Welcome Reception
The FORUM will begin with a Welcome Reception giving attendees the opportunity to meet and socialize with fellow FORUM participants during this casual event.
Tour of Lippert
We will tour Plant 72, a 240,000 square foot facility that houses multiple finishing operations including one of the largest non-captive zinc phosphate and electrocoat systems in North America. Its 35,000-gallon processing tanks can accommodate parts approximately 4’ wide, 8.5’ deep, 50’ long, and up to 7,000 pounds of weight. We will also see the powder coat line and wet coat line with CARC (chemical agent resistant coating) capabilities that is used exclusively by the US military and other government contracts. In addition, Plant 72 offers both cathodic acrylic and epoxy coatings that meet 45 different OEM and military paint specifications. The facility also has a pickle/ de-rust process, that removes rust and scale from material prior to coating.
World Class Operations Driven by a Culture of Change
Lippert stands by their mantra of Everyone Matters. They believe business can and should be a force for good in the world. Learn how their focus on leadership and culture development has made a drastic impact on attrition over the last five years and the positive impact this has had on quality, safety, efficiency, and innovation in their business. This journey has also led them to understand that better leadership and work culture has a powerful influence on people’s mental and physical health. As a result, Lippert makes it their business to send people home happier and healthier so they can live more fulfilled lives that positively contribute to their families and local communities.
Managing Conflict: Turn Fight, Flight or Freeze into Calm, Confident and Productive
Have you ever walked away from a difficult conversation feeling completely deflated? Imagine being able to step into the ring and rumble through a difficult conversation feeling calm, confident, and productive.
Unmanaged stress resulting from conflict leads to three biological responses: fight, flight, or freeze. In this session, you will identify your natural biological response and how to use this information to your advantage. Tactics to manage the stress of conflict will be explored including how to prepare for conflict physically, mentally, and emotionally. Learn about the physiological reactions to emotional stress, tips to minimize these reactions, and build an arsenal of tools to implement "real time." The benefits of leaning into productive difficult conversations and the importance of healthy “storming” among a group to grow as a team will also be covered. Lastly, we will discuss the empathy required to deal with difficult people and steps to take when conversations might not go as planned.
Journey to Leadership Panel
In this moderated panel discussion, women in a variety of leadership roles within the finishing industry share their career journeys. Learn about the challenges they faced, how they overcame them, as well as tips you may be able to apply to your own career pursuits. Our panelists have diverse backgrounds to provide perspective from both technical and non-technical viewpoints. This session will be interactive, allowing ample time for questions and answers.
Creating the Structure for Accountability
Accountability in the workplace is linked to an increase in employee morale and commitment to work. Ownership and initiative are core to accountability and found in many of our employees; however, accountability is lacking in many workplaces. While it seems creating an environment driven around accountability would be simple, why is it lacking in many organizations? Together we will discuss how to make accountability a core part of your culture and a core value of your team. In this session we will cover:
- What is accountability?
- The main reasons leaders and managers don’t hold others accountable.
- The important factors that contribute to creating a structure and environment encouraging accountability.
- Leadership behaviors necessary to increase accountability.
- Action plan for results.
Team Building Exercise
Get to know and connect with your fellow FORUM participants in a different light during our team building exercise on the University of Notre Dame campus. In addition to being fun, team building exercises develop leadership, problem solving and communication skills. Collaborate with your team members and develop a plan to reach the defined goal. Awards will be given as well as coveted bragging rights for the winning team.
Networking Dinner
Thursday evening will feature a Networking Dinner giving attendees the opportunity to continue conversations about the day’s session in a relaxed environment.
Wellness Walk (optional)
Get the blood flowing for Day 2 of the WiF FORUM with a walk through the beautiful Notre Dame campus to the infamous “House that Rockne Built,” Notre Dame Stadium. Opened in 1930, the stadium was designed by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, selected for their experience designing Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. Total walk distance is approximately 1.5 miles roundtrip and will take place rain or shine.
Embracing Market and Technology Trends in Industrial Finishing
Our finishing industry continues to grow exponentially. This is due to the continued drive to protect and beautify surfaces while offering flexibility in design and materials of construction in the end application. We serve a multitude of markets, including automotive, furniture, construction equipment, building products, industrial equipment and power supply, oil and gas and energy solutions, electronics, and many more! In all markets, customers are demanding better surface protection, more customizable color solutions, improved durability, and increased appearance. In addition, demands for sustainable finishing practices in the coating and application, and the demand to do that on new and evolving substrates is both an opportunity and a challenge!
By understanding and embracing these trends as opportunities, we can advance our industry in terms of performance, quality, costs, safety, and environmental impact and drive the finishing industry to even greater growth. Markets continue to expand and evolve, and the demands of the finishing industry must evolve with them. Those of us that understand, embrace, and advance with it will be the leaders of the future.
Sales Strategies for Women in Finishing
Whether we are designated as sales in our working profession or not, the reality is we are all selling most of our waking hours. Whether it be selling products for our employers, services to potential customers, our skillset and experience for a promotion, dinner to the picky eaters in our homes, or vacation ideas to our traveling partners – we are constantly selling to a diverse group of “customers.”
Throughout her extensive sales career, Leslee has discovered being successful in sales is much more about relationships and listening than it is the hard sell of price, price, price. People want to be heard, valued, respected, and remembered. She’s faced a variety of challenges including being taken seriously in the workplace, learning how to react (or not react) to stressful or uncomfortable situations, and keeping emotions in check. In this session, she will share anecdotes, valuable tips, and strategies to help your customers REMEMBER you!
Roundtables
Events like the WiF FORUM bring together a diverse group of people within our industry, each of whom has their own area of expertise, perspective, challenges – and above all - valuable information and insights to share with fellow attendees. Discussions in this roundtable session will focus on a variety of topics of specific interest to our group and will be facilitated by a subject matter expert.
Closing Lunch Keynote: A Feminine Touch in a Masculine World: Why Manufacturing Needs the Healthiest Version of You
The world of manufacturing, historically dominated by men, is poised to be graced by a feminine touch. In a society where labels like “masculine” and “feminine” are seemingly polar opposites, our world is positioned to be awakened by the nuances of gender differences and how they can be optimized to drive organizational performance. But that requires both men and women to understand the strengths of one another, and individually commit to becoming the very healthiest versions of themselves so they can positively impact their team and the company.
