Each year in October, organizations take a step back to recognize Manufacturing Day, and highlight the vital work manufacturing employees do. Manufacturing Day is as much about recognizing employees as it is inspiring the next generation of specialized manufacturing professionals. Nobody knows that better than Joseph Schumacher, Jr., an Automation Specialist at Emergent.
Joseph, like many manufacturing employees, wears many hats in the work that he does and the role he plays within the organization.
“I am many titles and job descriptions wrapped up into one,” Joseph said. “I am a technician one day, an engineer the next. I am a subject matter expert for quality investigations one day, and an instrumentation expert one day and I am a root cause analysis expert the next.”
This idea of wearing many hats comes naturally to Joseph, who has been with the company for nearly 16 years.
“I am a father first, a grandfather of two beautiful grandchildren, an outdoorsman, and a proud United States Marine veteran.”
It’s the last version of the multifaceted Joseph—the marine—that initially introduced him to the wide world of manufacturing.
“The Marine corp. was not my calling; it was my savior. There was private school education, provided by my parents. Great Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery scores, and the next thing you know I’m nineteen years old working on multi-million-dollar helicopters. I had no clue of the value of the education I had received in high school, and barely a clue as to the depth of knowledge provided to me in the Marine corp.,” Joseph said.
When he left the military, he assumed he would continue a path in the aerospace industry, but a recession had other plans and he was picked up by a privately owned company that made specialized automated equipment for the silicon wafer manufacturing industry, when it was just in its infancy.
“Automation, electrical systems, pneumatics, programming, and motion: I was in love. I subsequently worked for a couple of industries from pharma, specifically on devices, aerospace manufacturing, an engineering firm as a project manager, and, for the past 16 years, at Emergent.”
The processes Joseph speaks of may sound complex, but if there were one thing he could impart to the next generation of manufacturing professionals, it would be to never be intimidated by the unknown and surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed.
“Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know or lack experience in. Focus on the knowledge and never the money. Find your passion and seek out mentors, because they are around you.”
While new technologies in the field of manufacturing are at work challenging manufacturing professionals’ skills, they are also, Joseph says, creating new ones and bringing people together. These challenges that unite teams toward solving a new challenge is one of the things that excites him most about the future of manufacturing.
“One of my favorite sayings in the world is, ‘There is no you or me; it is always we.’ It’s a mantra I say to myself when in the heat of battle in solving complex and seemingly insurmountable problems. Lo and behold, some team member will provide that critical missing piece to the puzzle. I personally like to tell the junior members of the group how much I appreciate them. On a tough day, the people I am blessed to work with raise me up.”
Joseph also acknowledged the importance of leveraging that teamwork to create a strong culture of quality.
“Working in two regulated industries, aerospace and pharma, culture of quality is weaved into the fabric of your daily lives and not just because of a training requirement. A high-quality culture is apparent to any outsider, whether it be a client or an auditing body. A culture of quality in any regulated industry is about human safety. Close your eyes and imagine your family and friends in your actions and a culture where quality doesn’t exist.”
With 16 years and counting, Joseph isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. He mentioned some of the things that have him excited about the future of manufacturing at Emergent.
“New products in our pipeline, new clients and new friends. I am most excited to work with the new young professionals finding their calling within the exciting world of pharma, in a world at an organization that’s foundation is based on protecting and enhancing life.
“I still have the same fire and passion for automation, instrumentation, and controls that I did as a young marine on the tarmac at 2 a.m. in southern California with the smell of jet fuel all around.”