Birchmeier Brings Injection Molding Whiteboard Session to NPE

I guess you could call it a gimmick, but Brandon Birchmeier is sticking with his beloved whiteboard. The 20-year veteran of the injection molding industry, and now head of a consultancy serving plastics processors, started a YouTube channel a few months ago. In the Injection Molding — The Whiteboard Sessions videos, Birchmeier addresses the latest technologies and trends from a processor’s perspective, illustrating his concepts on a whiteboard, of course. He will be taking the show on the road next month, when he hosts a live version of The Whiteboard Sessions at NPE2024.

There are currently only three videos up on Birchmeier’s YouTube channel. He would like to produce one or two each month — “as often as I have gaps in my work schedule,” he told me — but his consulting business, Birchmeier Plastic Solutions, apparently is not leaving him with much free time. A good problem to have, no doubt. In the future, he plans to film “press-side videos,” he told PlasticsToday. “I want to begin demonstrating methods and techniques on an actual injection molding machine, making parts,” Birchmeier said. In the meantime you can catch his act at NPE2024 in Orlando, FL, on May 6 to 10.

The live Whiteboard Session is scheduled for Monday through Thursday at the NPE2024 Bottle Stage at 4 p.m. Birchmeier will be joined by guests covering topics such as mold simulation, conformal cooling, design of experiment, and constant pressure molding for sequential valve gating.

On top of that, Birchmeier will be moderating the Additive Manufacturing and Mold Building educational session on May 8 at 1 p.m. He will be joined by panelists from Westminster Tool, Mantle, Accede Mold & Tool, and the HTS Group.

As for his trusty sidekick, Birchmeier touts the authenticity and simplicity the whiteboard brings to his presentations.

"In our new world of AI and digital content, it's hard to know what can be trusted and where content necessarily comes from,” he told PlasticsToday. “Written words and now photographs can be auto-generated in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. When it's just me standing in front of a whiteboard, it's completely authentic.”

The old-school approach also is a nod to “professors who could demonstrate their knowledge in lectures on a simple chalkboard or whiteboard. I think PowerPoint has diminished that technical mastery to a certain degree,” said Birchmeier.

In essence, his YouTube channel targets process engineers and process technicians who are looking for different perspectives when it comes to injection molding process development. “I’m hoping to influence their thinking and approach when caught in a troubleshooting tailspin, so I want the content to be easy to digest. Many times these folks are the last line of defense when dealt a less than ideal deck of cards — part design, mold design, equipment capability — and I'm just trying to add to their tool belt to help in those scenarios,” said Birchmeier.

Before striking out as a consultant, Birchmeier was technical director at iMFLUX for 10 years, where he applied new control and adaptation concepts to the injection molding process. During that time he was responsible for 23 patents related to his work. He also spent some time at Rain Bird and Johnson Controls as a process engineer and holds a BS in plastics engineering technology from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI.