes in a meaningful way.

Because the real constraint was never in those systems.

The real constraint is something that most manufacturers completely overlook – workholding. Left un-engineered or under-engineered, it quietly limits how quickly products move from design to production, how effectively automation performs, and how easily manufacturers adapt to change.

This session shows how engineering workholding expands what’s possible. Through real-world examples, attendees will learn how leading manufacturers unlocked exponential gains in speed, capacity, and adaptability – and how to identify hidden engineering gaps within their own operations.


Why Productivity Gains Fail: The Trojan Horse Inside Modern Manufacturing

11:45 am – 12:30 pm Intermediate

Growth creates opportunity—but it also exposes every weakness in a business. Entering new markets, winning larger customers, or increasing volume can quickly amplify problems with cost, capacity, leadership, and execution. In this session, entrepreneur and turnaround specialist Dean Svarc shares an owner-operator’s approach to positioning a business for profitable, sustainable growth. He’ll explore how leaders can identify hidden constraints, improve operational efficiency, control costs, strengthen accountability, and determine whether their organization is truly ready to scale. Using lessons from real-world acquisitions and turnarounds, along with his B.A.S.I.C.S. framework, Dean will provide a practical roadmap for building the operational foundation needed to compete, expand, and grow—without creating chaos along the way.

About the Speakers

  • Joe Arsenault

    Bluco Corporation

    Biography

    Joe Arsenault is a Bluco Senior Sales Engineer, where he helps manufacturers improve fabrication performance through engineered modular workholding solutions. With expertise in mechanical design, metal fabrication, manufacturing engineering, SolidWorks, and production process improvement, Joe combines technical knowledge with real-world experience. Before joining Bluco, Joe led design reviews, managed product/process development, and owned and operated his own fabrication shop, earning insight into the realities manufacturers face, from production efficiency and labor constraints to cost control and business growth. Today, he works with manufacturers to optimize accuracy, repeatability, throughput, and scalability using workholding strategy to build efficient, future-ready production processes.

    More Details about Joe

  • Dean Svarc

    Dean Svarc Consulting

    Biography

    Dean Svarc is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and turnaround specialist who owns and operates multiple businesses, including manufacturing companies. Through acquisitions and turnarounds, he has built and scaled multimillion-dollar organizations by strengthening leadership, improving operational performance, controlling costs, and positioning companies for sustainable, profitable growth.

    More Details about Dean

Pricing & Registration

Early-Bird Pricing
Through September 11

Price
Individual Sessions $220 $175
Workshops $600 $480
Full Conference (5-10 Sessions) $900 $720

Price
1 Session $125
2 Sessions $225
3 Sessions $300
4-8 Sessions $450

Early-Bird Pricing
Through September 11

Price
Weld-Ed Conference $75 $50
One-Hour Sessions FREE
90-Minute Sessions $200 $150
Half-Day Sessions $550 $450
Full-Day Sessions $600 $500
Professional Program $425 $325

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