News & Knowledge

We’re your source for automation news. Keep up with the latest industry updates and E Tech employee spotlights, as well as tips and guidance from our manufacturing experts.  

E Tech Group Names Trent Meyers, P.E. Vice President of Life Sciences Central and Process Industries

Trent Meyers, P.E. assumes the role of Vice President of Life Sciences Central and Process Industries at E Tech Group, bringing over 30 years of industry experience in management and operations. His appointment reflects E Tech’s commitment to support growth in demand for the company’s industrial engineering and automation services. West Chester, OH – April 2, 2024 – E Tech Group, a leader in providing high-quality automation, control, and engineering services for industrial clients and Gold Certified Rockwell Automation Partner, today announced hiring Trent Meyers, P.E. as the new Vice President of Life Sciences Central and Process Industries. “We are excited to welcome Trent Meyers to the E Tech leadership team. Trent has proven engineering and leadership skills with a long track record of fostering organizational growth while enhancing individual and team performance. His extensive expertise in engineering and manufacturing operations in the core industries we serve will be invaluable as we continue our growth trajectory,” said Matt Wise, CEO of E Tech Group. Meyers brings nearly 30 years of experience in engineering and manufacturing operations, including holding numerous leadership positions throughout his career. He will be responsible for leading E Tech’s Life Sciences Central and Process Industries groups encompassing consumer products, food & beverage, material handling, general industries, as well as life sciences operations. In this role, he will oversee the engineering, project management, and project delivery groups while supporting sales and marketing efforts. “Trent will be dedicated to further enhancing our client’s experience ensuring our high-quality work remains nothing short of exceptional,” said Fred Fontaine, President of E Tech Group. “His leadership will continue to drive the growth of our business by delighting current clients and attracting new ones to the E Tech family.” Prior to joining E Tech, Meyers served as Vice President of Project Delivery and … Continued

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E Tech Group Team Member Featured on Odd Lots Podcast

E Tech Group Business Development Manager, Ryan Harlan was recently featured on Bloomberg’s podcast- Odd Lots. In the episode, Ryan explains how manufacturing advancements allow companies to produce additional varieties of snacks more easily. Upgrades in manufacturing to digitization, increased uptime, and efficiencies, and the ease to run small batches have influenced and affected the production of the multitude of snack flavors and options in today’s grocery stores. Want some Doritos? For years, you might have only been able to get one or two snack chip flavors. But right now on Amazon, you can find numerous varieties, from barbecue to nacho cheese, spicy sweet chili, or Late Night Loaded Taco. And this is really just scratching the surface. There are now dozens of flavors of Blue Diamond almonds, including blueberry, smokehouse, toasted coconut, sriracha, habanero BBQ, and wasabi and soy. So how did this happen? It turns out that some of it is a tech story. Thanks to breakthroughs in automation at both the plant and warehouse level, companies are able to create and ship more varieties than ever before. On this episode, we speak with Ryan Harlan, the director of business development at the E Tech Group, about the rapid changes in the industry over the last decade and how that turned into so many more consumer offerings.

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E Tech Group Engineering Manager Presenting in Plant Engineering Webcast

E Tech Group Engineering Manager, Steve Scheffler co-presented a Plant Engineering Webcast called: Motors and Drives: Are you advancing automation efficiencies with smarter components and systems? The presentation discussed how a more efficient motor in automation applications can help advance efficiency goals. A smarter variable frequency drive (VFD) also can add efficiency to automated implementations. Motion-control designs can help reduce friction. Don’t overlook overall system-level design for motion-control efficiencies that can advance energy savings, sustainability efforts, maintenance and realize other benefits. The learning objectives for this webcast are: Automation and engineering professionals can earn 1 Certified Professional Development Hour (PDH) upon successful completion of an exam. E Tech Group is committed to advancing the manufacturing industry through innovation in the automation sector. Our engineers and IT professionals always strive to further their professional development as well as the development of colleagues and partners via industry forums like these. To learn more about E Tech Group news and knowledges, visit our blog or browse our case studies.

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Optimize Your Data Historian by Working With a Systems Integrator

The automation of process manufacturing has seen explosive growth over the last 10 years and is only projected to follow the same trajectory for the foreseeable future. Manufacturing automation solutions are the driving force behind this sector’s growth, allowing companies to meet higher benchmarks including quality, consistency and throughput. More Automated Manufacturing, More Operational Data It stands to reason that the increased manufacturing volume will also increase associated byproducts, one of the most critical being operational data. Every piece of equipment within an automation system produces a continuous stream of data containing invaluable logistical information. The required collection, analysis and archival of this data is imperative to staying operational for the long-term. However, while the scope of data has proliferated, the roles requires to achieve these things manually are going unfilled. While the manufacturing sector has seen a small rebound since the pandemic, finding and retaining talent is still reported a main concern for companies. This leaves the industry in a severe deficit, requiring facilities to become more dependent than ever on technology to bridge the gap. Data Historians: Beyond Just Export and Archival Data historians have been in use for several decades, but their progression has played a part in the advancement of automation and systems capabilities. Where they originally had a limited scope of application, historians are now used across a number of industries, and now satisfy more than just data export and archival.  While still executing their originally designed function, historians have evolved to provide three key utilities: While today’s data historians are a tool for control system customization, the historian itself must be attuned first. Most historian solutions are not optimized right off the shelf for any one specific application, requiring customization to properly integrate and function with existing assets. It’s important to consult a qualified automation system integrator … Continued

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