Larry Flatt of Warren County has been named the executive director of the new Advanced Robotics program at Motlow State Community College, according to Hilda Tunstill, interim president of Motlow.
Flatt, who holds a Chemical Engineering degree from Tennessee Tech University and an MBA from MTSU, has over fifty years’ experience in leadership, management, project planning and tracking and implementation, process equipment manufacturing, and training/teaching with Monsanto Company, Carrier Air Conditioning (United Technologies), Bouldin & Lawson, LLC, Tennessee Tech University, and Motlow.
During his career, he has held positions as process engineer, quality engineer, production manager, manufacturing engineer, advanced design and development engineering manager, staff training manager, senior staff quality manager, executive vice president of operations and manufacturing, and instructor.
While employed by Carrier, his efforts were focused on improvements not only for processes and quality but also for those performing the work. Larry led teams to introduce and start up entire manufacturing departments at Carrier’s McMinnville plant and other Carrier plants both domestically and internationally; to increase productivity, to free floor space for production use, and to train and implement the concepts of continuous improvement.
This required gaining or increasing skill sets in plant layout, specifying equipment requirements, developing concepts for new technologies, laser cutting, and application of robots into production environments for welding and material movement/placement.
Larry is a graduate of Carrier’s “train the trainer” program, where he was certified in process improvement, problem solving and various other subjects pertaining to improving the efficiency and quality performance of the manufacturing and office environment. In 1997, Larry was certified by ITO University (United Technologies Quality College) as an instructor. Using the skills gained from his manufacturing experience and formal training, he has traveled around the world training and helping lead Process Improvement and corrective action teams.
When the Carrier plant closed in 2005, Larry joined the management team of Bouldin Corporation, LLC, located in Morrison. He served as executive vice president of their Bouldin & Lawson division, a manufacturer of nursery and greenhouse equipment. There he was responsible for managing the operations of the manufacturing facility that included purchasing, fabrication, engineering, R&D, financial, production control, sales (domestic and international), and field service and replacement comp In February of 2012, Larry was invited to become an instructor in the Mechatronics department at Motlow’s McMinnville campus. After joining the Motlow team, he was assigned to teach all four of the freshmen level Mechatronics classes which include electrical, mechanical, fluid power and programming industrial control systems (known as programmable logic controllers). During his tenure, all of the training materials for the four courses have been composed or redesigned to ensure that the material being taught supports current industry needs in the areas of troubleshooting, application of theory to practice, robotics and controls.
In addition to his Motlow duties, Larry teaches five classes, as an adjunct, for TN Tech University. They include business management, managing change, leadership, workplace performance, and operations and supply chain management.
Larry also has been involved in community and church activities. He has served and currently serves on several boards and community service committees. He is an active member of the Bybee Branch church of Christ.
Larry and his wife, Jane, live on the family farm in Warren County Tennessee where they manage an 80 head beef cattle operation and a small nursery.
