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Daniel Gledhill is a seasoned manufacturing and engineering leader whose career bridges high-risk industrial operations and precision-driven medical device manufacturing. Daniel leads engineering teams responsible for multiple production areas supporting transcatheter heart valve delivery systems—products where quality, reliability, and patient safety are absolutely critical.

Daniel’s journey to medical devices began in heavy industry, where he worked as a process, chemical, and metallurgical engineer at Rio Tinto, including leadership roles at copper smelters overseeing sulfuric acid plants, powerhouses, and byproduct operations. These early roles shaped his systems-level thinking, comfort with complex processes, and respect for disciplined operations—skills that would later translate powerfully into regulated medical manufacturing environments.

Over nearly ten years at Edwards Lifesciences, Daniel has progressed from manufacturing management into senior engineering leadership, guiding teams through scale-up, process improvement, cross-functional collaboration, and organizational change. His work sits at the intersection of engineering, manufacturing, quality, and leadership—where decisions directly impact both operational performance and patient outcomes.

Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah, along with an MBA from the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. This combination of technical and business education informs his balanced approach to leadership—one that values data, people, and long-term system health over short-term wins.

In this conversation, we explore what it really means to lead engineering teams in medical device manufacturing, how leadership expectations evolve as engineers move into management, and what lessons from heavy industry can sharpen execution in highly regulated, patient-critical environments.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-gledhill-a6155237/

Guest website: https://www.edwards.com/

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

After more than 300 episodes of conversations with engineers, founders, and technical leaders, certain patterns start to emerge.

In this special retrospective episode of Being An Engineer, Aaron Moncur and Brad Hirayama flip the mic around to distill the biggest lessons learned from six years of interviews. Instead of focusing on any single quote or guest, they zoom out and identify the recurring themes that consistently show up in the careers of high-performing engineers.

Surprisingly, none of the top takeaways are about mastering CAD tools or memorizing GD&T standards.

They explore why understanding the business—not just the engineering—can dramatically accelerate your career. They unpack why soft skills and communication are non-negotiable if you want to move beyond being “just” a technical contributor. They discuss the transformational impact of mentors and coaches, and how simple habits like lunch conversations and honest feedback can change your trajectory.

Aaron and Brad also dive into what it really means to “do more than you’re paid for”—not by working longer hours, but by focusing on high-impact contributions that move the business forward. And they explain why establishing repeatable processes, checklists, and systems is one of the most overlooked drivers of engineering success.

Finally, they introduce a new three-part mini-series on accelerating the speed of engineering, previewing practical tactics like hacking prototypes from off-the-shelf products and building psychological safety so teams surface problems early.

If you want to grow faster, lead better, and think beyond the technical, this episode delivers a clear blueprint drawn from hundreds of real-world engineering stories.

LINKS:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pipelinedesign/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradhirayama/

https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/

https://teampipeline.us/

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

In this episode, we join Matt Ketterer, a seasoned engineer, at Pipeline Media Studio's inaugural session. Matt shares his career journey, from his initial foray into mechanical engineering to his pivotal shift towards controls and software engineering. He discusses his early days at a medical device company, his methodical approach to learning and applying new skills, and the importance of reading technical manuals, which aided his transition into controls engineering.

Matt also offers insights into balancing mechanics and software, fostering curiosity, and the holistic thinking required for successful engineering projects. Ideal for engineers considering a shift in disciplines or those interested in comprehensive system design, Matt's story is both inspirational and instructive.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewketterer/

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

Mike Romance has spent nearly two decades operating at the intersection of manufacturing engineering, automation, validation, and operations leadership within the life-sciences ecosystem. His career spans startups and established organizations alike, with hands-on experience taking products from early development through GMP-ready, high-volume production. Across roles in process development, automation, quality systems, and manufacturing strategy, Mike has built a reputation for combining technical rigor with pragmatic execution.

Most recently at Quantum-Si, Mike played a central role in scaling operations to support the commercialization of the Platinum protein sequencing platform while laying the groundwork for next-generation technologies like the Proteus platform. Working within a lean and highly agile leadership team, he helped establish scalable manufacturing foundations spanning CM-managed instrument supply, internal reagent kit production, and advanced silicon-based consumables—while navigating the realities of fast-moving product roadmaps and constrained resources.

Earlier in his career, Mike held engineering and leadership roles at organizations including Illumina, Dexcom, GenMark Diagnostics, Truvian, and Encodia. Along the way, he’s led pilot-line development, automation strategy, equipment qualification, validation programs, and process controls—often in environments where the path forward wasn’t clearly defined.

What sets Mike apart is not just his command of acronyms—GAMP, CQV, QbD, DFSS, FMEA—but his philosophy that systems only work when people do. He actively practices emotionally intelligent leadership, prioritizing trust, clarity, and psychological safety while still holding teams to high technical and operational standards. As Mike explores his next chapter, this conversation focuses on the lessons he’s learned building resilient manufacturing systems—and the kind of organizations where he believes he can make the biggest impact next.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeromance/

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

Bob Hankins brings over 20 years of dedicated experience in the medical-device industry, spanning engineering leadership, product development, process improvement and strategic technical oversight. As Director of Engineering at TE Connectivity, he leads a global team of engineers and scientists focused on designing, developing and delivering innovative customer-centric medical device solutions—particularly complex machined, extruded and laser-cut components. In this role he ensures design for manufacturing and quality within ISO 13485-compliant systems, marrying deep technical understanding with regulatory-driven manufacturing discipline.

Before his current role Bob led Research & Product Development Engineering at Nordson Medical and has held key leadership positions at several medical-device companies, including overseeing product development platforms, multi-site engineering operations, manufacturing automation and system launches. Throughout his career he has honed core competencies in manufacturing process improvement, continuous improvement (including Six Sigma/Lean methodologies), design for manufacturing/assembly, regulatory compliance (ISO 13485, ISO 14971, FDA), and product R&D for the health-care market.

Bob’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, and an Executive MBA from the Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University. This combination of technical and business education supports his ability to lead engineering organizations in bridging innovation with operational execution, customer development and quality.

In this episode we’ll dive into how Bob thinks about leading engineering teams in the regulated medical-device space, how he drives design and process improvements globally, how he balances innovation with manufacturing rigor, and what advice he has for engineers growing into leadership roles in healthcare technology. We’ll also explore his views on what the next wave of medical-device manufacturing and design looks like—and how engineering leaders can foster a culture of excellence, empowerment and impact.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rthankins/

Guest website: https://www.te.com/en/home.html

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

Scott Roberts is the North American Regional Sales Manager for Bodycote’s S³P technologies, where he oversees the sales team and rep network responsible for bringing one of the most unique surface hardening processes to manufacturers across the country. The S³P family of treatments—including Kolsterising—uses low-temperature carbon diffusion to create exceptionally hard, wear-resistant surfaces while preserving the corrosion resistance that stainless steels and cobalt-chromium alloys are valued for.

Scott didn’t begin his career in materials science or engineering, yet he has built deep expertise in helping engineers and manufacturers solve hard problems related to wear, galling, friction, and component longevity. Through roles ranging from business development to market management, he has spent nearly 10 years guiding customers through when and why processes like Kolsterising offer a major performance advantage—and how they differ from more traditional hardening methods that can cause distortion, cracking, or loss of corrosion resistance.

Before joining Bodycote, Scott worked in metals sales for aerospace customers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and GKN, giving him early insight into how demanding applications push material limits. He has since combined that application-level understanding with extensive real-world customer consulting, helping companies in medical devices, industrial equipment, energy, and beyond adopt surface-engineering solutions that extend component life and reduce failure rates.

Today Scott is a key voice in the growing conversation around advanced diffusion-based hardening technologies. His passion is teaching engineers what these processes can (and cannot) do, clarifying common misconceptions, and helping teams make smarter decisions about material selection and treatment—especially when performance requirements are mission-critical.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-roberts-574aa94/

Guest website: https://www.bodycote.com/

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

Scott Heimendinger is an engineer and inventor whose career spans business intelligence at Microsoft and IBM, to cutting-edge food-tech innovation. Early in his career he served as a program manager at Microsoft, then pivoted into culinary science, co-founding the pioneering sous-vide company Sansaire, which raised over $823 K via Kickstarter to make sous-vide accessible to home cooks.

He then moved into roles of increasing technical depth: at Modernist Cuisine he developed robotics, motion-control systems, microscopy, visual engineering and more; at Anova he led the development of the Anova Precision Oven — a home-focused combi-oven blending steam, air-flow and sensors. Today, with Seattle Ultrasonics, he’s tackling the humble chef’s knife: by embedding ultrasonic vibrations (over 40,000 Hz) and rigorous testing (including a robot-arm slicing experiment producing 100,000 data points) he’s redefining what it means to “cut better” in the kitchen.

For this episode we’ll dive into Scott’s journey bridging engineering and food, the technical story behind the ultrasonic knife (including prototyping, testing, failures and design iterations), and how a leader like him shepherds innovation from concept through to product launch. For engineers interested in product development, instrumentation, design-for-manufacturing and the crossover into consumer goods — this is one you won’t want to miss.

LINKS:

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottheimendinger/

Guest website: https://seattleultrasonics.com/

Aaron Moncur, host

Download the Essential Guide to Designing Test Fixtures: https://pipelinemedialab.beehiiv.com/test-fixture

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus

Send a text

In this short trailer, Pipeline Design & Engineering announces a new service we quietly piloted in 2025—and are officially opening up in 2026.

Pipeline is a team of engineers who design and build custom machines, fixtures, and automation systems for manufacturers working on complex, real-world problems. Like most engineering teams, we rely heavily on custom machined parts—and over the years, we’ve developed a trusted overseas manufacturing supply chain to support our own work.

This episode tells the story of how a single difficult-to-manufacture part led us to test that supply chain for select customers, how carefully we validated quality and lead times, and why we’re now confident offering this capability more broadly.

What’s being announced:

• Turnkey procurement of custom machined parts at pricing that significantly outperforms typical domestic shops
• Strong quality, including tight-tolerance and difficult parts
• Typical ~2-week lead times, with expedited options available case-by-case
• Engineering-led DFM review, quality checks, and a single domestic point of contact

If you’re sourcing custom machined parts and feeling pressure from pricing, lead times, or supplier reliability, this episode explains why Pipeline built this service—and who it’s best suited for.

To learn more or see if your parts are a fit, reach out to Pipeline directly at teampipeline.us

Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Watch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus