45Drives, a manufacturer of open-source enterprise data storage and virtualization infrastructure, announced that Chief Operating Officer Robert MacQueen will participate in the marquee Industry Velocity Panel at the inaugural Velocity Summit on November 17 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The summit, co-presented by the North Carolina Military Business Center and The Protocase Companies, convenes military, government and industry leaders to tackle a critical national security challenge: accelerating defense manufacturing capacity.
The panel, titled “Building at the Speed the Mission Requires,” will feature MacQueen alongside Chelsea Lloyd of Archer Aviation, Scott Lampe of Hendrick Technical Solutions and Bradley Garris of Phillips Corporation-Markforged. Jon Phillips, CEO of PhillComm Global, will moderate the session from 12:45 to 2:00 PM EST. MacQueen’s participation underscores the growing role of agile, open-source technology manufacturers in addressing defense production bottlenecks. Since joining 45Drives in 2014 in engineering, he has overseen operations from product development through customer fulfillment, giving him firsthand insight into the challenges of designing, manufacturing and delivering complex enterprise infrastructure at scale.
“There’s a world of difference between proving you can build something and being able to deliver it quickly, reliably and at scale,” MacQueen said. “At 45Drives, we operate in that space between engineering, production and service every day. We know how much time gets lost to supply chain constraints, inefficient processes and unnecessary complexity. I want to bring that practical experience to the discussion about how North Carolina can help America build critical defense capabilities faster.” His comments highlight a broader industry concern: the gap between prototyping and full-scale production often delays critical defense systems.
The summit’s program also includes video remarks from North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a keynote address by Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley and remarks from Lieutenant General (Ret.) Christopher O. Mohan, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Materiel Command. Senior military officials will examine readiness requirements and industrial constraints before an afternoon roundtable on practical steps North Carolina can take to strengthen the defense manufacturing base. The event runs from 9:00 AM to 3:45 PM EST at Cape Fear Community College’s Union Station Conference Center in Wilmington. For the complete program and registration, visit the Velocity Summit page.
For readers in the defense and technology sectors, the summit signals a push to translate policy discussions into actionable manufacturing strategies. 45Drives, part of The Protocase Companies, serves government, defense and research organizations seeking high-performance infrastructure with full control over their data and hardware. As defense budgets prioritize speed and resilience, the panel’s outcomes could influence how companies large and small position themselves in the supply chain. The original release is available via www.newmediawire.com.
