The Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc. (MTDG) founded in 2020, is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. MTDG is committed to transforming the advanced manufacturing industrial base throughout the world by driving innovation and accelerating growth. It is a not-for-profit holding company of both the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and Advanced Manufacturing International, Inc (AMI).
NCDMM delivers innovative and collaborative manufacturing solutions that enhance the USA workforce and economic competitiveness. NCDMM has an extensive knowledge and depth in defense manufacturing to continually innovate, improve, and advance manufacturing technologies and methodologies. Its experienced team specializes in identifying the needs, the players, the technologies, and processes to attain optimal solutions for its customers. NCDMM methodology is to connect the dots. NCDMM is a subsidiary of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc. (MTDG) and also manages America Makes and the V4 Institute.
Established in 2020, Advanced Manufacturing International, Inc. (AMI) seeks to advance innovative technologies and best practices into global manufacturing markets while expanding into the broader U.S. manufacturing sector beyond the defense industrial base currently served for nearly 20 years by its sister company, the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). The goal of AMI is to help small to medium-sized manufacturers, regardless of geographic location, innovate, thrive, and succeed. AMI is a subsidiary of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc. (MTDG) and is based in Clearwater, Florida.
A Dynamic Leader with Global Expertise
Dean L. Bartles, Ph. D. is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group (MTDG) and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) as well as Advanced Manufacturing International (AMI). Previously, Dean served as the President of the National Tooling and Machining Association. Prior to that, he was the Director of the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at the University of New Hampshire where he designed and built a state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing facility to train students and adult learners and to conduct research.
Dean also served as the founding Executive Director of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) in Chicago and the Chief Manufacturing Officer of UI LABS where he oversaw the design and build-out of a start-of-the-art digital manufacturing center and recruited over 300 members to join the DMDII consortium.
Dean worked for the General Dynamics Corporation for over 30 years setting up and running manufacturing operations in Egypt, Turkey, and the US and prior to that he worked for Fairchild Republic Company as an Industrial Engineer on the A-10 aircraft program. He recently served as the 2016-2017 President of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute, the 2016 President of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the founding Chairman of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Dean graduated from Indiana State University earning a Ph. D. in Technology Management with a concentration in Manufacturing Systems. His dissertation focused on adaptive control for CNC machining.
Dean currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills, as well as the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s Sector Leadership Team for the design, materials, and manufacturing sector and serves as Chair of the ASME Board of Standards and Testing Task Group on advanced manufacturing. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the MTConnect Institute, the Board of Governors of the Manufacturing Leadership Council within the National Association of Manufacturers and was recently appointed to the National Small Business Association’s Leadership Council. Dean is the current Secretary of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Manufacturing Division and is a Fellow of both the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Dean also serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the University of Tennessee College of Engineering as well as the Penn State University Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Valuing Leadership Diversity
As a Program Manager of a complex overseas facility installation and management project, Dean was responsible to overseeing a team of engineers across various disciplines. Dealing in a third world country and not speaking the local language made the complexity even greater. Treating team members with respect, valuing diversity of thought, and always willing to roll up the sleeves and pitch in taught him very valuable lessons as a leader.
Dean was very fortunate to be afforded opportunities for leadership very early in his career. At 27 years of age, he was promoted to Program Manager and assigned a team of much older engineers to manage on multiple complex factory installation programs setting up manufacturing operations in foreign countries. He learned quickly to listen before speaking, value the benefits of those more experienced, soak up as many of the “lessons learned” from those around him as possible, and always treat everyone with respect.
Speaking on the attributes of innovative leadership, Dean shares that every innovative leader should have more patience than those around them with the ability to draw out opinions of team members who are the quietest, ability to synthesize the myriad of inputs into clear direction, and always value diversity of thought and respect for individuals.
Contributions to Nation Building
The Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group (MTDG), through its subsidiaries Advanced Manufacturing International (AMI) and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), is committed to driving innovation throughout the manufacturing community and is committed to delivering collaborative manufacturing solutions that enhance the nation’s workforce and economic competitiveness. MTDG has helped customers save nearly US$1 billion in cost savings and avoidance.
MTDG specializes in advanced manufacturing technology solutions for the Department of Defense as well as commercial enterprises. Although these are the primary clients, MTDG approaches all customers with the same respect for their missions, offering technology solutions to enhance their mission success. Within both the commercial and defense sectors, MTDG’s strengths lie in its extensive in-house expertise and manufacturing skillsets. In design engineering, MTDG can develop conceptual and detailed designs that fully maximize manufacturing requirements.
As a leader in the manufacturing industry, MTDG has discovered that its working relationships have been built on trust, something the firm must maintain if they are to continue leading the way in manufacturing. Dean says, “We collaborate, not compete. We collaborate to broaden our ability to deliver and implement leading manufacturing innovations. Collectively, we share a common goal, to advance U.S. manufacturing and ensure our nation remains globally competitive.”
Towards Manufacturing of Tomorrow
Dean shares that “Industry 4.0” / “Smart Manufacturing” technologies are changing the landscape of manufacturing across the globe. Technologies such as “Additive Manufacturing”, “Augmented Reality”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Machine Learning”, “Industrial Internet of Things” are changing the way manufacturers produce products for their customers. To be an effective leader, it is paramount to stay abreast of these new technologies and be able to determine how to best deploy them in operations.
Embracing the Pace of Change
The reason behind enterprise structural change implies that MTDG better serves the manufacturing community at large. With the pace of technology change increasing at an exponential rate, the ability for manufacturers to stay abreast and know what things to adopt and what things not to adopt is critical! Under the new corporate structure, MTDG is well positioned to embrace the pace of change and be the honest broker in helping manufacturers of all sizes begin their journey towards “Industry 4.0”.
Guidance to Emerging Business Leaders
The Department of Defense is rolling out a new requirement for all manufacturers who handle any technical data associated with any component going on a DoD product of any type to be certified to a new standard called “Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification” (“CMMC”). There are five levels of CMMC certification and for manufacturers handling technical data and making parts on their machines using said technical data, they will have to quickly get to at least Level 3. It is only a matter of time before all OEM’s in the commercial world adopt similar requirements. Dean’s advice to budding or emerging business leaders in the cyber security landscape is to obtain a clear understanding of the CMMC requirements as well as a clear understanding of all Industry 4.0 technologies that should be implemented and how the two interact. He asserts MTDG is ready and willing to assist with all of this.
