Brad Stropes Age: 28
Cincinnati Bell Technical Solutions Cincinnati, OH
UNDER THIRTY B
rad Stropes has always been enamored with manufacturing, dating back to the days where he worked on cars with his dad. After earning a degree in business and political
science, Stropes applied his technical acumen in the manufacturing field, working in software sales positions first at PQ Systems (Dayton, OH), an SPC software developer, then with SigmaTEK Systems (Cincinnati). At SigmaTEK, Stropes held key manufacturing
software sales positions managing a team of engineers and sales personnel, before moving to a new position at Cincinnati Bell Technical Solutions (CBTS), where he currently is senior sales manager working on data stor- age solutions and cloud services. “Mr. Stropes has, in a relatively short time, devel- oped an expertise in several important aspects of manufacturing and fabrication,” said Robert Farrell, SigmaTEK’s director of marketing communications, who nominated Stropes for 30 Under 30. “Brad began as a lean Six Sigma sales engineer, helping companies not only in their pursuit of lean processing, but also be- coming ISO and AS certified. “With long hours, exten- sive travel, proven skills and the knowledge to provide an entire solution to a manu- facturer, Brad has had a great deal of success,” added Farrell, noting that Stropes is pursuing an MBA while also finding time to support local charity events. “Brad has accomplished all of this in a short time with his well- rounded knowledge in fabrication and manufacturing.” In his current position, Stropes works to integrate manufacturing data stored by customers in his com- pany’s virtual data center, using the Panzura software program that facilitates checking in and out technical
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“Brad began as a lean Six Sigma sales engineer, helping companies not only in their pursuit of lean processing, but also becoming ISO and AS certified.”
data stored in the cloud. Stropes is interested in work- ing on issues related to the convergence of manufac- turing software and databases in the cloud, where he sees a lot of potential. “Right now technology is taking a huge leap,” Stropes said. “In the last decade, 3D design, CAM, ERP and monitoring software has taken over our marketplace. Now it is our job to make them easy to use and obtain for our end user. With cloud based technology, our customers can easily access these tools in a matter of minutes.” With SigmaTEK, Stropes wore several hats, head- ing up sales for the company’s 3D software division, which specialized in 3D cutting on laser, plasma and waterjet cutting equipment. In his current position at CBTS, Stropes is looking to find ways for customers to fully leverage the underutilized data gathered by the manufacturing industry. When he looks toward the future, Stropes said, “I see an empowered individual, with more automated machin- ery. I believe that the actual fabrication of products will be completed by more complex machinery. The individuals designing and programming these machines will have to be fast and accurate, and
they will have more say in the design process and de- cide how the product will be manufactured.” Stropes, who someday hopes to run his own manu- facturing company, said what he most loves about the manufacturing industry is seeing something through from beginning to end. “I enjoy walking into a facility seeing a piece of metal and then walking out seeing a product,” he said. “I also enjoy looking at product design to see how it could be designed better for the end user, as well as the manufacturer.”
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