Successful product safety and stewardship efforts depend on more than just one department, requiring strong collaboration across engineering, compliance, technical communication, and beyond. At AEM’s Product Safety & Stewardship Conference, industry experts shared firsthand perspectives on the challenges that a siloed work environment can create, and the strategies that are helping teams collaborate more effectively.
Hear from Mark Vaughns, senior director product safety and reliability at JLG Industries, Peter Decious, corporate technical publications manager at Vermeer Corporation, Scott Pedersen, VP of engineering/research & development at GOMACO, Patrick Hallen, global product compliance director at Doosan Bobcat North America, among others, on how breaking down organizational silos can lead to smarter products, safer outcomes, and a stronger culture of accountability.
AEM’s Product Safety & Stewardship Conference invites AEM member leaders and practitioners to submit session content and ideas for the 2027 event, which is set to take place April 19-22, 2027, at the Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Vaughns on how workplace silos impact organizations and their teams: Workplace silos can really impact how companies launch new products. I’ll share one personal experience – JLG is a subsidiary of Oshkosh company, and Oshkosh recently purchased several other companies throughout Europe. Recently, we were working on a new product launch, and found that our teams were not in alignment on the best solution to address and interpret product requirements. It's important to break down silos, especially from a product safety standpoint, because we must ensure that we are consistent in our approach on a global level.
Hallen on how remote work plays into organizational silos: Remote work makes things even harder for many teams, and one thing that has helped overcome silos for us is the fact that we have had years to get to know each other before we adapted to a remote working environment. When you work through problems together in the office it’s different than talking online – you have to be so much more intentional in today's day and age.
Pedersen on how to address silos and work collaboratively: The big thing in my mind is support. In one instance, we discovered that two different departments were working on completely different solutions to the same problem, and we had to take valuable time to decide which solution was the best fit. Communication and accessible documentation can save time and money spent.
Vaughns on consistency across departments: We learned that we were interpreting regulations differently in North America and Europe. We had to take a moment to ask ourselves why we weren’t aligned. It was definitely an eye-opener for me, that as a global company we didn’t all interpret things the same way. It falls on all of us to put processes and discussions into place.
Decious on the importance of communication: One of the challenges that we’ve faced at Vermeer is that all of our work flows through one technical writing team and one editing team, and that creates bottlenecks. Communication that should help balance our processes out is not always happening. Communication can be a huge barrier or enabler.
Vaughns on advice for others: A big part of any relationship is knowing what areas are yours, what areas are someone else’s, and when you need to talk to a specific person. If you have good relationships with other departments, it will save time and make processes run smoothly from the get-go.
About AEM’s Product Safety & Stewardship Conference and Liability Seminar
The AEM Product Safety & Stewardship Conference is setting the stage as the industry's only event designed to provide attendees with first-class access to the latest insights on product liability, safety design standards, regulatory requirements, and potential risks to avoid.
In addition to these core themes, the conference also explores emerging topics such as cybersecurity and AI, technical writing, electrification, and chemical compliance, ensuring a comprehensive view of the evolving landscape of product safety and stewardship.
Next year’s conference is set for April 19-22, 2027, in Bloomington, Minnesota. For more information, visit the official event website.
