Led by Tim Church, this course features expert instructors with unsurpassed industry expertise.
Tim Church is a Senior Technical Services Representative for HarperLove. Tim began his career in 1980 at the Georgia-Pacific box plant in Owosso, Michigan. He has experience on flexos, diecutters, curtain coaters, tapers, stitchers and other miscellaneous finishing equipment. Tim worked his way up through every position on the corrugator and learned to schedule by hand. His natural leadership and interpersonal skills led to his joining the management team, and he has held supervisory roles in corrugating, converting, scheduling, and shipping. Tim served as Corrugator/Cascader Superintendent, led the Food Safety program, and championed the Mobile Equipment & Pedestrian Safety program as well as many other safety initiatives. He has been with HarperLove since 2014 and embodies HarperLove's ethic of “To Serve is To Solve.” Tim has authored a segment in the Troubleshooting Board Defects series in Corrugated Today magazine, is active with TAPPI, and is currently the course chair for the Introduction to Corrugated, Corrugator Best Practices, and Advanced Bonding courses.
Dan Dyson - Daniel Dyson is the Vice President of Production for Avista Solutions International, Inc., a software company serving the Corrugated Packaging Industry and is also serving on the Board of Directors for Avista. He has an extensive background in business, business development, and is particularly strong in Production Planning and Management. He has authored white papers on the subject of scheduling, production and planning, and roll stock analysis. He worked for MacMillan Bathhurst in the Guelph, Ontario, Canada facility for 21 years. He has been instrumental in developing the Solutions Trim Scheduling system now used in over 70 facilities in 7 countries over the entire Western Hemisphere. This is in addition to contributing to the design of the Planning Board for production planning in a full box plant or converting operation. Dan brings his 38 years of practical hands-on experience in Production Planning and Management in the Corrugated Packaging Industry to the forefront when he leads in training sessions or delivers technical presentations on the subject.
Robin A. Sommers - Sommers is a senior project and process manager for Kadant Johnson Systems Division focused on process steam systems for the corrugator industry. He joined Kadant Johnson in the summer of 2014 after working at Donahue & Associates, supplier of Donahue Steam Systems, for 15 years. He previously was in R&D and product design engineering. Robin earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.
Steve Woodard - is the Vice-President of Sales and Corporate Services for ARC International. He is a 34-year veteran of the anilox roller and related industries. A 1976 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, he is in his 31st year of service with ARC International and is responsible for the development and management of national account programs with corrugated, wide web, and narrow web corporations. Throughout his career, Woodard has been active with TAPPI and FTA with committee involvement and technical presentations. In 2012 he received his certification as a Six Sigma Green Belt from UNC-Charlotte.
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Steve Nerney - is a Mechanical Engineer with a Masters in Business Administration and 33 years of industry experience. He is currently Installation and Training Leader for BWPapersystems. Prior roles include plant engineer, plant superintendent, and production manager for Inland Container and Gaylord Container Plants. Mr. Nerney will be presenting strategies, tips, and tactics for splicing best practices.
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John Sofinowski is Senior Product Manager for BW Paper Systems. He is a Mechanical Engineer with 43 years of experience in the Corrugated Industry. He started as a project engineer with Ward Machinery and later joined United Container Machinery as Vice President of Engineering, and later as Vice President and Product Manager for Corrugated Rolls. He then joined BW Paper Systems in 2002 where he is currently the senior product manager.
Bob Bashford has been with Albany International for 32 years. He started out in the manufacturing of dryer fabrics and corrugator belts. Bob's work in supervisory roles led to his work as designer and applications engineer for corrugator belts. His current role is global product manager for corrugator belts. His work history has given him the knowledge to grow and bring new technology to the ever changing corrugator industry.
Sam Chapman is currently a Senior Technical Services Representative for HarperLove. Sam began his career in 1984, at the Georgia-Pacific Packaging Plant in West Monroe, LA. While there, he gained experience and knowledge of the corrugator, while holding positions at both, the wet end and the dry end. Sam joined the management team as Corrugator Supervisor, then moved to Maintenance Coordinator, and also served as Reliability Manager for 8 years. Sam joined the HarperLove Team in 2015, bringing with him over 30 years of experience and dedication. Sam currently performs Waste and Dwell Audits, in addition to his regularly scheduled duties. His efforts in gathering and tracking data have allowed him to successfully assist his clients in reducing overall plant waste. Sam is also very customer driven, and enjoys meeting and serving the needs and expectations of his customers.