Engineered Plastic Components Leadership Strategy Aligns on Growth, Quality, and AI Readiness

This week, leaders from Tsubaki Nakashima’s Engineered Plastic Components (EPC) business unit gathered at the TN Plastics corporate office in Cumming, Georgia to align on a five-year growth plan, strengthen cross-functional collaboration, and accelerate readiness for AI-enabled transformation. The on-site session brought together commercial, operations, quality, engineering, finance, HR, and marketing leaders from the United States, Italy, and global corporate functions.

Setting the direction: five-year plan, priorities, and pipeline

The meeting opened with a comprehensive review of the EPC business unit’s five-year plan and top strategic priorities, including how EPC will continue to support leading medical, diagnostic, and technology OEMs with precision engineered plastic components and cleanroom injection molding. Leadership examined the current and future opportunity pipeline and discussed what will be required across engineering, manufacturing, and quality to execute at scale.

Commercial Director Marc Tandourjian led a session on the EPC pipeline and project portfolio, outlining key growth opportunities and the actions needed to convert them into profitable, long-term partnerships. This discussion was closely linked to EPC’s quality and engineering roadmaps, ensuring that new business is supported by robust processes, capabilities, and investments.

As part of the strategy work, the team also refreshed the Engineered Plastic Components business unit’s vision and mission statements, which will be announced and shared with the broader organization in the coming weeks. This renewed direction is designed to reinforce EPC’s role within Tsubaki Nakashima as a trusted partner for high-performance engineered plastic components that support critical health and technology applications.

Strengthening the digital customer experience

JAV Digital facilitated a working session focused on EPC’s digital footprint and marketing campaigns. Building on the TN Plastics web presence and the broader Tsubaki Nakashima corporate site, the team reviewed how EPC’s story is told online—from capabilities in cleanroom injection molding and microfluidic components to global manufacturing coverage and quality certifications.

The group aligned on next steps to:

• Clarify EPC’s value proposition for medical, diagnostic, technology, and industrial customers.

• Improve the user journey on the TN Plastics website so prospects can quickly understand capabilities, quality standards, and how to engage.

• Expand email marketing programs that support ongoing communication with customers and prospects.

Julian, CEO of JAV Digital, also provided a status update on active marketing initiatives, including digital advertising, email campaigns, and MD&M event marketing support. He previewed future initiatives such as AI-assisted lead generation, deeper LinkedIn advertising, and expanded content marketing to elevate EPC’s visibility in key markets.

Mapping the EPC customer journey

Quality & Transformation Director Mark Mettner and EPC BU President Nashay Naeve led a dedicated session on the EPC customer journey. Together with the broader leadership team, they mapped how customers experience EPC from first interaction through design collaboration, validation, scale-up, and long-term partnership.

The discussion focused on identifying moments that matter for customers—such as early engineering support, IQ/OQ/PQ validation, and reliable global supply—and how EPC can further differentiate through responsiveness, technical collaboration, and quality performance. The resulting customer journey view will help prioritize investments and process improvements that directly impact customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.

Engineering Strategy Meets Operational Excellence

The leadership team also took a deep dive into the operational and engineering foundations essential for EPC’s long‑term growth and scalability. Matt Nagy, Engineering & Technical Sales Director, presented a forward‑looking engineering strategy that emphasized stronger design‑for‑manufacturability discipline, expansion of core technical competencies, and earlier engineering engagement in the customer lifecycle to improve speed, quality, and predictability of execution. He highlighted the importance of building repeatable engineering processes, enhancing collaboration with manufacturing, and strengthening technical documentation to support both new product introduction and sustained production. Ramesh Gopalakrishna, Chief Operations Officer, reinforced these priorities with a global operations perspective, sharing proven best practices from across Tsubaki Nakashima’s manufacturing network. His insights focused on operational excellence frameworks, standardized work, capability building, and the disciplined use of data to drive consistency, efficiency, and performance across EPC’s facilities. Together, these engineering and operations roadmaps established a unified foundation for execution, continuous improvement, and future investment.

Preparing the EPC business for AI

A key highlight was an AI Readiness workshop led by Ram Shivakumar, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where the team explored the foundational steps needed for responsible, scalable adoption of AI across the EPC business.

The team assessed where EPC stands today in terms of data, systems, and skills, and defined initial steps to build AI readiness in a structured, secure way that aligns with Tsubaki Nakashima’s broader technology, ESG, and quality standards.

Leaders in the room

The Cumming meeting brought together a cross-functional group representing the full Engineered Plastic Components value chain:

• Nashay Naeve – EPC BU President

• Marc Tandourjian – Commercial Director

• Mark Mettner – Quality & Transformation Director

• Matt Nagy – Engineering & Technical Sales Director

• Joe Saganski – Plant Manager, Michigan

• Marco Smargiassi – Plant Manager, Italy

• Matteo Guerrato – Finance Controller

• Luca Bracco – HR Business Partner

• Deepak Giri – Manufacturing Engineering Director

• Masa Saito – Marketing Director

• Ramesh Gopalakrishna – Chief Operations Officer

With perspectives from manufacturing plants in North America and Europe, commercial and engineering leadership, and core corporate functions, the group was able to align on both strategic direction and concrete execution plans for the EPC business unit.

A clear path forward for Engineered Plastic Components

Reflecting on the week, EPC BU President Nashay Naeve shared:

“Leaving the week energized with real clarity: a strong pipeline, aligned priorities, and a grounded view of what it will take to execute. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead and how we're building to turn the potential into real impact.” - Nashay Naeve

The outcomes of the meeting—an aligned five-year roadmap for the Engineered Plastic Components business unit, a strengthened digital strategy, a clearer customer journey, and concrete next steps for AI readiness—will guide EPC’s next phase of growth. Connected to Tsubaki Nakashima’s global purpose of helping the world move by the power of precision, EPC is positioning its engineered plastic components business to support customers’ innovation and reliability requirements for years to come.