Fred Schultheis joined Alcoa in 1986 as an Electrical Engineer in the Process Computer Systems group at Alcoa Warrick Operations located in Newburgh, IN. His first assignment was as process control systems and area electrical engineer for the electromagnetic casting (EMC) process. In 1990 he transferred to the Warrick Operations rolling department where he focused on aluminum rolling mill process controls and optimization which has been a deep focus area for much of his career. In 1997, Fred moved into the Alcoa Flat Rolled Products (FRP) Engineering Group located in Knoxville, Tennessee maintaining a focus on rolling processes. In this role Fred worked on control system development, installation, commissioning, and optimization, as well as rolling mill process optimization for global FRP manufacturing operations. Up to this point in his career Fred’s work focused on process control and best practices deployment leveraging automation solutions based on industrial controller and mini/micro-computer platforms and including multi-variable control solutions and first-principles process model technologies Fred transitioned from an individual contributor to a manager role in 2007 starting as the Alcoa Global Rolled Products (GRP) Cold Rolling Network Leader and then in 2008 as the GRP Electrical Engineering Manager. In 2015 Fred assumed his current role as Director Automation Center of Excellence for GRP. In the past five years Fred has led automation strategy for GRP across ISA-95 levels 0 to 3 to move the business towards a Digital Connected Enterprise aligned with Industry 4.0. Fred has practiced his profession globally in the Americas, Europe, Russia, China, Australia, Japan, and the Middle East. Fred earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (University of Evansville) in 1986, and a Master's degree in Business Administration (Ball State University) in 1994. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Indiana. Fred was born in Evansville, Indiana, USA in 1964 and is currently professionally based in Alcoa, TN with residence in Knoxville, TN.