Top Minds in Manufacturing Technology from OEM World, Government, NASA to keynote Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Conference in Anaheim in April.

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Five of the best minds in aerospace, defense and space manufacturing technology, each responsible for driving productivity in the enterprise, will keynote AeroDef Manufacturing 2011, a technical conference and exposition, April 5-7, at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California, according to show organizers.

Keynote speakers include:

• Mike Vander Wel, director of the manufacturing domain in the Enterprise Technology Strategy Office, The Boeing Company
• Tom Burbage, executive vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
• Steve Linder, director of manufacturing technology, within Department of Defense Research and Engineering’s Office of Technology Transition
• James K. Sutter, PhD, senior scientist, Polymer Branch of Materials and Structure Division at NASA Glenn Research Center
• Douglas Comstock, director for partnership, innovation and commercial space, Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA Headquarters

Produced by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and backed by leaders from the leading OEMs, AeroDef will showcase the latest advanced manufacturing processes. Attendees will see the entire manufacturing thread, from enabling technologies to the most advanced, integrated systems. Sessions will allow manufacturing professionals to learn how OEMs and suppliers are working together to advance productivity while reducing costs. AeroDef, for the first time, will bring together the entire aerospace and defense manufacturing world in one location.

Mike Vander Wel is responsible for the leadership and strategy of Boeing’s technology portfolio in the Manufacturing Domain across the Boeing enterprise. He has more than 19 years of engineering, operations, and technology experience with The Boeing Company.

Tom Burbage manages the Joint Strike Fighter Program Integration for Lockheed Martin and is responsible for the F-35 U.S., international customers and industrial partners around the world. He has received numerous industry awards, including the inaugural U.S. Naval Academy/Harvard Business Review 2007 Award for Ethical Leadership named after Admiral James B. Stockdale and the 2006 Society of Automotive Engineers Leadership in Aerospace.

Steve Linder oversees the congressionally mandated DoD program and manages the Defense-Wide Manufacturing Technology (DMS&T) Program Element. Former Director of the Navy’s Manufacturing Technology Program, he has more than 37 years service to the DoD.

James Sutter works in the NASA Engineering Safety Center (NESC). Previously, he led a team of more than 75 engineers, scientists from NASA, Air Force Research Labs, industry and universities to successfully produce and hot-fire test the first composite support structure for a hypersonic air breathing engine capable of traveling at speeds of Mach 8. Sutter also co-chairs a DoD/NASA workshop on high temperature polymers and their composites.

Douglas Comstock manages the IPP portfolio of technology investments and partnering mechanisms, he is responsible for intellectual property management and technology transfer that will provide broad societal benefits from the nation's investment in NASA's space and aeronautics missions. Under his leadership, NASA was the first agency to achieve GREEN status as part of the President's Management Agenda for Budget and Performance Integration.

Keynote Speakers Biographies

www.sme.org

Society of Manufacturing Engineers