LIMA — Leaders in the telecommunications, manufacturing and health care industries participated in a panel discussion Friday that examined “innovation in the future workplace.”
Scott Unverferth, of HCF Management, Stephen Hatkevich, of American Trim, and Randy Bosler, of TSC Communications, discussed changes impacting their respective industries, the shift in workplace culture and the most exciting innovations they see on the horizon.
Hatkevich said the biggest change he’s seen in the manufacturing industry is the speed in which new products are introduced. He said companies like American Trim cycle through new products every one or two years, whereas in the past, it could be up to 10 years.
“The ability to introduce new products is really changing the way we have to think about things, and how we have to advance and implement more technologies,” Hatkevich said.
For Unverferth, the fact that health care services can be provided from a remote location has been a huge change in the industry.
“Not only do we have to take care of people while they’re in the hospital or a nursing home, but now while they’re at home,” Unverferth said. “One of the things we have to do now is figure out how we take care of people at home so they stay out of the hospital or nursing home.
“That’s the real key for our industry.”
In discussing workplace culture, Unverferth said the main challenge is figuring out a way to meet the needs of employees while maintaining a 24-hour business.
“We’re still trying to figure that out, and it’s going to take some time,” he said. “We need to get a lot more creative and think differently in how we staff our operations.”
Hatkevich said a shift in the expectations among workers has been “an enormous heartache for us right now.” He said many workers today expect to spend one or two days a week working from home, which is difficult to accommodate in the manufacturing industry.
“We’re trying to come up with ways to incorporate the expectation of workers, but it’s a real challenge for us today,” he said. “The expectations of the workers are just dramatically different than what they’ve been in the past.”
Looking at future innovations, Bosler said he believes the entire landscape of cable television is changing. With streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu emerging as the new way to watch television, Bosler said cable TV packages will soon cease to exist.
“In four, five, six years, cable television as we know it today will really be changed,” Bosler said. “Everything will be streamed, and you will have the opportunity to choose what programs you want to watch and how much you want to pay for it.”
That might seem detrimental to cable television providers like TSC, but Bosler said the industry will be able to capitalize on increased bandwidth, which is a range of frequencies used to transmit signals.
“One thing that will help our company in the telecommunications world is that those types of steaming services are going to have to have a very high quality, high bandwidth internet connection at your home or business,” he said. “TSC can provide that.”
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