Episode Details

Connect with Suzanne O'Connell:

Email: soconnell@certifiedThomaspartner.com.  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannemoconnell/

Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan, and

welcome to the manufacturers' network podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to

our guest today. Suzanne O'Connell. Suzanne is a mechanical engineer and

certified Thomas partner. She has 28 years experience in manufacturing and 20

plus years in digital marketing, and nearly a decade serving Thomas industrials

B2B clients. Welcome to the show.

Suzanne O'Connell: Lisa, Thank you so much

for having me. Glad to be here.

Lisa Ryan: So as we get started. That

is a lot of engineering and manufacturing in your background; tell us a little

bit about your journey that made you decide to do that.

Suzanne O'Connell: Well, I always loved math

and science, so pursuing mechanical engineering was a natural path for me.

Ironically, I started in computer science. And then I fell in love with HVAC

and refrigeration -  thermodynamics

classes, if you will. So I changed to mechanical engineering. I started in

product development, and I was writing selection software for a manufacturer of

cooling towers, evaporative fluid coolers -product lines like that. I realized

that I like people as well. And when you're coding software, you're not getting

a lot of interaction with people. So I naturally progressed into an inside

Technical Sales role and then into outside sales roles, and finally into the

consultation role that I have at Thomas.

Lisa Ryan: And I know that you do a

lot with digital marketing and there's so much going on with this whole

internet of things. Please share with us a little bit about what that is in how

it's impacting that industrial space.

Suzanne O'Connell: Well, there's a lack of

skilled employees, which is further driving the adoption of automation. And

there's an accelerated trend to embrace and deploy the Industrial Internet of

Things. So businesses are now driving scale through technology, and they're

able to collect more data than they ever have been able to previously.

Lisa Ryan: So when you're talking

about automation. How exactly does industrial automation change the way these

traditional job roles are viewed?

Suzanne O'Connell: Well, the drive for

automation and technology on the shop floor is transforming the way that we

look at the future infrastructure and work opportunities and manufacturing;

historically, we've been divided between blue-collar and white-collar jobs, we

see the emergence of new collar jobs that combine complex technology and data

with traditional manufacturing capabilities.

Lisa Ryan: Why know that one of the

things we've seen in the last several years is this large influx of millennials

into the industrial space. So how have you seen this demographic creating those

new opportunities and challenges?

Suzanne O'Connell: Well, it's an exciting

time where we're about 50/50 between our millennial managers and our baby

boomer generation. So that's changing dynamics in the office. And this new

generation has very different requirements for doing business. They've grown up

with the internet their entire life. They're used to getting things in an

instant, and they don't tolerate slow any longer. So it's creating some

interesting dynamic tension between employees and business and their customer

base as they rise in positions of authority. We are also seeing our baby

boomers adapt t