Landing AI Welcomes Machine Vision Expert to Help Drive Next Era of AI

Landing AI announced that machine vision guru David L. Dechow is joining the expanding Landing AI team as VP of Outreach and Vision Technology.

Dechow is widely recognized within the machine vision industry as a thought leader and expert in the application and integration of machine vision and related advanced automation technologies.  His more than 35 years of experience in this field will further enhance Landing AI’s mission of bringing the benefits of deep learning-based inspection to all industries including electronics, automotive, and medical devices.  

“We’re thrilled to have David join Landing AI and bring his hands-on expertise to helping manufacturers use cutting-edge deep learning,” said Andrew Ng, founder & CEO of Landing AI. “The next era of AI is one in which companies in all industries access the benefits of AI. David’s deep knowledge of machine vision and automation will help us get there.”

Machine vision is projected to become a $13 billion global industry that’s used in everything from the inspection of food products to quality verification in the assembly of batteries for electric vehicles. The evolution of AI and deep learning is changing the software part of machine vision and, when applied correctly, can make machine vision tools more efficient and productive.

Consumer tech companies like Google and Facebook pioneered the first era of AI with huge consumer datasets feeding AI engines. With Landing AI’s data-centric approach, the application of deep learning no longer depends on big data but on the data that entities actually have, in many cases even when the amount of available data is limited.

“Adoption of deep learning for machine vision applications has been somewhat slow because of practical problems including the challenges of on-line imaging and most importantly the potentially small datasets that deep learning technology could not handle,” said Dechow. “But Landing AI’s technology makes cutting-edge deep learning work for automated inspection, and I look forward to helping bring these benefits to all manufacturers.”

Landing AI developed LandingLens™, a fast, easy to use enterprise MLOps platform. It helps manufacturers apply AI and deep learning to solve visual inspection problems, find product defects more reliably, and generate business value. When best practices are followed, machine vision and deep learning-based imaging systems are capable of effective visual inspection and will improve efficiency, increase throughput and drive revenue.

“The combination of AI and machine vision will hasten the growth of the Industrial IOT,” said Scott MacDonald, co-founder and managing partner of McRock Capital, Landing AI’s lead investor. “There’s no limit to what innovative companies can do when great visions, minds, and technologies come together as they are at Landing AI.”

Dechow comes to Landing AI from Integro Technologies, where he was principal vision systems architect. In addition to his hands-on work with vision technologies, he is well-known for his many educational webcasts, articles, and conference sessions covering topics in machine vision and industrial systems integration.  Dechow is a member of the A3 Vision & Imaging Technical Advisory Board, and the A3 Vision & Imaging Education Committee. The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) is the world's largest global automation trade group.

For more information, visit https://landing.ai/.

NAM Announces Promotions

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons announced an evolution of the NAM management team that will expand capabilities, leadership opportunities and innovations and strengthen manufacturing in the United States for 2030 and beyond. Amid an unprecedented pandemic, historic workforce shortages, supply chain and opportunity gap challenges, new and emerging threats to U.S. manufacturing and the country, the digital transformation and once-in-a-generation policy and legal achievements, manufacturers in the U.S. and the NAM continue to play an outsized role in creating the future for people, communities and the country.

These leadership promotions will bolster the NAM’s impact as the industry’s unified voice. They will promote, perpetuate and preserve the values that guide manufacturers’ unrivaled contributions to society and make America exceptional: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.

“More than six years ago, the NAM Board of Directors put its support behind a vision to strengthen our association and make the NAM a ‘one-stop shop’ for manufacturers by expanding and diversifying the NAM’s portfolio of offerings in advocacy, operational excellence, legal action, workforce development and news and insights,” said Timmons. “The NAM’s record-breaking results in 2020 and 2021—in the face of crises many of us have never seen in our lifetimes—were a direct result of turning that vision into reality with an entire team resolutely focused on supporting manufacturers and America’s business sector every day. So, now we are putting more responsibility in the hands of this immensely talented team that has proven in the best and worst circumstances to be the strongest, most effective voice and resource for manufacturers in the United States. We are ready to create the future for our industry and our country, with a focus on 2030 and beyond.”

The NAM ends 2021 with a net membership retention rate on track to be in the top historical tier in the 126-year history of the association. Initiatives realized during the pandemic spurred tremendous growth for the association in 2020 and 2021. Those initiatives included efforts to mobilize and support manufacturers’ pandemic response and personal protective equipment production; advance vaccinations; provide greater operational insights to the industry; run momentous campaigns for policy and legal wins, notably infrastructure investment and pandemic relief; and deliver comprehensive solutions to the industry’s most pressing issues, including workforce development.

“Our capability to drive solutions for manufacturers is central to everything we do, and we are aligning this team to provide even more solutions moving forward,” said Timmons.

The following leadership promotions become effective January 1:

• Erin Streeter will be named executive vice president of the NAM. Currently serving as senior vice president of communications and brand strategy, Erin will work alongside the president and CEO to set the strategic direction of the association and align and integrate teams, strengthen internal and external communications and grow audiences toward that direction. She will continue to oversee all brand, communications and marketing activities but will also add public affairs and mobilization as well as advocacy campaigns to her portfolio. The integration of these critical portfolios will ensure the NAM is positioned to advance the needs and priorities of manufacturers by providing first-in-class advocacy.
• Carolyn Lee has been named president of The Manufacturing Institute by its board of directors. The workforce crisis of more than one million open jobs today isn’t just an existential threat to manufacturing in America; it also threatens the security of our country. To meet this moment, the MI continues to break new ground in supporting manufacturers’ efforts to recruit and retain a skilled, diverse workforce. Lee’s focus for 2022 will be on developing a strategic growth plan and expanding partnerships and thought leadership to carry the MI and the industry into the future.
• Lee has asked Keith Smith to serve as chief administrative officer of the MI. In this new role, Smith will work with Lee and the MI team to develop and implement a new organizational growth plan and help achieve the strategic vision of the organization. As a member of the NAM senior staff, Keith will also continue his leadership of the Association Partnerships Division as a NAM senior vice president, overseeing the NAM’s membership programs with association partners at the national, state and local levels.
• In addition to her current responsibilities as NAM chief of staff, Alyssa Shooshan will assume leadership of NAM Board strategy. Alyssa will advance board engagement, initiatives, mobilization, partnerships and programming.

Six current NAM vice presidents will be promoted to the newly created role of managing vice president. This group will be charged with leading the NAM’s leadership team in creating new opportunities in advocacy, membership value/thought leadership and culture/operations. In addition to serving as counselors to the NAM president and CEO, they will work with senior staff on all issues impacting the association.

• Adria Brockman, Managing Vice President of Membership
• Jamie Hennigan, Managing Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs
• Chrys Kefalas, Managing Vice President of Brand Strategy
• Daryl Muller, Managing Vice President of Membership
• Chris Netram, Managing Vice President of Tax and Domestic Economic Policy
• Shonzia Thompson, Managing Vice President of Association Partnerships

Based on considerable input from across the association, the following team members will be promoted to vice president and named to the NAM leadership team, which meets quarterly to help enhance and strengthen the organization’s service to manufacturers and the country. The leadership team will be charged to work with the managing vice presidents in a select area of the team’s portfolio.

• Rob Damschen, Vice President of Strategic Communications
• Mark Isaacson, Vice President of Executive Communications and Chief Speechwriter
• Brian James, Vice President of Conference and Office Operations
• Mike O’Brien, Vice President of Public Affairs and Advocacy
• Chris Schmitt, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships
• Patrick Smith, Vice President of Member and Board Relations
• Megan Stewart, Vice President of National Department

In recognition of the expansive growth of the MI, the following MI vice presidents will be named to the NAM’s leadership team:

• Gardner Carrick, MI Vice President of Workforce Solutions
• Herb Grant, MI Vice President of Operations
• AJ Jorgenson, MI Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Inclusion
• David McKnight, MI Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

A new group of leadership influencers, recognized by their peers as agents of organization-wide progress, was also appointed for one-year terms to work directly with the NAM Leadership Team to provide insight and counsel on key issues that affect the strategic direction of the NAM.

• Cameron Alvarez, Art Director
• Kristie Arslan, Senior Director, Member and Board Relations
• Penny Brown, Content Director, Manufacturing Leadership Council
• Julie Chase, Senior Compliance Counsel
• Charles Crain, Senior Director, Tax and Domestic Economic Policy
• Kirk Fordham, Senior Director, Member and Board Relations
• Jeni Littlepage, Senior Manager, Benefits Administration
• Ryan Ong, Director, International Business Policy
• Cassi Zumbiel, Director, Workforce Programs and Policy, MI

For more information, visit www.nam.org.