Charles F. Church's presentation uses a canoe trip as a metaphor to discuss the challenges organizations face adapting from the industrial age to the information age. He describes the transition as navigating through white water rapids, emphasizing the need for flexibility and innovation. The talk outlines strategies for local governments to adjust to these changes by fostering community relationships, enhancing service delivery, restructuring organizational systems, and prioritizing employee relations.
Text of a lecture delivered to the Sphex Club on February 19, 2026. Michael V. Bradford traces the “industrial genealogy” of Lynchburg’s packaging automation industry, emphasizing the entrepreneurs who built a nationally significant manufacturing cluster beginning in the 1960s. The story starts with Dacam, created by Old Dominion Box, and especially with Bob Englander, whom Bradford portrays as the industry’s central figure. Englander and engineer George McVeigh founded Simplimatic Engineering in 1963, pioneering customized conveyor and packaging systems for major beverage companies. Simplimatic’s rapid growth later produced multiple spin-off firms, including Alliance Machine Systems, Sentry, and Automated Conveyor Systems, led by former executives such as Bill Graff, Adam Vinoskey, and Michael Shenigo. Bradford also highlights Belgian immigrant Al Stroobants, whose Belgium Tool & Die became another major automation enterprise. Together these innovators created a durable regional ecosystem of advanced manufacturing, patents, skilled labor, and global industrial influence.
Basilio Cantieri Business Papers Held At Jones Memorial Library In Lynchburg, Virginia. The Papers Include Invoices, Advertisements, And Correspondence.
