From offices in Boise, Post Falls, Twin Falls, and Pocatello, TechHelp Specialists help Idaho manufacturers, food processors and entrepreneurs improve their competitiveness through continuous product and process innovation.

Steve Hatten

TechHelp Executive Director – Boise State COBE
Cell Phone: 208-863-4258
Email: stevehatten@techhelp.org

Background

Steve Hatten is is the Executive Director of TechHelp based at Boise State University. Steve served as a Manufacturing Specialist and the New Product Development Manager for TechHelp since 2000. He worked with hundreds of Idaho manufacturing companies and startups.

Steve is a mechanical and manufacturing systems engineer with a range of experience in engineering and manufacturing environments. After completing his Master’s Degree at Stanford, he worked 13 years in the aerospace industry where he developed skills in mechanical design, design for manufacturability, and manufacturing process improvement. Steve enjoys using all of those skills with Idaho inventors and manufacturers.

Steve is a strong advocate of integrated engineering solutions to streamline manufacturing, especially with the use of cross-organizational teams. At Boeing, he led a team that made significant reductions in product design, fabrication, and test cycle time.

Steve has a passion for introducing and improving product development services for Idaho manufacturers, including product design, prototyping, and management tools to improve product development processes. Steve is a member of TechHelp’s Lean Team and leads workshops and Lean transformations with Idaho manufacturers.

"It has been an honor and privilege to lead TechHelp's fantastic team that does so much important work helping Idaho manufacturers."

Education

Expertise

Blog Posts

Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification Course Begins January 17 at Idaho Manufacturing Alliance HQ in Nampa

TechHelp and the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance will offer a Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Course (LSSGB) at IMA’s HQ in Nampa with full-day sessions on 1/17, 1/31, 2/14, and 3/6 of 2024. Lean Six Sigma is a well-known approach for achieving operational excellence that combines the process improvement benefits of Lean with the statistical process control benefits of Six Sigma. The course includes time between sessions for participants to complete workplace projects.
There has never been a better time to apply the principles of Lean Six Sigma in your organization. With today’s tight labor market and supply chain challenges, Lean can help your company become a more attractive employer and a stronger competitor. Luke Fuess and Janna Hamlett of TechHelp, the University of Idaho, and the legendary Lean practitioner Gene Hamacher will lead the course and provide LSSGB project support.

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Winter Food Newsletter from Dr. J

I hope the weather is not treating you too harshly as we enter the holiday season.
We are thrilled to announce that our team has expanded with the arrival of Stuart Walker, a 28-year research and development veteran in the food industry. Stuart joined TechHelp as a Food Specialist in October of 2023 after working for almost 12 years at the renowned Litehouse Food Company in Sandpoint, Idaho. He looks forward to utilizing his extensive food formulation and manufacturing knowledge and background to help solve the current problems being experienced by Idaho food manufacturers. Stuart will be based in Boise but will serve Idaho food processors statewide.

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Veteran’s Day 2023 – Thank You Veterans!

TechHelp, Idaho’s Manufacturing Extension Partner (MEP) thanks our veterans for their service to our nation. We are also thankful for those veterans who apply the skills, expertise, and ideas they developed in the service to their jobs and companies. Mike Atwood of Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU) is one example of a Veteran who leaned on his service experience to create excellent night vision products with applications in the civilian world. As a former AH-64 Apache pilot, Mike founded ASU in 1995 and worked with government agencies to allow unrestricted NVG use among first responders and law enforcement agencies.

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