Seminar and undergraduate workshop for advanced manufacturing

Career opportunities, employer types, and stories from Advanced Manufacturing

Interested in a future job in manufacturing and technology but not sure where to start your search or what might be a fit for you. We will talk about the different kinds of employers that are in the manufacturing industry, the types of roles within each and the kinds of projects and activities you could get engaged in. I will also share some interesting stories from my 15+ years in manufacturing technology like the equipment that I designed that has over 4 million views on youtube, building a laser tag robot, and a few more. We will also take time to answer questions about advanced manufacturing and its industry verticals like Food & Beverage, Life Sciences, Packaged goods, and warehouse automation.

Friday, September 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
440 Goodwin Hall

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Emerging Technologies in Factory Automation: Trends and Advanced Technologies Disrupting the Status Quo in a Traditionally Conservative Market 

Industrial automation is generally a conservative market with requirements for extended equipment life times of 20+ years and rock-solid reliability, >85% equipment availability,  favored over new and emerging technologies that are not yet been proven on the factory floor. However, novel consumer trends like viral purchasing, personalization, and shorter consumer goods lifecycles have forced the manufacturing industry, which has experienced very little disruption especially when compared to consumer electronics and digital products, to embrace changes in how machines are built, how manufacturing lines are integrated, and how products are produced. ​

Within the context of industrial automation and manufacturing we will: ​

  • Look at a variety macro & micro trends to understand their impacts on how industrial equipment performs operations on products and integrated manufacturing lines complete finished goods across industries like life sciences, food & beverage and consumer packaged goods. ​
  • Dive into the landscape of emerging automation technologies (hardware and software) being adopted and how they address the requirements of machine builders, systems integrators, and end users using real installed equipment examples.​
  • Highlight where these technology offerings currently fall short and their gaps to offer areas of development and research to better serve the industry at large. ​

Friday, September 18, 2026
2:30 PM, Goodwin Hall 190​

Derrick Stacey is a proud alumnus of Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering Department, Class of 2010, and was among the early cohorts to earn a certificate in Nuclear Engineering. Over the past 16 years, he has built his career in manufacturing, initially as a mechanical designer then moved into automation & robotics. At ABB he held several roles including, most notably, solutions architect for collaborative & integrated robotics and product manager of long-stator linear motors and levitating planar motors. In those positions, he led the launch, development, and adoption of advanced automation at major manufacturers worldwide as the leading technology supplier. More recently, he has led product development of a fully autonomous package & parcel unloading robot for a warehouse automation start-up. Today, he is a Senior Product Line Manager at Kollmorgen focusing on Servo Motion and Drive technologies.