Mo Abuali

Director, Digital Strategy, Wipfli LLP

Dr. Mo Abuali is a senior director at Wipfli with over 23 years of experience in providing consulting services to manufacturing companies. Mo is a transformative technology and business management leader in driving and sustaining change in Manufacturing. Mo serves industrial and manufacturing clients providing Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT (IIoT) and digital transformation technology solutions, services and training. Mo has worked with companies like IBM, P&G and Toyota.

Eric Kimberling

CEO and Founder, Third Stage Consulting Group

Eric Kimberling is a world-renowned, respected, independent ERP and HCM systems expert, giving unbiased advice to hundreds of organizations for more than 20 years. Eric also is the author of “The Final Countdown: Digital Strategies to Reach the Third Stage of Success,' and is an ERP expert witness in cases involving several brands of ERP systems.

Steve Levesque

Director of AIMS Lab, Ohio State University Center For Design and Mfg Excellence

Steve Levesque is the director of the AIMS Lab at CDME. Steve joined CDME in 2024 with over 25 years of experience in the research and development of advanced manufacturing technologies. Prior to joining CDME, Steve's work experience included a variety of engineering and management roles with Caterpillar at their Tech Center, Framatome Inc. Repair and Replacement Division, and most recently EWI. Steve has held a wide range of roles including welding engineering, robotic programming, special projects engineering, commercial and government research engineering, project and program management, operations management, and patent and IP portfolio management. Steve has served customers across a variety of industry sectors including automotive, aerospace, chemical, consumer products, defense, energy, heavy manufacturing, transportation and technical training. Steve has a B.S. and M.S. in Welding Engineering from Ohio State.

Josh McDonald

Senior Business Analyst, Plante Moran

Josh has over seven years of combined experience in industry and consulting. His knowledge is extensive in Plex, cloud integrations, operations, quality, material management, logistics, operations improvement, maintenance, tooling, and information technology. In addition, he has a deep knowledge of manufacturing execution systems (MES) with a focus on cloud integration solutions, hardware, and computer science. Josh has multiple years of experience with Plex ERP implementations and has implemented and supported numerous billion-dollar global manufacturing companies in the tier 1 automotive space. Josh has implemented Plex in many countries throughout North America and Europe, such as France, Germany, Slovakia, Czech, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. Josh specializes in complex assembly, injection molding, extrusion, steel stamping/forming, machining, and coating in various areas of manufacturing such as repetitive, build to order, and batch processing. He has performed multiple-batch and real-time integrations between MES and ERP systems, also providing IT analysis and support for MES production and plant quality systems. Josh is a graduate of Oakland University with a Bachelor of Science in management information systems.

Brett Polglaze

Principal, Wipfli LLP

Brett Polglaze brings more than 20 yr. of experience to Wipfli's organizational performance-management consulting team and has a passion for tackling complex organizational questions. From improving business process flows to assisting clients through complex system selections, his focus has been to architect solutions that solve critical business issues. He has led all aspects of technology selection, implementation, and operations improvement initiatives. Serving as project manager, business analyst, solution designer and trainer, he leverages his experience and passion for solution design to assist clients in creating the optimal solutions for their organizations.

Bryan Sapot

CEO, Mingo Smart Factory

Bryan Sapot is a lifelong entrepreneur, speaker, CEO of Mingo Smart Factory. With more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing technology, Bryan is known for his deep industry insights and plain language explanations of the complex ideas and issues manufacturer's face today. Bryan has been featured in INC magazine, the St. Louis Business Journal, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and has won numerous technology awards.

Matt Shamblin

Senior Manager, Plante Moran

Matt has over 24 years of experience in the manufacturing industry with a primary focus on information technology and business intelligence. He has a record of successful leadership in information technology, quality, operations, mechanical engineering, and commercial areas of manufacturing organizations in automotive, heavy diesel, marine, and material handling systems verticals, along with experience in the healthcare and government sectors. As a result, he has a sound cross-functional knowledge base and skill set that enable him to quickly and effectively evaluate organizational challenges and make recommendations of best practices to improve operational efficiency. He has 21 years of experience in ERP implementation covering multiple platforms, but primarily focuses on the Plex platform, with a successful track record in global and multi-facility organizations, as well as single facility implementations and projects. His primary areas of focus have been across Europe and North America, with Japanese owned, public and private equity, VC, and privately held clients. Matt has extensive experience in various manufacturing processes and types of equipment, as well as ERP integration, PLC programming, and SCADA/OPC development and mechanical design. Matt specializes in Plex's Production Control, Order Fulfillment, EDI, Materials Management, Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Production Requirements Planning (PRP), and Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) modules. Prior to Plante Moran, Matt served as the Quality Manager for an automotive and heavy diesel thermal controls manufacturer. Matt is a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Project Management Institute. Matt studied electrical engineering and computer science at North Carolina State University.