The Tool Belt: Recent Episodes
Plant Services
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Smart Industry's Sarah Mattalian talks with Mike Fedorov, COO and co-CEO of Applied AI Labs, who discuss why AI implementations often fail to deliver expected results. They explore how manufacturers can work with the muddy waters of imperfect data, establish effective governance, and design AI solutions around measurable business outcomes. The conversation concludes with a look at AI as a tool for amplifying human capabilities rather than replacing them.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores maintenance shortcuts and the role of reliability culture.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Nicole Stempak speaks with the current and previous two presidents of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) -- Monique Parker, Linda Tapp and Pam Walaski -- about strategies safety leaders can use to stay energized, the importance of mentorship, and how embracing change and diversity can lead to more effective safety initiatives.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, IndustryWeek's Laura Putre speaks with Emily Domenech about efforts to streamline federal permitting for large manufacturing and critical minerals projects. They discuss how the Fast-41 program coordinates agencies to reduce project delays, improve transparency, and accelerate approvals while maintaining environmental and safety standards. The conversation also explores critical minerals processing, domestic supply chain resilience, and the growing role of AI and digital tools in modernizing the permitting process.
On this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, New Equipment Digest Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis rounds up four new products worth a closer look:
- a passive exoskeleton that eases shoulder strain during overhead work
- an AI-powered device that keeps forklift-based inventory tracking accurate in real time
- a connected ultrasound platform built for multisite reliability programs,
- a new inline coding system designed for the packaging industry's shift to GS1 2D codes.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Jennifer Ferdinand-Stong, corporate safety manager at construction firm Gaylor Electric and recently named Health and Safety Professional of the Year by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) for 2026, shares her thoughts on how to create a realistic and sustainable safety culture.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, IndustryWeek's Anna Smith speaks with Clay Martin, CEO and founder of Isla Talent, about innovative approaches to solving manufacturing workforce shortages by recruiting skilled workers from Puerto Rico. They discuss strategies for expanding talent pipelines, supporting employee relocation, and improving retention through communication, training, and workplace culture. The conversation also explores long-term labor trends, the impact of AI on the workforce, and practical steps manufacturers can take to build stronger, more resilient teams.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe plays reliability mythbusters about leadership's role in culture and the importance of best practices and technology.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Scott Achelpohl is joined by Nick Hasselbeck and Matt Martin of E Tech Group to discuss the challenges legacy OT systems create for digital transformation and AI adoption. The conversation explores why siloed data, limited network visibility, and outdated equipment remain major obstacles for manufacturers. They also examine practical strategies for connecting older assets, evaluating the value of stranded data, and balancing equipment replacement with lower-cost modernization approaches. The episode offers a grounded look at how manufacturers can build a stronger data foundation for AI and other advanced operational initiatives.
Employers have an obligation to protect workers from all jobsite hazards, including the summer heat and humidity. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, learn the current regulations, signs of heat stress and what you can do to help workers be comfortable—and safe—this summer from Corey Stringer Institute’s Maggie Morrissey.
Computed tomography (CT) has a parallel life beyond its service in diagnostic medicine. From aerospace and automotive to defense and electronics, it’s one of manufacturing's most powerful quality assurance technologies.
By creating detailed three-dimensional views of both external and internal part features without destructive testing, CT allows manufacturers to detect defects, verify dimensions, and improve product performance. Now, artificial intelligence and machine learning are accelerating those capabilities even further, making inspections faster, more accurate, and increasingly practical for production environments.
In this episode of the Great Question Podcast, Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence Technical Sales Engineer Roger Wende details how AI-enhanced CT scanning is reshaping non-destructive testing, metrology, defect analysis, and the future of digital manufacturing.
For IndustryWeek’s Smart Manufacturers video series, Senior Editor for Technology Dennis Scimeca visited four different plants to inquire about a specific technology deployment at each. He spoke 5G with John Deere, talked MES development with Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, discussed brownfield sites and corporate responsibility with battery manufacturer Viridi and dodged a fleet of robots on the shop floor of an LG plant. This week's podcast episode looks at the series as a whole, and shares key insights gleaned from each video.
NED Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis breaks down four machining and metalworking products from the latest issue, covering 3D laser cutting for job shops, solid carbide taps for high-volume threading, multi-operation precision grinding, and high-pressure coolant toolholding for difficult-to-machine materials.
Laser Next Core 3D Laser Cutting Machine
TC180 Supreme & TC280 Supreme Solid Carbide Taps
Landis TTG 3000 Twin-Turret Grinder
Jetstream Tooling M-Clamp Toolholder System
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk speaks with Tito Warren of Red Wing about the challenges industrial facilities face in protecting workers from heat stress during the summer months. Their conversation explores the role of hydration, environmental controls, PPE, and emerging wearable technologies in supporting worker health and safety. They also discuss how footwear affects fatigue, endurance, and overall physical performance, while highlighting the importance of training, teamwork, and proactive safety cultures. The episode offers practical insights for manufacturers seeking to improve worker well-being and operational performance in demanding environments.
In this special National Forklift Safety Day podcast, hear what OSHA's David Keeling and Logisnext Americas' Carl Modesette have to say about the need for situational awareness from everybody who comes near a forklift, not just the operators. And ENEROC USA's Max Khabur explains why standardized forklift battery testing is essential for safety.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, sponsored by Hydro Inc., Thomas Wilk speaks with Ares Panagoulias and Robert McCowan about building effective condition monitoring programs that reduce maintenance firefighting and improve asset reliability. The discussion explores the foundational steps organizations should take before deploying sensors, including defining goals, assigning responsibilities, and focusing on critical assets. They also examine the role of AI and machine learning in condition monitoring, and finish with practical advice on managing alerts, driving action from insights, and maximizing ROI from predictive maintenance investments.
This episode is sponsored by Hydro, Inc.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Patrick Childress, an international trade and disputes attorney at Holland & Knight, shares an update on how negotiations are proceeding with USMCA—also known as the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement—a trilateral trade agreement that comes up for its required six-year joint review on July 1. It's an agreement that has significant implications for manufacturers, particularly in the automotive industry.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, every OT and IT journey is different, but two SMEs from Lincoln Nebraska-based Huffman Engineering join the podcast with some tips and to share some positive summer vibes from their clients.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Joe Kuhn of Ask a Plant Manager discusses leadership habits that strengthen maintenance and reliability.
Lorraine Martin, CEO of the National Safety Council, explains why the NSC first developed National Safety Month in 1996—and what workplace safety issues they’re focusing on this year.
In this episode of Great Question, IndustryWeek Senior Editor Laura Putre talks with Frank McKay and Graham Scott, Supply Chain Officer and Chief Procurement Officer at Jabil respectively, about how they transformed procurement to a cost driver at the global contract manufacturer—offering their own optimized supply-chain technology to customers as a service. They also discuss how they’ve tackled recent procurement challenges—such as tariffs and memory constraints in the AI market—and built a pipeline to develop procurement talent.
New Equipment Digest (NED) Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis breaks down five additive manufacturing products from the June issue, spanning multimaterial prototyping, magnesium-capable metal AM, continuous FFF production, ultra-large-format powder bed fusion, and high-performance polymer printing for aerospace.
- J850 Core PolyJet 3D Printer
- PA-300 LPBF Metal Printer
- Funmat Pro 310 Apollo FFF Printer
- EP-M3050 Metal 3D Printer
- Argo 500 Hyperspeed Mission Ready 3D Printer
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk speaks with Andy Foster, Chief Product Officer at IOTech, about the growing use of edge AI across discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, and energy operations. The conversation explores how manufacturers are using AI for predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, production optimization, and distributed energy resource management. They also discuss why organizations are moving AI closer to the edge to improve latency, reliability, and data security in mission-critical environments. In addition, the episode examines the evolving governance, lifecycle management, and workforce responsibilities required to safely scale industrial AI systems.
Small and medium-sized manufacturers have a skilled labor shortage - and the last solution proposed to address that (automation and robotics) is about to encounter the next proposed solution: agentic artificial intelligence. A recent article introduces they interesting possibility that “Agentic AI Could Make Robots Affordable for Small Businesses.”
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, American Machinist's Robert Brooks talks with IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca about whether this new approach to programming change how manufacturers program their robots and cobots. Will AI reduce the complexity of implementation, or introduce new risks to their organizations?
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Virginia Tech's E. Scott Geller muses on how workplace safety has improved—and worsened—over his 50-plus year career.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, IndustryWeek's Anna Smith speaks with Ben Johnston, COO at Kapitus, about the new tariff refund portal launched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection following the Supreme Court’s ruling on IEEPA-related tariffs. They discuss how manufacturers, importers, and customs brokers can navigate the refund application process, including key documentation requirements and common filing mistakes to avoid. The conversation also explores the potential financial impact of tariff refunds across the supply chain and the continued uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy and future tariff enforcement.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk meets up with Rosemary Coates of the Reshoring Institute to catch up on how current events are impacting manufacturers who were already shifting their reshoring strategies. Despite geopolitical conflict and energy shortages, Coates identifies are few sectors that are thriving (semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and plastics) and emphasizes the importance of community colleges in preparing workers for a new, more volatile manufacturing normal.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Nick Haase of MaintainX explores the challenges manufacturers face as workforce retirements and labor shortages collide with the push for AI adoption. He discusses how disconnects between leadership and the shop floor can lead to ineffective technology and stalled implementation. The conversation highlights the importance of capturing tribal knowledge, improving system interoperability, and prioritizing frontline-friendly tools. He also outlines practical steps for building a digital foundation that enables successful AI use in industrial operations.
This episode is sponsored by MaintainX.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe considers five different common maintenance scenarios, and he decides: fact or fiction.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Jason Moreland of AlertMedia explores how changing weather patterns and climate trends increase risks for workers and organizations, and explains why proactive planning, communication and training are vital to mitigate impacts of extreme weather events across seasons.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca and Machine Design's Rehana Begg talk all of the walking robots at Hannover Messe, the massive trade show that took place in Germany in late April. Amongst the automation equipment, software, machines and controllers were a lot of upright, humanoid robots. In nearly every hall at the show, robots walked arounds. Some danced, some picked up small objects and put them in a box, some waved to passersby and some did things that looked like they might be marginally useful on a manufacturing shop floor.
Dennis and Rehana discuss the pros and cons of our new robot overlords with some help from Kal Mos, executive vice president for research & development at Siemens. If Dennis Scimeca is a skeptic on the need for robots to look like us, Mos is the opposite -- a believer that we've built the world for people and robots should adopt our form factor to get around.
"Local manufacturing marketplaces" are regional networks in which value is created and retained - as opposed to being distributed outside the local economy. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, management consultant Chris Bassett explains that manufacturers’ drive for efficiency in their decision-making causes them to pass by opportunities that involve less time and fewer communication challenges, and bring faster problem resolution and smoother product-quality management.
The generative AI trend based on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT has for years dominated the conversation about artificial intelligence. When something like agentic AI enters the conversation it’s easy to conflate terms, confuse agentic with generative, and not get the full picture.
On this episode of Production Pulse we spoke with Ron Norris, former Director of Innovation at Georgia Pacific, and Nagadithya Nookala, product manager for data analytics and AI-related products and Sanjay Ahire, data scientist, both from Ford Motor Company.
AI Agents Versus Agentic AINookala explains the difference between AI agents and agentic AI using the metaphor of a Google search. If you ask Google about a topic it provides you with links and materials, after which you’re on your own. Agentic AI would not only identify the links and materials but also digest the material to provide summaries, recommendations, essentially do the research and draw the appropriate conclusions for you.
Ahire uses the metaphor of GPS systems used for navigation. Google maps provides directions on how to get somewhere. Agentic AI would not only identify the best route, it would also drive the car itself, using multiple data streams for guidance and navigation.
Norris says the ability to learn differentiates agentic AI from regular agents. Agentic AI not only suggests action but also understands cause and effect and can therefore explain why to take an action.
Are You Ready for Agentic?Companies that adopted generative AI have already purchased software, on-prem or cloud servers and other infrastructure to serve the new technology. Do those investments also prepare companies to adopt agentic AI tools?
The answer, thankfully, is yes you’ve invested in compute and software to support generative AI you have a leg up on adopting agentic AI. Agent development kits can integrate with existing systems and applications. You may need more stringent guardrails, however, to make sure humans always provide final authority before giving agentic AI permission to act.
This month, New Equipment Digest Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis shares her April picks—five products that caught her attention for solving real problems in manufacturing and industrial environments. On the list: the RUN coordinate measuring machine for shopfloor inspection, the MasterMover MasterHandler electric tugger for moving heavy wheeled loads in tight spaces, the Tormach 770MX CNC mill with upgraded motion control, the Goodwell Technologies VAC-DIV2-CAMKIT overhead inspection camera, and the RDI Technologies Iris aiOne motion amplification and vibration analysis platform. Learn more about the products in this episode:
- RUN CMMs: https://newequipment.com/55338529
- 770MX CNC Mill: https://www.newequipment.com/55352795
- MasterHandler electric tugger: https://www.newequipment.com/55353154
- VAC-DIV2-CAMKIT: https://www.newequipment.com/55343245
- Iris aiOne platform: https://www.newequipment.com/55353288
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk talks with Adrienne Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), about the evolving role of system integrators and the growing importance of automation in today’s manufacturing landscape. They explore how the ongoing skills gap is accelerating the adoption of automation, shifting its purpose from cost savings to maintaining operational continuity. Meyer also shares insights into how system integration is transitioning toward long-term partnerships and lifecycle services to better support digital transformation.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, EHS Today's Nicole Stempak talks with experts from BSI (www.bsigroup.com) about the current landscape of ESG, sustainability, and environmental regulations, emphasizing practical strategies for businesses to navigate complex compliance and leverage sustainability for business value.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, IndustryWeek's Jill Jusko speaks with Bryan Croft about how a small, family-run business unexpectedly became part of the Artemis II space mission. They explore how HC Brands’ Simply Stamps division was discovered through digital marketing efforts and tasked with engineering a highly specialized product to meet strict aerospace requirements. The conversation highlights the challenges of rapid prototyping, lightweight design, and meeting precise specifications under tight timelines. Along the way, they also reflect on the broader themes of innovation, company culture, and how even niche manufacturers can play a role in groundbreaking projects.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Jennifer Szkatulski of Immersive Labs talks with Smart Industry's Sarah Mattalian about why manufacturers are prime targets for cyberattacks, particularly ransomware, and the far-reaching impact on operations and supply chains. She breaks down how attacks occur—from phishing and credential theft to system infiltration—and how even IT breaches can disrupt production environments. The conversation also highlights emerging risks tied to AI, insider vulnerabilities, and interconnected supplier networks.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores how to spot a fake reliability program.
Kay Yoder of Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits describes the evolution of EHS into a people-centered, technology-enabled discipline, emphasizing inclusive leadership, employee engagement, sustainability, and continuous learning as key drivers of safer, more proactive workplace cultures.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Putre speaks with Richard Demirjian of heavy-truck components manufacturer TCCI about the impact of Section 232 tariffs and the USMCA on his business. They explore how Section 232 tariff rebates are influencing sourcing decisions, sometimes favoring overseas production over domestic manufacturing. The conversation also examines supply chain localization challenges, uncertainty around USMCA, and the evolving mix of ICE, electric, and hybrid vehicles. Additionally, they discuss innovation investments, workforce development, and the impact of refrigerant regulations on future product design.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk speaks with Tony Peterson and Jeff Shiver about a three-phase approach to preventive maintenance optimization and its impact on manufacturing performance. The conversation explores how improving PM accuracy, leveraging tools like P&IDs and CMMS data, and engaging technicians can shift operations from reactive to proactive maintenance. They also discuss common pitfalls in PM programs, including low-value tasks and scheduling challenges, along with strategies to improve compliance and efficiency.
Most grownup professionals are smart people, but that doesn't mean we don't do some really stupid things from time to time. Think about your last expense report. Between filling out the forms, supervisors checking them, accounting reviewing them again (and sending them back five times because you used the wrong code for the rental car company), companies spend vast sums of money every year in hopes of preventing someone charging a bottle of cold medication back to their employer.
Procurement in manufacturing is similarly penny wise and pound foolish. At the Grainger Show in Florida in March, one poster showed how the average company uses seven people and $100 in approvals and management time to buy a $17 hammer. Sound familiar?
In a series of wide ranging conversations at the show, IndustryWeek's Robert Schoenberger and New Equipment Digest's Laura Davis spoke with:
- Sam Johnson, group vice president for Customer Solutions at Grainger
- Barry Greenhouse, senior vice president of Merchandising and Supplier Management
- Rick Sigler, vice president of Onsite Services
- Stan Solowski, vice president of Value-Added Solutions
- Derek Hamilton, vice president of Onsite Operations
Full disclosure, Grainger did not sponsor this episode, but the company did cover travel costs for editors to attend their customer event.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk and Eruditio principal trainer and consultant Brian Hronchek discuss how many organizations underutilize their CMMS systems and miss opportunities for efficiency. They explore practical strategies to unlock more value, including standardizing preventive maintenance activities and leveraging built-in functionality for corrective work. The conversation also highlights how better resource planning can improve outage execution and reduce costly conflicts.
Smart Manufacturing is the label that has emerged to describe production systems that incorporate digital technologies, real-time data, and interconnected systems to make manufacturing processes more automated, adaptive, and efficient. It involves sensors, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and connected machines that monitor, optimize, and automate manufacturing processes in real time.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, and prompted by the developer’s recent State of Smart Manufacturing report, we asked Evan Kaiser, Rockwell Automation vice president for Global OEM and Emerging Industries to tailor the insights there for small and midsized manufacturers, to help them understand the smart manufacturing investments, practices, and strategies, that will help them get connected and stay competitive.
Connected procurement integrates all stages of the source-to-pay process, providing real-time visibility and enhancing organizational agility. In this "In Case You Missed It" podcast, based on an article from two Accenture procurement experts, you'll hear how organizations are shifting from reactive procurement processes to connected, data-driven workflows that enhance agility, resilience and strategic value amid global disruptions.
IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca recently hosted a roundtable discussion at Fluke's annual Xcelerate conference, an event centered around industrial maintenance and asset protection.
Joining Dennis were three professionals from three very different industries:
- Jason Hahn, Amsted Automotive
- Lee McClish, NTT
- Nathan Kibert, Eaton
In the session, the panel discussed the impact of AI on supply chains, maintenance and production.
With artificial intelligence (AI), mass customization and shrinking lot sizes changing expectations in manufacturing, companies need new skills and abilities from those who they hire. So, where do you find an entry level engineer with years of experience and training in how to deal with the constantly changing needs of production?
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Kettering University President Robert McMahan says getting students experience while in school is key. The former General Motors Institute (a private university, separate from the automaker since the early 1980s) has long used factory floors and design centers as training grounds for student education. Current GM CEO Mary Barra is among the school's alumni who got their first taste of manufacturing while studying engineering there.
In this episode, McMahan talks to IndustryWeek's Anna Smith about the school's educational co-op model and how schools need to collaborate with manufacturers to prepare the next generation of industrial leaders.
Samuel Pasquier, head of product management for Cisco System's Industrial IoT Connectivity Portfolio, says manufacturers want to use more AI in factories to drive efficiency and growth, but many programs are stuck in trial and failing to produce expected gains.
New research from the networking technology company shows that two major factors are getting in the way: computing power and the network bandwidth to access that compute.
In this conversation with Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl, Pasquier discusses what challenges still face AI-driven digital transformation efforts and what steps manufacturers can take to set themselves up for success.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores how to maintain a healthy level of tension between maintenance and operations, and how to resolve unhealthy conflict. Bonus: How to be a better mentor and how to find one for yourself.
Donavan Hornsby, chief strategy officer with Benchmark Gensuite, shares the results of his company's "EHS Pressure Point" report on risk, readiness and the shift to AI, and offers his insights into anticipated changes and trends in workplace safety in 2026.
Pradip Singh, chief manufacturing officer at semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries, has seen it all when it comes to AI. Well, he would see it all if there wasn’t so much AI thrown at him that he needs people to weed through the slop and get to the good stuff – and even only a few “good” AI pitches ever get through.
That’s because AI developers don’t understand manufacturing. They don’t grasp the unique challenges of what AI might actually do for industry and instead focus on developing AI seemingly for its own sake.
In this episode of Great Question, Singh speaks with IndustryWeek senior editor for technology, Dennis Scimeca, about AI boondoggles, what the technology should never be used for and the words to listen to during an AI pitch that means the tech is worth considering.
Industrial manufacturers have invested heavily in automation on the shop floor—but sales processes often remain manual, slow, and fragmented. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest, sits down with Le’ora Lichtenstein, founder and CEO of Corbel, a next-generation CPQ platform, to discuss how AI-powered configurators, unstructured data mining, and integrated financing tools are helping equipment builders modernize how they quote, sell, and close capital equipment deals.
Le’ora brings a background in structured credit and early-stage investing, and holds a BSc in Finance and the CFA charterholder designation.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Relay co-founder and CEO Chris Chuang joins the podcast to delve into another corner of artificial intelligence in manufacturing: How voice is being turned into data, ending the disconnect among workers who don’t sit at desks or dwell near workstations.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk of Plant Services sits down with Justin Baucum of Isembard to explore how modular, software-driven factories are reshaping U.S. manufacturing capacity. The conversation traces Justin’s unconventional path into manufacturing and how mission-driven thinking translates into building faster, more resilient production networks. Together, they dig into reshoring, supply chain bottlenecks in defense, aerospace, and energy, and the practical realities of standing up high-precision factories at speed. The episode offers a grounded look at how technology, operations, and new business models can help manufacturing move quicker and scale smarter.
The concept of a “company GPT” is helping small and midsized manufacturers grasp the potential for artificial intelligence in their enterprises, and make real progress in their journeys. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Amatrium Inc. co-founder and president Andrew Halonen discusses his recent article "AI Is a Journey for Foundries and Equipment Builders" and why he argues that manufacturers’ difficulties in implementing AI are about change management, not technology.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Peter Vassalo, senior counsel with the Littler legal firm, explains how OSHA has maintained its core activities despite leadership challenges, emphasizing ongoing inspections, citations, and the cautious approach to rulemaking, while exploring the impact of increased use of opinion letters for compliance assistance.
Yes, AI has a place in lean and continuous improvement, but don't jump off the deep end. Try experimentation and remember: Respect for people prevails.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Jill Jusko sits down with Eric Lussier to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and lean manufacturing. Their conversation examines where AI can genuinely support continuous improvement without undermining respect for people or sound problem-solving practices. Together, they discuss practical use cases, cultural considerations, and why leadership remains critical as manufacturers experiment with AI. The episode offers a thoughtful look at how emerging technology can augment, rather than replace, lean principles.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores the hidden power of maintenance planners in manufacturing operations.
Traditional safety metrics often miss the human factors contributing to serious harm, emphasizing the need for human-centric approaches that address stress, fatigue, and psychological risks. In this "In Case You Missed It" podcast, you'll hear why Jonathan English, CEO of Evotix, believes that 2026 is the time for a complete system rebuild to help companies reach meaningful SIF reduction.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Putre sits down with Mike Jackson to reflect on how suppliers navigated a turbulent 2025 and what the outlook looks like heading into 2026. Their conversation explores shifting trade policies, tariffs, and the evolving role of USMCA, alongside ongoing uncertainty around electrification and EV adoption. They also dig into nearshoring, supply chain volatility, and the financial pressures facing suppliers at every tier. Throughout the discussion, the episode highlights both the challenges confronting manufacturers and the resilience driving the industry forward.
How do you know when a scraper strainer makes more sense than a basket or backwash filter? In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, New Equipment Digest chief editor Laura Forbes breaks down the real-world differences between industrial strainer types and what engineers should consider when specifying filtration for high-solids applications. This episode is based on an article by Del Williams for Acme Engineering Products. Read the original piece here: https://www.newequipment.com/55294782
Artificial intelligence is not coming for jobs in the abstract. It is coming for tasks, and the maintenance and reliability world sits directly at this crossroads.
On one hand, AI can process years of work orders, interpret patterns in vibration and oil analysis, map failure precursors, and generate predictive recommendations faster than any human analyst. On the other hand, no algorithm can yet replace the skilled craftsperson who understands how a machine feels, sounds, and behaves under load.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk talks with Michael D. Holloway of 5th Order Industry about the kinds of work that AI will likely consume in the near-term and long-term.
There are interesting and encouraging data points amid all the confusion, with some trends emerging about job shop activity, high-demand industries, and manufacturing employment.
New orders for CNC machines are a reliable indicator of near-term growth in manufacturing activity - in nearly every major manufacturing sector - because those purchases mean operations are preparing for new business coming their way. And 2025 order values are on pace to top 2024.
So what is the continuing debate about interest rates and inflation? And what trends might we watch bear out in 2026? AMT principal economist Chris Chizik describes what the data reveals about manufacturing growth.
AI is getting better at predicting potential outcomes, but the technology still isn’t as reliable as humans at coming up with predictions that put everything into context for what it all means. In this podcast, Material Handling & Logistics’ chief editor, Dave Blanchard, takes listeners on a fast-paced tour of predictions for what the supply chain will look like in 2026 and beyond, featuring insights from some of the industry’s best thinkers and thought leaders.
We've all heard someone say it recently: Nobody wants to work these days. It's the refrain of a stressed manager who's short-staffed and losing production capacity because the company can't recruit people.
Even if it's true (and really, has anyone ever really wanted to work? Isn't that why we pay them?), complaining won't fill your plant vacancies. Blaming other industries won't help either as they're saying the same things. Think manufacturers have a rough time recruiting people? Talk to trucking company leaders or landscaping operations.
In a recent article in IndustryWeek, doctoral student Winifred Opoku shared her thoughts on how some manufacturers are making their ability to reach young people a competitive advantage.
Smart Industry content chief Scott Achelpohl wraps up the annual prediction series with highlights from SI's roster of subject-matter experts, who had a lot to say about how AI was moving well beyond the hype and coming to a production line near you.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores practical reliability leadership lessons for maintenance and operations teams in 2026. Bonus: The psychology behind New Year's resolutions?
Fall protection violations remain the most cited OSHA issue, emphasizing the need for continued focus despite some recent decreases in violations. In this interview with Phil Jacklin, continuing education program manager with Diversified Fall Protection, you'll hear that progress is being made through increased awareness, proactive safety practices and better data tracking, but challenges persist, particularly in the construction industry.
This year-end wrapup episode collects clips from three of the most popular Plant Services episodes from the past 12 months. In these clips, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk talks about:
- "How oil analysis can boost equipment reliability, but only if you use the data," with Mike Holloway, 5th Order Industry
- "How PM optimization improves reliability and reduces unplanned downtime," with Brian Hronchek, Eruditio
- "Reshoring in 2025 – strategies for navigating tariffs and trade uncertainty," with Rosemary Coates, Reshoring Institute
In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe Kuhn, CMRP (former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant) considers commonplace scenarios facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode collects three of our favorite moments with Joe over the past year:
- Maintenance vs. reliability engineers — key differences and how they work together
- Reliability program not working? Here’s what might be wrong
- Why predictive maintenance fails without problem solving on the plant floor
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk and UL Solutions Senior VP of Industrial Testing, Inspection, and Certification Jeff Smidt explore the growing role of independent sustainability certification in the industrial sector. Their discussion centers on ECOLOGO and how it evaluates materials, manufacturing practices, and full product lifecycles. The conversation also highlights the connection between reliability, risk reduction, and transparent environmental performance. Together, they examine how rigorous standards like UL 2711 may shape future expectations for industrial products.
Could a dual-layer metallic coating be an innovation in jet-engine design?
There is a line of innovation from product design to metallurgy, to production, and to product performance. For aerospace and defense systems, precision parts that operate under intense heat and high pressure are critical to performance and reliability. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, American Machinist chief editor Robert Brooks explains how researchers are proposing a new coating process that will make alternative, high-entropy alloys perform at significantly higher temperatures – which could mean greater fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs for jet engines.
Industrial exoskeletons are gaining traction in manufacturing and logistics, but misconceptions still overshadow what they actually do. New Equipment Digest chief editor Laura Davis breaks down the biggest myths with insights from HeroWear’s Matthew Yandell, PhD, to reveal the truth behind this fast-growing technology. To learn more, visit: https://www.newequipment.com/55325220
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores how to celebrate and reflect at the end of the year, while maintaining operations and planning for the next year. Bonus: Is Santa's workshop the ultimate factory?
Caroline Johnson shares some of the lessons she learned about leadership from her time in the U.S. Navy and how her fellow officers continue to inspire her as an executive advisor and coach with DEKRA.
Mike Payne, president and owner of Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication loves data and metrics. If he can pull information from a machine, he's doing it. Mike talked with IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca about why he collects all of that data, what he does with it and why, despite all of this technology, succeeding in manufacturing is still all about relationships and performance, not technology.
Payne noted that before data collection, managers would assign tasks to machinists with a time estimate. And, wouldn't you know it, that's how long it turned out they needed to make each part. Was the machine in use that entire time? How much of that time was setup vs. production? Could the company have cut those time allotments by 20% without harming quality?
Without data collection to monitor what was really happening, nobody knew.
Ben Wynne of Intrepid Automation helps Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl veer from the M&A soap opera and get into the weeds about what industrial 3D printing is doing for aerospace, defense, automotive, health care and semiconductor production.
Industrial AI software heavyweight IFS chose its New York show to debut virtual agents equipped with 50 skills that autonomously manage high-volume tasks. For this episode of the Great Question podcast, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Plant Services' Tom Wilk were there to chat about the product, IFS Loops, with its CEO, Somya Kapoor.
Discussion around mental health is still rare among industrial workers. It's a cultural issue that needs to be re-examined and made a workplace priority, says podcast guest Stephen Dummit, founder of Tradewinds Leadership.
Join Matthew Dixon, Swagelok’s global technical lead for grab sampling, as he talks about the complexities of gas grab sampling—a critical, yet often misunderstood process in industrial operations. From the science behind phase changes to the design of safe and accurate sampling systems, Matt will share insights that help demystify the challenges of capturing representative gas samples. Whether you're in operations, engineering, or maintenance, this conversation will offer practical takeaways and a glimpse into the future of sampling in a digitalized world.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk speaks with ICML CEO Bryan Coggins and ICML Marketing Director Paul Hiller about the evolving culture of reliability and maintenance within industry. The conversation explores how ICML is strengthening its role through training, certification, and real-world case studies that demonstrate measurable ROI in lubrication management. Bryan shares insights from his diverse background in manufacturing and energy, emphasizing the importance of balancing long-term strategy with short-term results, while Paul highlights how ICML’s messaging and outreach are driving cultural and operational improvements across the sector.
Typically, Big Tech and software aren't manufacturing topics. The latest data products don't generally come out of a factory in a box or barrel. However, the rapid growth of AI is having a domino effect that's benefitting large manufacturers.
AI needs lots of computing power, creating opportunities for semiconductor makers to boost U.S. production. Construction companies are building data center facilities all over the country, creating manufacturing opportunities for construction materials and equipment. Tightly packed computer servers generate lots of heat, creating opportunities for materials companies and hydraulics manufacturers that can cool data centers.
And these data centers are super hungry for power. So, expect more gas-powered and renewable energy plants to be built in the near future (it's already happening but expect more). Makers of switchgear and grid-improvement systems also have full order books.
Discussing this trend are four editors from Endeavor B2B:
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
- Matt Vincent, editor-in-chief of Data Center Frontier
- John Caulfield, senior editor of Building Design + Construction
- James Morra, senior editor of Electronic Design
Manufacturers understand the skills gap: every day they recognize that do not have enough people or enough of the right people to execute the difficult and sometimes dirty, often dangerous tasks like pouring and forming molten materials, grinding or machining parts, treating and handling those parts, welding and finishing components and systems, etc. It’s more than a practical problem. It’s an economic and institutional crisis.
The Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship and Learning program (METAL) established by the Dept. of Defense in 2024 is moving fast to resolve it, setting up and coordinating practical training in critical disciplines for metal casting and metal forging processes at seven universities, and drawing in fresh minds who ensure that knowledge and practical understanding continue to be available to engineers and investors in the decades ahead of us.
Mike Kubacki, project coordinator for METAL describes the program and its progress.
Supply chain managers are employing a number of strategies to address the almost constant changes due to disruptions in the supply chain. Michelle Comerford, practice leader for the Industrial & Supply Chain practice at Biggins, Lacy, Shapiro & Company, explains what actions companies across the country need to be taking to stay on a steady course to supply chain proficiency.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explores how to blend predictive tools with decades of shop floor know-how.
Trae Mazza and his team at RMC Global this year found and reported hidden cyber risk in common Siemens industrial networking devices. Mazza wrote for Smart Industry about the flaws, which Siemens has patched, and joins the Great Question podcast to review the investigation and chat about how exposed OT really is to intrusion.
We're about a week away from Halloween, and what could be scarier than the technologies that are disrupting manufacturing—artificial intelligence and connected-worker technologies. The 4th Annual Connected Worker Manufacturing summit in the Chicago suburbs this month gathered tech leaders from dozens of large manufacturers to discuss the impacts of data tools, wearable technology, tablets and other connected devices.
What does that have to do with Halloween? Well, there were a lot of food people there, including digital transformation executives at Hershey and Nestle, and we spoke to them about their efforts.
Participating on this podcast are:
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief at IndustryWeek
- Logan McNear, digital manufacturing program lead for The Hershey Company's Lean Production System
- Mike Brauckman, head of focused improvement for Nestle
Kristianne Egbert, senior corporate ergonomist with Briotix Health, discusses the evolution of industrial ergonomics in recent years, and offers insights into how managers can cost-justify investing in ergo technologies to better protect their workers.
This episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast was recorded live at the 2025 SMRP Annual Conference, in Fort Worth, Texas. In this episode Brian Hronchek, principal trainer and consultant for Eruditio, talks with Plant Services chief editor Tom Wilk discuss how companies are using PM optimization to achieve quick, measurable improvements in both reliability and safety.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, discover how unconventional innovations from UMass Amherst, Bluewater, and the Italian Institute of Technology are redefining sustainability across energy, water, and waste.
New York-based Arc Public Benefit Corp. bought 3D printing pioneer Desktop Metal last month out of bankruptcy. The purchased followed about two years of merger-and-acquisition mania that shifted from assigning billion-dollar valuations on equipment makers to pushing some of the same companies through bankruptcy.
Bryan Wisk, CEO of Arc, says the path to future success is clear -- focusing on running the company instead of getting caught up in the buy-sell drama of corporate mergers.
“There’s only one word at DM right now internally; it’s focus,” Wisk says. “We’re not a distressed debt investor or private equity. We’re really deep-growth investors, and we’re looking to focus on the core technologies that we bought.”
This Great Question episode features a conversation between Wisk and IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger
Mike Jones, president of Discover Leadership Training, explains why sometimes the best thing you can do to protect workers is take more risks. He explains how safety professionals can go beyond "best practices" to "next practices." And he offers a preview of his upcoming keynote presentation, "Playing It Safe," which he'll deliver at Safety Leadership Conference 2025, held October 20-22, 2025, in Glendale (Phoenix), Ariz.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe how to tackle reliability and maintenance as a new manager.
Ryan Hawk of PwC US surveyed hundreds of C-suite executives across the manufacturing and energy sectors to determine what is influencing their thoughts and guiding their decision-making. He found five “unstoppable forces” reshaping how America builds, moves, and competes.
High-profile raids of manufacturing facilities by federal immigration agents are likely just beginning, labor and immigration attorney Jorge Lopez said. Increased federal funding for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents still hasn't hit the agency and won't have a measurable impact on staffing there for months.
So, expect site visits and raids to increase in Q4 of this year and especially in the first half of 2026, Lopez says. He also offers advice on how to prepare your paperwork for federal investigations, what companies are (and are not) obligated to provide and how to limit legal exposure.
Speakers:
- IndustryWeek Senior Editor Laura Putre
- Littler Immigration and Global Mobility Practice Group Chair Jorge Lopez
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Scott Achelpohl and Almog Apirion explore why IT and OT often remain misaligned and what it takes to close the gap. The discussion highlights how digital transformation, cybersecurity risks, and regulatory pressures are driving the need for convergence. Together, they examine the role of Zero Trust, identity-based access, and secure connectivity in protecting legacy equipment while keeping operations productive and resilient.
In this sponsored episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk sat down with Ryan Smith, a Solutions Engineer with TPC, a Certus company, whose areas of training specialty include industrial maintenance topics for electrical, mechanical, and HVAC systems. Today's great question is: How do you calculate the ROI of training?
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk and Maya Schwartz are joined by Ron Marshall, Frank Moskowitz, and Joe Ghislain to reflect on 25 years of the Compressed Air Challenge. The conversation explores the program’s origins, its evolution in training methods, and its impact on system performance and energy efficiency. The group also discusses shifting industry priorities, the role of end users and vendors in training, and how new technologies are shaping the future of compressed air systems. Together, they provide insights into both the history and the next chapter of this influential industry initiative.
You may be good, but you can always be better. That’s the approach Coca-Cola Consolidated has taken toward workplace safety. The publicly traded bottling company started a new safety campaign in 2024, the First 100 Days of Safety. It was so successful that Coca-Cola Consolidated expanded to three safety campaigns in 2025 and has no signs of slowing down. Dennis Padgett, senior director of risk control at Coca-Cola Consolidated, discusses what’s worked and what’s next with EHS Today’s Managing Editor Nicole Stempak. Padgett will be speaking at Safety Leadership Conference 2025, being held from October 20-22 in Pheonix, Arizona.
We're a quarter of the way into this century, and a lot has happened. When we think about today's connected factories, in many cases controlled by tablets and smartphones, we should remember that virtually none of that was possible as recently as the turn of the century.
Throughout the past few weeks, editors at IndustryWeek have been publishing game changers stories, a look into the 25 events that have reshaped the manufacturing landscape. From terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to the 2008 economic collapse to COVID-19, it's been an eventful century so far.
In this podcast, our editors talk about what they learned from the giant look back -- which game changing events took them by surprise and which ones did they enjoy learning more about?
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, New Equipment Digest's Editor-in-Chief, Laura Davis, explores the differences between wireless bridges and access points, and why most facilities will need both to keep operations running smoothly. Listeners will learn how each technology works, when to deploy them, and the real-world benefits they deliver across industries from logistics to oil & gas. This episode is based on an article originally written by Henry Martel, a field applications engineer at Antaira Technologies.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe discusses the importance of planned work coordination.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert Brooks speaks with Denny Williams of Co-Line Manufacturing and Doug Wood of Hexagon Production Software about the intersection of workforce development and technology in manufacturing. The conversation explores how Co-Line fosters a strong culture to attract and retain talent, the role of apprenticeships in bridging the skills gap, and the ways automation and robotics are being integrated to complement—not replace—workers. They also discuss how software, connected workflows, and emerging AI applications are shaping the future of efficiency and competitiveness in the industry.
Dave Blanchard, chief editor of Material Handling & Logistics and author of Supply Chain Management Best Practices, looks at how AI and other technologies are helping companies get smarter and more competitive with their supply chains. Learn what types of AI solutions retail giant Walmart is using to determine exactly what products its customers will want, and when they'll want them. You'll also find out why supply chain professionals need to get smarter at articulating the ROI of supply chain solutions.
We love our human-shaped robots in pop culture. From Lieutenant Commander Data to C3P0 to Baymax. But, are they any good at making things?
At the Automate show this year, humanoid robots peppered the show floor, lifting boxes, walking around, picking up tools... slowly. Very, very slowly.
For all of the promise of lifelike robots that can replace human workers on the assembly line, one-for-one, they aren't meeting that promise yet. Last year, Tesla caught flak for using human pilots to remote-control Optimus robots during a launch event.
Ujjwal Kumar, group president of Teradyne Robotics, says automated humanoids are cool, but they're not terribly practical. Why force a robot to stand on two legs when wheels could get them across a shop floor faster and with greater stability? Why create a standalone, human-like machine that needs batters when you could install an arm with a power source?
In this formerly live conversation, we discuss why humans are so much better at some tasks and why a humanoid robot isn't a great solution.
In this episode we'll discuss next-generation manufacturing use cases, implications around increased OT digitization, and the networking capabilities required to future-proof operations. This episode is sponsored by Cisco.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk is joined by Chris van den Belt and Berend Booms of Ultimo, an IFS company, for a conversation on the rise of agentic AI in enterprise asset management. The discussion explores how AI is moving beyond traditional copilots to become autonomous digital coworkers that enhance safety, streamline maintenance, and support frontline workers in dynamic environments. Together, they highlight real-world use cases, from improving incident reporting to optimizing preventive maintenance and inventory management.
Fastenal's Ryan Tucker and Sara Weaver share how the company has transformed and grown their workplace safety program over the past 12 years and what they’re focusing on next. A preview of Safety Leadership Conference 2025, held Oct. 20-22 in Phoenix: www.safetyleadershipconference.com
There's more than a little bit of Tesla talk in Ford's announcement on Aug. 11, that it would invest $2 billion to retrofit its Louisville Assembly Plant to make a small electric pickup in 2027. It's a bold, ambitious plan that's equal parts going after Chinese competition, heating up leftover Tesla ideas and taking advantage of the scale of a massive global automaker.
Pieces of the plan touch on multiple aspects of the manufacturing industry that we care about at Endeavor B2B's Manufacturing Group -- safety/ergonomics, manufacturing procedures, casting technologies and what the vehicle factory of the future might look like.
IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger, who spent four years earlier in his career writing about the Ford plant for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, discusses Ford's plans, where it's fudging the numbers a bit and how it hopes to create a new manufacturing paradigm in Kentucky, with a little help from Ford executives and engineers who spoke at the investment announcement.
When a forged part is labeled “capable of ASTM A388,” what does that really mean? And more importantly, what does it not mean? In this episode, we break down the difference between a part that could theoretically pass ultrasonic testing and one that’s actually been tested. We’ll look at why that difference matters in industries where safety and reliability are critical, explore common internal defects in forgings, and explain why proper surface preparation is key to accurate ultrasonic inspection. If you’d like to dive deeper into the details, you can read the full article here: https://www.newequipment.com/55279288
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe shares his leadership experience on turning maintenance mistakes into learning experiences.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert Brooks explores three key developments in non-ferrous metallurgy that promise to reshape industrial manufacturing. The discussion highlights breakthrough research from the Pacific Northwest and Ames National Laboratories, including advances in solid-phase alloying of aluminum scrap and the discovery of a new multi-element alloy for high-temperature turbine applications. Robert also examines Arconic’s collaboration with spectroscopy experts to enhance real-time analysis of molten metals. Together, these innovations point to a future where metallurgical progress drives both performance and sustainability across sectors.
Rocky Rowlett, vice president of safety, and Alyssa Kwasny, wellness program director, explain how their energy and construction firm, Faith Technologies Inc., has become an exemplar of world-class safety excellence by developing a culture of care.
The problem sounds so simple: Manufacturers need large numbers of new employees to replace retiring Baby Boomers. Lots of Millennial and Gen Z young people want good jobs
One reason why the sides aren't connecting, workforce watchers say, is that young people are often unaware of the opportunities being offered in factories and job shops nationwide. At least one plant is addressing that.
International Motors' commercial truck plant in San Antonio, Texas, has been working with greater:SATX, the city's economic development organizations, to encourage high school students to intern and the recently opened manufacturing facility. Several of those recent high school grads have since taken full-time positions at International.
Hear more about the program from students-turned employees, International's leadership team and from the people who are training and worth with those young people.
Industry 4.0 is still a vague term to many in manufacturing. To some, it’s projects that fit the strict standards of the German consortium that developed the term. For others, it’s synonymous with Industrial Internet of Things connectivity – systems that draw data from machines to optimize processes.
Most agree, however, that it’s a tech thing. Industry 4.0 advocates talk about the need to manage workers differently, but the thrust of the movement is machine learning, data collection, data-based decision modeling and data-driven process improvement.
So, where do people have a say? To Sarah Tilkens, a former GE Healthcare lean guru who now runs the KPI Lab, that’s why we need Industry 5.0.
“The problem (with Industry 4.0) is with the focus so much on productivity and efficiency. People became really, really burned out and disengaged,” Tilkens said. “So, a lot of the systems became very rigid. They weren’t as flexible. They weren’t as creative. And I think that’s what led to… Industry 5.0, which again is all around human led innovation.”
Tilkens shared her thoughts with IndustryWeek editor Jill Jusko, someone who’s spent 25 years writing about continuous improvement and operational excellence.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, sits down for a roundtable discussion with:
- Chris Hallum, UE Systems operations manager for North Europe
- Chad Coleman, Amazon senior reliability engineer
- Pat Caron, Amazon reliability engineering manager
- Jeremy Bey, UE Systems strategic accounts leader.
The discussion explores the evolution from isolated maintenance efforts to a unified, data-driven strategy that emphasizes standardization, training, and cross-regional collaboration. This episode offers practical insights for anyone navigating the complexities of reliability at scale.
Joining Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl for this episode is Rajeev Shah, co-founder and CEO of Celona, who helps explain how manufacturers can overcome “legacy” infrastructure challenges—particularly their older OT—to harness the potential of AI-driven operations.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Rosemary Coates, executive director of the Reshoring Institute, shares insights on how companies are navigating the changing business environment and reshoring trends in 2025.
In this “in case you missed it” podcast, you'll learn why Travis S. McConnell, a construction attorney with Ready Legal, believes that implementing a comprehensive safety program is essential to preventing injuries and complying with OSHA’s standards.
You can also read the full article here.
Armstrong World Industries set a goal, nearly a decade ago, to be an outlier, the kind of company that maintains 5% profit growth for five or more years. Those efforts have paid off with the ceiling-tile and architectural components making landing No. 2 in IndustryWeek’s annual IW U.S. 50 Best Manufacturers list.
Vic Grizzle, CEO of Armstrong, sat down with IndustryWeek’s Robert Schoenberger to discuss the management philosophy behind that performance. Some key elements:
- Investing in the business: Armstrong dedicates more of its cashflow to operational improvements than many of its peers, part of an annual push to increase productivity by about 3% every year
- Championing stability: Customers and employees know what to expect from a company that has stable management and rarely changes big-picture strategies
- Adaptability: While it champions stability, Armstrong also looks for adjacent opportunities, experiments with new technologies and constantly updates its processes
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, is joined by Blair Fraser, the VP of technology at UE Systems to discuss how ultrasound tools are evolving. Many maintenance technicians use machine condition monitoring technologies for two related goals: detect a problem, and diagnose the root cause. However, Fraser argues that these technologies are evolving quickly to help teams achieve the next-step goal of deciding on the best corrective course of action that fits overall plant goals.
David Brown, vice president and CTO of Transportation Solutions at TE Connectivity, shares how AI is driving faster product design, smarter factories, and a better-trained workforce. From generative design to predictive maintenance, learn how TE's AI strategy keeps them ahead in a rapidly evolving industry. Visit te.com for more information. Read TE’s 2025 Industrial Technology Index here.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explains some of the problems that can go wrong when you are starting your reliability journey, and what folks should be on the lookout for along the way.
Key takeaways* Prioritize reliability by choosing where to excel—get a C on less critical tasks to focus on what truly drives plant performance. * Reliability success demands active operations ownership—learn failures, engage on the floor, and earn credibility. * Promote small wins visibly—selling reliability outcomes prevents loss of sponsorship and ensures long-term buy-in. * Without structured problem-solving, best practices fall short—embed it into your process to triple reliability results.
In this episode, American Machinist editor in chief Robert Brooks analyzes the current state of the additive manufacturing (AM) sector, after several years of organizational turmoil among the top suppliers of AM systems. Brooks argues that this turmoil had virtually nothing to do with AM processes or technology developments, arguing that investors have been impatient with the rate of worldwide AM adoption.
Chris Williams, executive director of the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA), offers a preview of the upcoming Safety+ Symposium, to be held August 11-14 in St. Louis. This annual event provides attendees with the opportunity to see safety from all angles and better understand its role in the modern workplace.
EHS Today's Safety Leadership Conference is an official media sponsor of this event.
In this sponsored episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, is joined by Maureen Gribble, North American sales enablement leader for UE Systems, and John Gould, director for global business development for condition monitoring at Flir. Ultrasound and infrared thermography tools are increasingly used together by maintenance teams that want to get a fuller picture of asset health. In this podcast episode, sponsored by UE Systems, Tom talks with Maureen and John about the ways these tools are being used in the field, including hybrid tools like acoustic imagers, as well as what the future hold for the partnership between Flir and UE Systems.
Fluid sealing is critical to the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of industrial equipment across industries like oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, and manufacturing. In this podcast, we’ll explore how fluid sealing practices have evolved to meet modern demands for environmental compliance, equipment longevity, and cost-effectiveness. We’ll discuss the latest material advancements, emission-reduction technologies, and digital monitoring tools that are reshaping the landscape. Listeners will gain insights into how companies are balancing traditional reliability practices with the push for sustainable solutions, such as low-emission mechanical seals, advanced gaskets, and innovative air seal designs. We'll also touch on common challenges end users face today — from supply chain constraints to skills gaps — and how industry leaders are adapting their approaches. Whether you're an engineer, maintenance manager, or reliability professional, this episode offers a practical look at the future of fluid sealing.
Cam Mackey, president & CEO of the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), explains why every heat-related death in the workplace is preventable, and offers some tips on how to best protect workers from heat stress.
https://www.osha.gov/emergency-preparedness/guides/heat-stress
The Eastern half of the United States is experiencing record high temperatures. It's summer and all, so some heat is to be expected, but that doesn't make it any easier for the workers in factories or the people trying to maintain the national power grid.
Discussing worker safety and power availability in the hot summer are:
- Dave Blanchard, editor-in-chief of EHS Today
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
- Jeff Postelwait, managing editor of T&D World
We discussed how to spot signs of heat stress and how the nation's obsession with ChatGPT may lead to blackouts.
The company’s chief engineer and transformation leader Bradly Walker joins Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl and IndustryWeek’s Dennis Scimeca to chat about Texas Pride’s technology renaissance and how it’s helped the manufacturer evolve its sales, warranty, and production processes from legacy Excel spreadsheets and paper-based systems.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, is joined by Brian Hronchek, principal trainer and consultant with Eruditio, to discuss a topic in the air these days: PM optimization. These efforts start with the question, “What is the outcome that you want?” And that outcome is for the seasoned technician and the new technician to be able to return exactly the same results when they do the same inspection on a mechanical asset.
Key takeaways* PM optimization starts with clear goals: inspections should yield identical results from both seasoned and new technicians. * Many PMs lack value—use metrics like PM/PdM yield to identify and improve or eliminate ineffective tasks. * Aligning maintenance with planning and scheduling reduces downtime and prevents reactive repair chaos. * Trimming bloated PMs and focusing on useful inspections can boost uptime, cut stress, and streamline production.
John Dony, CEO and co-founder of What Works Institute, explains why policies, procedures and other accommodations for neurodivergent workers can make work safer for everyone.
Large language model (LLM) AIs have captured the world's attention with their ability to interpret plain-language and convert simple queries into machine language. But, the big advances in manufacturing design and execution are going to rely on updated hardware, says Deb Golden, chief innovation officer at Deloitte.
At Siemens recent Realize Live event in Detroit, Golden sat down with IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger to talk about where companies can leverage manufacturing technologies to gain an edge. And at just about every turn, the conversation returned to hardware.
AI is giving companies a better view of their operations?
“We’re in such a rush to make humans think better, faster, quicker. The only way we could do that is with compute time and space,” Golden said. “We have to know the health of the actual hardware that [manufacturing processes are] operating on. I don’t care where that [compute] hardware is, if it’s sitting on prem, if it’s sitting in the cloud, if it’s sitting literally in outer space on the satellite.”
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode explains why running time-based and condition-based maintenance in parallel is a costly mistake.
Key takeaways* Condition monitoring won't be perfect at first—expect a learning curve and commit for long-term gains. * Avoid running time-based and condition-based maintenance systems together—it wastes resources. * Pair condition monitoring with root cause analysis to drive real business impact. * Protect condition monitoring resources from daily disruptions—require plant manager approval to reassign.
In this episode, listeners will gain insights into how air seal technology is revolutionizing the plastics film industry to reduce waste, save money, and promote more sustainable manufacturing processes. Addressing things like: Environmental and sustainability concerns, waste and housekeeping improvements and enhanced plant safety initiatives.
Electricity demand is soaring around the world, and in the U.S. electric supply is dwindling. Manufacturers may not have realized this – but they will, and very soon, as electric utilities begin to apply capacity charges to their supply costs. In this installment of the Great Question podcast, energy consultant Brian Reinke – author of a new article – diagnoses the problem and suggests how manufacturers might prepare themselves to address the surging electricity costs.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) at Work for Manufacturing, launched by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is a series of four courses designed to improve mental health literacy among employees and leaders in the manufacturing industry. Lynn Burke Hennighausen and Rob Vallentine, national trainers for the program, joined IndustryWeek during Mental Health Awareness Month to discuss mental health challenges in manufacturing and how the MHFA training program can lead to a safer and more productive work environment.
For this episode, Tobii’s director of products and solutions, Keith Bartels joins Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl for a conversation about how visual data is helping teams streamline onboarding of employees, reduce errors, and strengthen standard operating procedures—all without adding complexity to day-to-day work.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, is joined by Christine Nishimoto, director of asset management software at IBM, for an insightful discussion on how AI agents are reshaping data-driven asset management. Together, they explore the evolving role of artificial intelligence in improving productivity, sustainability, and safety across manufacturing sectors. From tackling long-standing data challenges to envisioning multi-agent systems that can automate complex workflows, the conversation highlights the transformative potential of AI tools in industrial environments. Christine also emphasizes the importance of transparency, data integrity, and regulatory compliance as organizations adopt these technologies.
Key takeaways* Clean, accessible, and accurate data is critical for effective AI-driven asset management. * AI agents can automate multistep tasks like work order creation, boosting efficiency. * Tailored AI tools must respect industry-specific privacy and compliance standards. * Adoption of AI across sectors is accelerating, revealing untapped optimization potential.
Suketu Gandhi, partner and chair of strategic operations with Kearney, offers advice on how to deal with supply chain disruptions in this new era of tariffs.
Hey, have you heard that this AI thing is a big deal? That companies are slapping AI labels on every product they sell? That our benevolent robot overlords will favor those humans who speak highly of them now before they take over?
There was a lot of talk about that at Automate in Detroit this week, the annual trade show for industrial automation in which we imperfect biological organisms really do sit in awe of our technological superiors. Really, this is love, not fear.
Sharing their observations on how much they look forward to this utopian future in which we'll be sure the keep the machines oiled and the software patched were:
- Mike Bacidore, Editor-in-Chief of Control Design
- Rehana Begg, Editor-in-Chief of Machine Design
- Robert Schoenberger, Editor-in-Chief of IndustryWeek and Editorial Director of Endeavor Business Media's Manufacturing Group
- Sharon Spielman, Technical Editor for Machine Design
- Linda Wilson, Editor-in-Chief of Vision Systems Design
Glen Powell is a senior engineering analyst with Hydro, Inc.’s Global Engineering division. He has nine years of experience in centrifugal pumps, vibration analysis, machinery reliability, and 3D simulation and design. Glen recently spoke with Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, about the evolving challenges of workforce development in the maintenance and reliability space. The conversation also touches on the role of emerging technologies like AI in reliability workflows and dives deep into vibration analysis, including its limitations and advanced applications for diagnosing issues like resonance.
Key takeaways* Formal training alone isn't enough—intentional, hands-on experience accelerates workforce readiness. * Bridging generational gaps requires clear career paths and trust in leadership follow-through. * AI tools should support, not replace, critical thinking and field expertise on the plant floor. * Modal analysis and motion amplification are powerful tools to diagnose and fix elusive resonance issues in aging equipment.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis explores how automation can help manufacturers navigate economic downturns, labor shortages, and rising operational costs. Based on insights from Wauseon Machine’s Scott Anair, this episode covers the real-world benefits of automation—from labor cost reductions to consistent product quality and scalable systems that grow with your business.
About the Article
How to Use Automation to Recession-Proof Your Business
Discover how automation isn't just about cutting costs—it's becoming a vital strategy for businesses to survive and thrive during economic downturns.
Written by Scott Anair
Read by Laura Davis
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Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers tips on how to create a safe space for spirited debate in industrial operations.
Key takeaways* Superficial harmony in meetings delays critical decisions—candor leads to better outcomes. * Leaders should hold back opinions to foster open, fact-based team input. * Clear decision-making processes prevent debates from becoming unproductive conflicts. * Professional disagreement is vital—silence in meetings and complaints in hallways hurt reliability.
The clock is running toward 2035 – the deadline for businesses to neutralize their carbon liabilities, whether or not the technology or resources are available to do that.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert Brooks, editor in chief of Foundry Management & Technology and American Machinist, explores the evolving pressures on the manufacturing supply chain as carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions targets accelerate industry-wide. With a focus on the metal casting and machining sectors, he highlights the emerging concept of carbon liability and its implications for manufacturers. A notable case study features Mazda’s development of carbon-neutral cupola melting using biomass fuels, underscoring how environmental goals are reshaping production strategies.
The size and scope of upcoming and existing tariffs on imported goods and components is changing rapidly as President Donald Trump's administration makes bold announcements followed by pauses and policy changes as it negotiates with targeted countries.
While administration officials say the rapid changes should benefit manufacturers in the long term by making it cheaper to produce things internally instead of importing them from overseas, the constant upheavals make planning difficult for manufacturers in the U.S. that rely on materials and components from foreign suppliers.
Discussing how companies can manage their supply chains during the back-and-forth of changing policies from Washington and abroad are:
- Darrell Edwards, a University of Tennessee System supply chain professor and a former chief supply chain officer and chief operating officer at La-Z-Boy Incorporated
- Ji Li, a supply chain advisor for J&J Investment and Consulting and a former supply chain director for Boeing
- Laura Putre, IndustryWeek's senior editor for leadership topics
Mahdi Jamshid, director of market intelligence for leading AM observer Wohlers Associates, joins Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl to detail Wohlers' brand-new annual report on the additive landscape and chat up the latest maneuvers of industry player Nano Dimension.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Tom Wilk, the chief editor of Plant Services, talks with Jose Rivera, the CEO of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA). In December, Jose announced he would be stepping down after a decade of dedicated leadership and strategic vision. Under Jose's guidance, the CSIA has seen significant modernization, increased resilience, and a strong financial position. We spoke with Jose when he joined the CSIA 10 years ago and it's my privilege to talk with him one more time to look back over the past 10 years, and then look ahead at next steps for both Jose and the CSIA, including the launch of the the CSIA Learning Hub.
This sponsored episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast focuses on building AI that works for manufacturing teams, and features two key thought leaders with MaintainX, a maintenance and asset management platform purpose-built to help frontline industrial teams run more efficient, resilient, and safer operations. Nick Hasse is the co-founder of MaintainX, and has spent thousands of hours on the factory floor helping manufacturing and industrial leaders transform their operations with frontline-friendly software and AI. Roshan Satish is the lead product manager for applied AI at MaintainX, who is leading the development of AI-powered maintenance tools including MaintainX Copilot.
IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger and Senior Technology Editor Dennis Scimeca talk 5G in this episode, taken from our Production Pulse livestream series. IndustryWeek recently launched a documentary-style video series, looking at how large manufacturers tackle significant technology challenges. For the first episode, we feature John Deere's work in Waterloo, Iowa -- using private wireless networking systems to manage massive data flows needed to build tractors.
Maria DeLorenzis Reyes, CEO of Training Innovations/MDR Brands, explains why a workplace culture is most successful when it encourages interactive feedback and takes a long-term view for safety training.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services chief editor Tom Wilk is joined by Maureen Gribble, the sales enablement leader for North America at UE Systems, to preview the upcoming Leading Reliability conference. The event takes place May 12-15 in Clearwater Beach, Florida, with four days of workshops, practitioner sessions, and networking in a gorgeous venue. Anyone interested in attending a conference with like-minded professionals from all kinds of verticals will find people at this event who have lived your experience and have something to say about how they solve problems.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers how to use observation to be a better manager, why you should have a mentor and how to be a better mentor yourself.
Discover the differences between AI types, explore real-world applications, understand the challenges around adoption, and get actionable insight on strategic implementation to boost efficiency on your factory floor.
President Donald Trump's 10% tariffs on all imports to the United States, rising to as high as 49% for some countries, promise to upend the manufacturing landscape, forcing many producers to look for new suppliers and creating dramatic opportunities for companies that already have their production here.
It's too soon the know all of the impacts, but a few things are clear:
- Costs will go up on manfacturers that rely on foreign suppliers for key components
- Companies will continue facing labor shortages, especially for skilled positions
- Good management principles won't offset all of the changes, but they'll be more important than ever
- And technology could provide some relief, but it's not going to be a cure all
Discussing these topics are InudstryWeek's editors. Below are some written thoughts that each of them had on the topic.
Falling from heights is a recurring safety problem at workplaces. Mike Van Bree, president of the American Ladder Institute, explains why training, education and efforts like National Ladder Safety month are helping to reduce the number of reported ladder accidents.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Francisco Almada Lobo, CEO of Critical Manufacturing and an Industry 4.0 evangelist, educator, and author, joins Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl to chat about what real transformation looks like, which steps to use, and how not to leave outdated processes still in place.
James Lane is a plant manager with Trivium Packaging. He works out of their Youngstown plant, which is the largest of many plants that Trivium operates, and he's skilled in operations management, continuous improvement, and business process improvement. James is also a strong media and communications professional, having earned a J.D. degree focused on corporate law from Capital University Law School, which has informed his leadership in union environments and contract negotiations. James recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about his journey from military service to manufacturing leadership in the packaging industry.
This podcast discusses the opportunity around digital commerce for mid-market manufacturers. It explores how digital commerce can drive growth, how AI-powered solutions reduce barriers to entry, and how companies can scale their approach strategically. Businesses that invest in digital now can position themselves ahead of the competition, creating seamless buying experiences that meet customer expectations and drive efficiency through the automation of operations.
ProMat 2025 continues this week, bringing tens of thousands and supply chain and material handling professionals to Chicago to see what's new and innovative.
Several major themes were apparent in talking to exhibitors and show attendees:
- Labor reduction. Most distribution center operators say they're struggling to find enough people to do the daily work, and finding seasonal help when they want twice as many people. Exhibitors presented dozens of technologies that minimize training, simplify work or automate functions.
- Going up. Vertical systems are everywhere at the show. New facilities are building higher and higher roofs to be able to stack material vertically and minimize real estate costs.
- OEM-backed startups. IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca has been writing about this trend for a few years—major companies starting in-house incubators or venture capital operations to capture new ideas and product innovations. At ProMat, I talked to companies backed by Toyota, Nokia, Piaggio and several others.
- Cool technology. Well, not exactly a trend, but something I definitely noticed. Whether it was robots that charge themselves while moving through a facility, AI-driven picking systems that automatically re-sorted misplaced goods or drones running inspection, there were just a bunch of cool, nifty ideas on display.
Christie Smith, former VP of Diversity & Inclusion with Apple and founder of The Humanity Studio, explains why US companies will lose their competitive advantage if they don’t build DEI into their culture.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into understanding the difference between maintenance and reliability engineers and how to best use their strengths.
Facing network challenges in dusty or wet conditions Explore the importance of IP67 ratings for industrial networking, gaining practical guidance for choosing the right devices to prevent failures.
About the Article
Understanding the IP67 Rating for Industrial Networking Devices
Learn how IP67-rated enclosures protect your critical industrial networking devices from dust and water damage, ensuring reliable performance in harsh manufacturing environments.
Written by Henry Martel
Read by Laura Davis
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Stop pretending to know it all if you want to be a great manufacturing leader, and AI tools could help you do that.
Those were a few of the insights from an experts panel discussion on the proper uses of kaizen, lean and other continuous improvement strategies in the modern factory. Responding to an audience question, AI took center stage and some of the brightest minds in operational excellence detailed how these tools could improve managers' abilities to empower workforces and drive improvements.
The panel for the livestream was:
- Katie Anderson, leadership consultant, speaker, and learning enthusiast, author of "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn" as well as a regular IndustryWeek contributor
- John Dyer, author of "The Façade of Excellence: Defining a New Normal of Leadership," as well as a frequent speaker on topics of leadership, continuous improvement, teamwork and culture change
- Michael Bremer, author of "How to Do a Gemba Walk" and "Learn to See the Invisible"
- Jill Jusko, executive editor and continuous improvement guru at IndustryWeek
Steve Strong of Concept Systems and Benjamin Kurth of Applied Manufacturing Technologies join the podcast and Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl to talk automation and why “easier” doesn’t always mean inexpensive and why plug-and-play isn’t always your answer.
The number one concern for US manufacturers continues to be the shortage of available labor – which has prompted their steady progress toward automation, and then to digitalization, and lately to Artificial Intelligence, to fill in the missing resources. All that progress is creating a significant volume of data that is vulnerable to attack. A cloud-based software developer assesses the problem and offers some tips for addressing the risk.
About the Article
How Manufacturers Can Effectively and Securely Manage Data
As cyber threats escalate, embrace cloud-based systems and adhere to best practices for data security.
Written by Matt Heerey
Read by Robert Brooks
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In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, chief editor Thomas Wilk talkes with Mike Holloway, president of 5th Order Industry, about the intersection of artificial intelligence and oil analysis. Mike has more than 40 years experience in industry and holds 16 professional certifications, a patent, an MS in polymer engineering, a BS in Chemistry, and a BA in philosophy. Mike is a subject matter expert in tribology, oil and failure analysis, reliability engineering, and designed experiments for science and engineering. He is currently publishing a blog series with Plant Services on AI and oil analysis, and previously published an article on tribology certifications with this magazine.
From their (R)Evolutionizing Manufacturing program, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Industry 4.0 enthusiast Jeff Winter get back into what's practical in your factory floor tech transformations. An intriguing discussion about mindset in manufacturing today and tomorrow.
America is hungry for electricity. Between the rising number of data centers that power AI chatbots and cloud computing systems to electric vehicles to new home construction to trends in manufacturing, we need more electricity going into the system and upgrades to the distribution grid to safely deliver that power to users.
Early Thursday, electronics manufacturing Flex announced plans to build a new facility near Dallas, Texas, to make switchgear and other components necessary to support data centers. The so-called power pods include all of the major components needed to add adequate power for electric-hungry data processing facilities.
And the Flex news follows recent announcements from Eaton Corp. and Schneider Electric on similar investments in grid-supporting components. ArcelorMittal recently announced a $1.2 billion plant in Alabama to make speciality steel for electrical applications as well.
Major electrical equipment manufacturers are boosting production of transformers and switches to make that happen. Our editors roundtable from Endeavor Business Media (owner of IndustryWeek) include:
- Chris Butler, president of Embedded and Critical Power at Flex
- Nikki Chandler, group editorial director for T&D World, EnergyTech and Microgrid Knowledge
- Sara Jensen, executive editor of Power & Motion
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
- Matt Vincent, editor-in-chief of Data Center Frontier
Benchmark Gensuite’s Natasha Porter explains creative applications for AI in the workplace and how AI-based tools can help move the needle on occupational health and safety.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into training the maintenance and reliability team and building credibility.
The scarcity of labor and the need to remain competitive means that producers of cast parts must embrace automated grinding. Jeff Antonic of Stratecasts explains why that decision leads to more choices.
Time-sensitive networking (TSN) has emerged in the industry, promising to change industrial communication networks for the better through guaranteed data delivery with minimal latency and jitter. In this episode of the Great Question: A Manufacturing podcast, New Equipment Digest editor-in-chief Laura Davis discusses the challenges that arise from implementing time-sensitive networking and how to overcome them for successful integration.
About the Article
Time-Sensitive Networking: The Benefits, the Challenges, and How to Integrate Successfully
Learn about Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN)—an advanced ethernet technology—along with its benefits, its main challenges, and tips to help you integrate it successfully.
Written by Moxa
Read by Laura Davis
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Education and training remain the best ways for manufacturers to protect themselves against hackers, but that can be a challenge when you're talking about hundreds or thousands of employees on shop floors instead of a handful of people in offices. IT managers often don't understand how the shop floor works or comprehend the difficulties of the tasks that manufacturing workers perform daily.
That's a key takeaway from IndustryWeek Senior Editor for Technology Dennis Scimeca's recent interview with Rob Larsen, security advisor for Silverfort and former chief security architect for General Motors.
In this episode from the regular Production Pulse livestream series, Scimeca and Larsen discuss why hackers love to target manufacturers (hint: it's where the money is), how not to shame employees for possible breaches and how to set up basic protections.
From AI, to cybersecurity, to decentralizing utility grids, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl breaks down highlights from the monthlong web series that SI debuted to start the new year.
Rosemary Coates is the executive director of the Reshoring Institute, as well as the President of Blue Silk Consulting. She has more than 30 years of experience in supply chain, reshoring, and nearshoring, and is the author of several books including 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, and the Reshoring Guidebook.
Rosemary appeared on the podcast in 2024 to talk about the general impact that reshoring initiatives were having in North America, and in this new episode she unpacks some of the ripple effects on reshoring that might occur as a result of new 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico curretly being proposed by the Trump administration.
U.S. troops are not likely to invade Panama to retake the Panama Canal, but U.S. influence over the trade zone could expand greatly in the next few years, says Andrew Thomas, a professor at the University of Akron and author of books about the Canal and the shale gas boom making the canal more influential.
In a wide-ranging interview with IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger, Thomas explains why the Canal is relevant again after decades of being something that the United States wanted to divest, how China became a dominant player in the region and how Trump's new insistence that the U.S. retake control of the canal could play out.
The conversation builds on a series of stories that Thomas wrote for the publication:
- China Saw Opportunity in the Panama Canal as US Interest Dwindled
- Trump, China and Shale: What's Next for the Panama Canal?
Many modern manufacturing plants generate some amount of electricity, either from solar panels on the roof or diesel generators or natural gas turbines. Some are trying to meet sustainability goals, others are working to ensure they'll have the power they need to run production.
Great power not only comes with great responsibility (my apologies to Stan Lee), it comes with managment challenges. Making use of on-site power typically demands a microgrid to cycle betwen power from utilities and the electricity generated by other resources.
As part of IndustryWeek's regular Production Pulse livestream series, we invited several experts to discuss what microgrids are, why they're growing and what to expect in the near term.
Speakers were:
- Jana Gerber, president of Schneider Electric's North American microgrid business
- Rod Walton, managing editor of Microgrid Knowledge, part of IndustryWeek's parent company Endeavor Business Media
- David Paganie, content director for the upcoming Microgrid Knowledge Conference
Phillip Russell, a partner with Ogletree Deakins, offers his insights into what OSHA under a new Trump administration will be like, and offers suggestions on how companies can best work with OSHA.
About the Article
What Will OSHA Look Like Under New Administration?
“I think we will see innovation from Trump 47 like we’ve never seen before,” says Phillip Russell, Ogletree Deakins.
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Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into process management and avoiding the drift away from standards.
Get an inside look at four game-changing technological developments poised to change multiple industries.
2024 was been a year of remarkable growth and innovation for the manufacturing sector, with global supply chain challenges and innovations in smart manufacturing pushing companies to adapt and rethink their strategies. But what's in store for 2025? In this podcast, the editors from Endeavor Business Media’s Manufacturing Group look forward at the trends they will be keeping their eyes on in the new year.
Interest rates help determine when and how much manufacturers and machine shops invest in new machinery, systems, and consumables. Now that the Federal Reserve Bank has cut interest rates for a third time – should manufacturers be ready to invest? What other factors are shaping their choices in 2025? Chris Chidzik, chief economist for AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology, explains it all.
2024 has been a year of remarkable growth and innovation for the manufacturing sector, with key trends making lasting impressions on the industry. Automation, AI, and advanced robotics have gained traction, while sustainability initiatives have become a central focus for many manufacturers. Additionally, global supply chain challenges and innovations in smart manufacturing have pushed companies to adapt and rethink their strategies. In this year’s end wrap-up, the editors from Endeavor Business Media’s Manufacturing Group look back at the most important trends that impacted manufacturing in 2024 and offer insights into the direction the industry is heading.
Anna Townshend is managing editor of Plant Services and has been a journalist and editor for almost 20 years. In addition to writing and editing thousands of articles in her career, she has been an active speaker on industry panels and presentations. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, she reads her latest Maintenance Mindset article, where each week one of the Plant Services editors highlights important and interesting nuggets in the news about manufacturing and asset management.
About the Article
Maintenance Mindset: The future of emissions monitoring — Exploring NIST’s game-changing spectroscopy technology
New laser technology from NIST researchers to measure greenhouse gas emissions could bring better methods to the plant floor.
Written and read by Anna Townshend
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IndustryWeek Senior Technology Editor Dennis Scimeca discusses which plant technologies are cool and fun to discuss, and which ones offered the best, measurable real-world results for manufacturers in 2024. Joining him are:* Paul Miller, VP and principal analyst, Smart Manufacturing & Future Mobility, Forrester Research * Ryan Martin, senior research director for Digital Transformation, ABI Research
Learn everything you need to know about machine vision, its components, and its use in industrial applications.
About the Article
What Is Machine Vision?
Learn the difference between computer and machine vision, the four types of machine vision systems, and the importance of lighting in imaging applications.
Written by John D. Thrailkill
Read by Laura Davis
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Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how to determine employee ratios on the plant floor and throughout the company.
In this episode, we break down how Doss has streamlined Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) and Order-to-Cash workflows to meet the needs of machinery and industrial companies. Traditional ERP systems often fall short for real-world teams in these industries—demanding lengthy setup times, high costs, and extensive customization. Doss’s Adaptive Resource Platform (ARP) takes a different approach, providing flexibility and usability without the common ERP headaches.
Our CPQ solution, inspired by customer needs in grinding and deburring, helps teams manage custom orders without creating bloated catalogs of unique SKUs. With Doss, teams can pull data from their catalogs, apply lookups and filters, and seamlessly manage both standard and custom configurations, all while maintaining a clean product catalog. Context-specific options adjust automatically for details like payment methods, sizes, and delivery locations, allowing workflows to adapt quickly without rigid coding.
On the Order-to-Cash side, Doss brings procurement, quoting, inventory, and invoicing processes into a single platform. For many industrial teams, these tasks are spread across multiple disconnected tools, which introduces inefficiencies and risks. Doss consolidates these functions, enabling teams to issue purchase orders, track inventory costs, and consolidate sales data from channels like Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale. This not only reduces manual coordination but also provides a unified view of the entire order cycle.
In this episode, we’ll cover the key elements of our CPQ and Order-to-Cash solutions, including insights from our customers and the specific challenges we address. Learn how Doss provides an efficient, composable solution for industrial teams looking to optimize operations and focus on growth without the overhead of traditional ERP implementations.
If 2024 was the year when the hype cycle for industrial AI hit its peak, what is in store for industry in 2025? Plant Services recently sat down with Aaron Merkin, Chief Technology Officer of Fluke Reliability, to get his insights and predictions on where manufacturing is headed. Merkin brings more than two decades of experience developing enterprise software across a variety of industries and markets, including roles at IBM, Dell, ABB, Aclara (now Hubbell), and Honeywell.
A discussion with Diversified Fall Protection’s Philip Jacklin on what OSHA’s Top 10 most common violations of FY2024 reveals about the safety of working at heights, what it doesn’t tell us and what safety professionals can do to create safer workplaces.
Chris van den Belt is the head of product management at IFS Ultimo, and his colleague Berend Booms is the head of EAM Insights. Chris and Berend recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about how can software (CMMS and EAM) help companies move to more proactive maintenance modes, and which parts of the workday to focus on when they start making that change.
For a very long time, computer-aided manufacturing – CAM – was contingent with CAD, computer-aided design. The parts and the programmer defined the manufacturing process. Now the world of programming is venturing into a new landscape in which artificial intelligence and digital twins are defining the production process for engineered parts.
Olivier Thenoz, Product Manager for CAM with Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, explains the current state of CAM for programmers and operators, and the future opportunities for manufacturers.
With last week’s election of Donald J. Trump to a second term in the White House, the big question for the manufacturing community is what to expect in trade policy. On the campaign trail, Trump made higher tariffs, especially in Chinese imports, a centerpiece of his agenda.
Supply chain and legal experts say companies should prepare for a different trade environment, but don’t try to be clever or overreact. Back in 2018, some companies tried to avoid the first round of Trump tariffs by trying to hide the country of origin of their goods.
It didn’t go well for them.
So, be skeptical about vendor claims that they can insulate you from trade changes.
But, at the same time, don’t expect things to change too quickly or spend wildly to build up inventory in expectations of higher prices. That strategy often leads to higher costs and rarely saves much in the long run.
Sharing these insights and others, as part of IndustryWeek’s regular Production Pulse livestream were:
- Jeremy Tancredi, partner in West Monroe's supply chain practice
- Dan Swartz, international tax services principal, Crowe
- Gregory Husisian, partner at Foley & Lardner LLP
- Jill Jusko, IndustryWeek’s executive editor
Plant turnarounds are tricky, overwhelming, and daunting. But they don’t have to be. Here are seven actionable steps you can take to ensure a plant turnaround for a chemical plant or refinery goes as smoothly as possible which include working with your vendor and setting clear requirements.
About the Article
How to Make Your Plant Turnaround Smooth and Effective
These 7 tips will help make your chemical plant or refinery turnaround much easier to execute.
Written by Mike Aughenbaugh
Read by Laura Davis
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Anna Townshend is managing editor of Plant Services and has been a journalist and editor for almost 20 years. In addition to writing and editing thousands of articles in her career, she has been an active speaker on industry panels and presentations. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Anna reads a piece that is part of our new Maintenance Mindset feature, where each week one of the Plant Services editors highlights important and interesting nuggets in the news about manufacturing and asset management.
About the Article
Maintenance Mindset: Little’s Law and lean manufacturing — A formula for operational excellence
This week, the PS team remembers the life and work of the theorem’s namesake John D.C. Little and its influence on lean manufacturing.
Written and read by Anna Townshend
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Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Industry 4.0 thought leader Jeff Winter delve into a two-part chat on imagination in digital transformation ... how to dream about what's possible but also be mindful of what's practical. An intriguing discussion about mindset in manufacturing technology.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, is a former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, and he is now president of Lean Driven Reliability. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how managers deal with employees’ bad attitudes.
Even if you're listening to this after Halloween, please enjoy this special treat of a group discussion around all things candy. Where does our candy come from? What are people eating these days? Why do kids like gummy candy instead of recognizing that chocolate is the only thing worth eating?
Most importantly, what's coming up from food manufacturers in the future? What great product will add inches to our waistlines in 2025?
The ask and answer some of these questions are:
- Linda Becker, editor-in-chief of Automatic Merchandizer and Vending Market Watch, titles that send her to vending machine and convenience store trade shows every year, candy-centric events at which companies share what's coming up in the world of sugar
- Andy Hanacek, senior editor of Food Processing, a title that covers food manufacturers
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek who does consider peanut M&Ms to be a salad
Ryan Magee, newly appointed CEO of Cority, shares his thoughts on the impact that technology, particularly AI, is having on workplace safety, and what the future looks like for EHS professionals hoping to leverage new technology.
Greg Martin is founder at Equip LLC Automation Consulting, a software and electrical service provider in South Bend, Indiana, that works specifically with automated systems. Greg was in Chicago recently to explore the IMTS 2024 trade show, and met up with Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, to trade their observations and reflect on the past 10 years of systems integration.
Editors Scott Achelpohl, Tom Wilk, and Dennis Scimeca sit down with Andrew Burton, the enterprise cloud software vendor's global industry director of manufacturing, about the IFS conference in Orlando, why the company wants to trailblaze with artificial intelligence and how, as its CEO said at the show, IFS wants to be the "undisputed leader in industrial software."
Nevermind machine learning … Andrew Halonen, founder of Amatrium and the AmatriumGPT tool, argues that LLMs offer multiple paths for manufacturers to expand their capabilities and extend their market reach.
Almost everyone's seen some version of this: You've got a great system in place that's producing measurable improvements, but your company gets a new division head or president or CEO, and some new shiny object becomes the focus.
Ever wanted to ask an implementation person how they handle that? At the IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit this summer, an audience member put the question that bluntly to Marty Hallman, director of bearing operations at The Timken Co. Like most of us, Hallman's been through that sort of turmoil, and he explained how Timken keeps going with lean management principles, even when leadership changes.
Joining Hallman was Sam McPherson, president of the Lean Leadership Academy. In addition to talking leadership change, they discussed how to develop leaders internally, how to implement production-improving strategies and how to get the most of the training time they spend with up-and-coming leaders.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest, sits down with Mark Harris, CEO of HeroWear, to explore the cutting-edge world of exosuits. These innovative wearable devices are changing workplace safety and productivity, particularly in industries where manual material handling is a daily challenge.
Harris shares insights into the development of HeroWear's exosuits, designed to reduce the physical strain on workers' bodies while improving comfort and usability. From addressing age-old back injury problems to boosting productivity and reducing employee turnover, exosuits are proving to be a valuable piece of PPE in the manufacturing and logistics sectors.
Trevor Joelson is an energy and decarbonization service account executive at Trane. Over the past ten years, Trevor has held various roles in corporate energy and sustainability management and has become an expert in the energy markets and how the supply-side of energy connects to the built environment. In his current role, Trevor works with manufacturers to help them establish strategies and programs to meet decarbonization objectives. Trevor recently spoke with Plant Services managing editor Anna Townshend about utilizing electrification as a growing part of your plant’s emissions reduction strategy.
Not only is it Manufacturing Month, but October also is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. To mark the occasion, Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl recruited Joe Anderson of Ohio-based TechSolve to talk about how robust cyber defenses can start with up-to-date password practices and policies.
Anderson is a big “get” for Smart Industry—an IT and info security pro with over 25 years of industry experience, possessing several cybersecurity certifications. His company, among other IT services, helps small manufacturers (TechSolve is part of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership in Ohio) tackle cybersecurity compliance challenges and risk management.
For manufacturers and the shop floor, cybersecurity and secure OT and IT requires constant vigilance. One of the most common-sense strategies for this is password security—and for lots of companies, mandatory policies relating to passwords often become necessary. Look at examples like Clorox recently: A breach, any breach, can cost millions in “ransom” to cyberattackers and in production downtime. And passwords are often easily hacked.
CMMS. Digital Twins. IIOT. IOT. When it comes to the landscape of technology in manufacturing, it can be hard to know how to start your own transformation – or where. The industry is transforming daily as software for automation, collaboration, effiency, and safety become a bigger part of the modern shop floor, yet amidst all that tech it can hard to see where to apply it to get the most benefit.
Josh Cranfill, GM of Quickbase’s Manufacturing Business, knows how hard this can be. Every day, he talks to manufacturers looking to start their own transformation with technology against the pressures of staying competitive, on time and on budget, and keeping employees productive and safe.
In this podcast, Josh will offer his practical advice on where to start by picking small, achievable and measurable projects to demonstrate success and gain the buy-in needed to drive bigger, more impactful change. Any technology should help you achieve your business objectives, not get in the way, aligning with your company’s goals and supporting and enhances business strategies, leading to better performance and a competitive edge.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how to create reliability buy-in at all levels of the plant.
In advance of MFG Day on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, a panel of manufacturing publication editors and a representative of The Manufacturing Institute discussed how the industry is doing in its attempt to win over a new generation of young people. Attracting skilled and unskilled workers to factories remains difficult, despite a growing number of people saying technical fields provide young people with a great alternative to college.
Discussing these issues were:
- Jen White, director of student engagement at The Manufacturing Institute, who spoke about the history of MFG Day and what businesses are doing this year
- Traci Purdum, editor-in-chief of Chemical Processing, who discussed on ongoing series of stories her staff is writing about preparing the workforce for the future in the process industries
- Andrea Corona, senior editor at Pharma Manufacturing, who discussed how high-tech producers are facing challenges
- Geert De Lombaerde, editor-at-large for IndustryWeek parent company Endeavor Business Media, who discussed the Perceptions of the Trades research study that shows parents and young people more interested in skilled trades, but not as much in manufacturing skilled trades
- Rehana Begg, editor-in-chief of Machine Design, who discussed how equipment producers are rethinking controls and machine interfaces to make their easier to use and more familiar to younger workers (touchscreens replacing dials, for example)
- Moderator Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
In this podcast, you’ll hear gain key insights from Newcastle Systems’ CEO John O’Kelly on why warehouses struggle to retain workers, and some of the secrets to attracting and retaining workers. And no, it’s not all about the money.
About the Article
Key Insights into Retaining Warehouse Workers
Companies must create a culture where employees feel valued.
Written by John O'Kelly
Read by Adrienne Selko
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Between presidential election politics, declining orders in manufacturing and rate cuts, the economy has been unpredictable and difficult for most manufacturers in 2024. But, smaller companies have unique challenges and opportunities. Our panel of seasoned manufacturing CEOs from smaller companies discussed the importance of tracking the economy, difficulties they've had in hiring critical people (especially maintenance professionals) and the weirdness of the current market with some industries posting massive gains and others struggling to make ends meet.
Our panelists for this Sept. 19 live discussion were:
- Laura Putre, senior editor at IndustryWeek
- Jack Schron, CEO of Jergens Inc.
- Blair Haas, CEO of Bud Industries
Manufacturers have been collecting and analyzing data for decades – using that data to inform design work and draft simulation programs, and to analyze performances and direct resources. And all this experience has many manufacturers asking what precisely is the role for artificial intelligence?
Pico MES CEO Ryan Kuhlenbeck and MORryde Process Improvement Engineer Greg Whitt joined Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl for a discussion on how small and midsize factories can transition from manual to digital manufacturing, starting right down on the factory floor.
Vikki Young is the global research and development group leader for Sherwin-Williams high performance floor coatings. Vikki received her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota before working at Tennant Company for more than 20 years. Vikki recently spoke with Thomas Wilk, editor in chief of Plant Services, to answer a really interesting question: what goes into reliable flooring in EV battery production facilities, and how are these floors maintained to ensure asset reliability and worker safety?
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest dives deep into the world of robotics, exploring six inventions that are reshaping industries and pushing the boundaries of what's possible. From a baseball-playing drone developed by MIT to a flame-throwing robot dog, and from a beach-cleaning quadruped to a record-breaking Rubik's Cube solver, she covers an exciting array of robotic advancements.
Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a manufacturing professional, or simply curious about the future of robotics, this episode offers fascinating insights into the latest research and development in the field. Listen as Laura unpacks these innovations and discusses their potential impact on manufacturing and beyond.
In this “Talking EHS” podcast, Katie McLaughlin, manager-HSE RAVS with ISN, shares her insights on the implications of OSHA’s new worker-walkaround rule, as well as the impact the new rule will have on safety managers.
IMTS 2024, the International Manufacturing Technology Show, is back, and companies are talking about a little bit of everything. Typically, two days into a show, a clear theme emerges, but this year, not so much.
Discussing this are:
- Sharon Spielman, technical editor of Machine Design
- Tom Wilk, editor-in-chief of Plant Services
- Robert Brooks, editor-in-chief of American Machinist
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Industry 4.0 influencer Jeff Winter and Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl take on an issue that has topped technology conversations all year: artificial intelligence.
AI: Is there any other topic, inside or outside of manufacturing, that is quite as hyped? A lot of technological people are confused about what their companies should be doing (or not doing) with AI. Some rely on their normal software vendors who provide ERPs or other systems for answers to their questions. Others seek answers on their own. Influencer Jeff Winter and Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl use their monthly chat to cut through some of the clutter and take listener questions about AI.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence.
In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how maintenance micromanagers prevent workers from making decisions and learning from their mistakes.
The International Manufacturing Technology Show starts up Monday, Sept. 9, bringing every type of machine and technology that might be useful in a plant to Chicago's McCormick Place.
The massive show always draws media coverage, especially from publications such as IndustryWeek and our partners within Endeavor Business Media. Discussing what we're looking forward to seeing at this year's show are:
- Robert Brooks, editor-in-chief of American Machinist
- Tom Wilk, editor-in-chief of Plant Services
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
It's no secret there is a labor shortage problem in manufacturing, with many more jobs available today than people to fill those jobs, and a growing chasm between people entering the industry versus those leaving.
Lurking in that labor challenge is maybe the biggest threat - a "great retirement" where the biggest threat is older, more experienced workers retiring and taking with them a career's worth of skills, experience, and best practices. In the race to close that gap, technology can play a crucial role in mitigating the manufacturing "brain drain" by automating repetitive tasks, preserving institutional knowledge through digital documentation, enabling remote collaboration, and enhancing training with virtual simulations.
In this podcast, Anthony Offredi - director of Customer Advocacy at Quickbase and a veteran of the manufacturing world - will discuss this brand drain and highlight technology solutions that can help combat this growing challenge, helping to attract and retain talent by capturing that knowledge while making work more engaging, efficient, and adaptable to new challenges in the industry.
For a long time, compressed air systems were a massive time drain on stretched maintenance personnel, with plants reluctantly willing to make a tradeoff of continuous manual intervention in exchange for constant air delivery. However, things are different these days. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Ron Marshall of Compressed Air Challenge reviews some of the key changes in the compressed air world over the past 10 years have dramatically improved things for compressed air users.
Read "Compressed air innovations in industry: A 10-year retrospective"
At the IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit in June in Indianapolis, IT and OT experts discussed how to connect people with technology to make digital transformation work. In this frank panel discussion, manufacturing experts talked about why so many projects fail, how to justify spending more money on new tech after the old project failed and how to get the needed buy in to continually improve tech adoptions.
Speaking are:
- Scott Achelpohl, managing editor of Smart Industry
- Jerry Grunewald, Vice Presidnt R&D/Technology - Invista
- Raj Polanki, U.S. Region Head of IT - Wacker Chemical Corp.
- Ryan Kuhlenbeck, CEO - Pico MES
- Greg Whitt, Process Improvement Engineer - MORryde
There is a chronic problem limiting U.S. manufacturing productivity – and the growth potential for individual manufacturers. One study claims manufacturers may require as many as 3.8 million new employees by 2033. A new approach has been developed for manufacturers seeking to locate and hire, and retain, qualified workers for manufacturing jobs. Chad Schron, senior director of Tooling U-SME describes how it works.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest talks with Shalab “Shalli” Kumar, founder and chairman of EZAutomation on his success in the automation industry, his numerous patents, and his affordable, high-quality automation products that are all manufactured in the U.S.
Industry 4.0 enthusiast and thought leader Jeff Winter teamed up with Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl for “the sequel” to their debut of SI's monthly manufacturing technology series, (R)Evolutionizing Manufacturing. While the premiere dealt with the ABCs of digital transformation, this episode covers an absolutely foundational concept that every company trying to transform must understand: It’s all about the data.
“All the cool new technologies and transformational initiatives you hear about revolve around properly capturing and extracting value from data,” as Jeff points out in this new episode.
And if a company doesn’t do this, it can cost millions a year; a lot of money is wasted on bad data. So much of it is being collected, so it’s critical to distinguish the good data from the bad.
Connecting frontline workers with back-end manufacturing technology can give them the context and information to do their jobs better. But, how does it work, and what are the immediate goals? IW discusses the technology with Jerry Grunewald of INVISTA and Eric Whitley of L2L.
Topics discussed included:
- Which technologies really make sense for companies?
- How connected worker systems are like Twitter.
- How to make sure that systems are useful, usable and used!
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest discusses five reasons automation can work for any company—even the small ones.
About the Article
5 Reasons Why Small or Mid-Size Shops Can't Say No to Automation
Mentioning automating, robots, or cobots to a small or mid-size job shop owner will likely be met with skepticism and a chorus of “not for me” responses. Here's the truth of the matter and five reasons to reconsider.
Written by Arie Thompson
Read by Laura Davis
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Shawn Galloway is the CEO of ProAct Safety, a global consultancy firm that works with hundreds of clients across all major industries. He is also a professional speaker and author of several bestselling books on strategy, culture, leadership and employee engagement. Over the course of his career, Shawn has contributed to over 700 podcasts, 200 articles, and 100 videos. Shawn recently spoke with Anna Townshend, managing editor of Plant Services, about some concerning trends he’s seeing in safety cultures and practices.
In the first episode of their (R)Evolutionizing Manufacturing video series, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Industry 4.0 guru and evangelist Jeff Winter discuss the basics of how companies can start down the data-driven production path.
In addition to talking digital transformation basics, Scott and Jeff took on audience questions gathered from Jeff's very active LinkedIn page to address concerns from people in industry.
With plant turnarounds requiring significant resources to plan and execute, there are many factors to take into consideration. The pandemic magnified some of the issues in this space and challenges still exist today, making it important to implement best practices that will enable success. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Mike Aughenbaugh, associate target market manager for Swagelok, explains the evolution of turnarounds as a result of the pandemic and best practices that can enable improved processes.
As its name implies, continuous improvement is a journey with no fixed destination. Getting better every day means there's always more to do. Staying committed to that principle demands a culture that stresses and rewards continuous improvement.
In this panel discussion, recorded at the IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit in June in Indianapolis, panelists discuss how to build that culture of continuous improvement, and just as important, how to maintain it for years to come. Speakers were:
- David Higgs, Vice President of MEC Business Excellence (MBX), Mayville Engineering Co. (MEC)
- Eric Lussier, Principal - Next Level Partners
- Gene Mussel, Director - Wipfli LLP
- Randy Morehouse, Director of Operations - Falcon Plastics
- Jill Jusko, Executive Editor - IndustryWeek
In this “Talking EHS” podcast, we offer a sneak preview of Safety Leadership Conference 2024, highlighting the speakers, the special events and the opportunities to network with some of the industry’s most prominent safety professionals.
Register for the show
Dave Aebischer is a senior data analyst for Cintel. Throughout his career, Dave has focused on improving Army weapon system sustainment outcomes and developing new diagnostic technologies for combat equipment applications. He has introduced innovative technologies and techniques for meeting the challenges of sustaining complex weapon systems in combat environments.
Dave recently spoke with Thomas Wilk, editor in chief of Plant Services, about a project he and his team worked on to support the PATRIOT missile defense system program. In part 2 of their conversation, Dave explains how he used a new condition monitoring tool, motion amplification, to further improve the reliability of the tactical power generators by identifying additional defects that other monitoring methods would have missed.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into whether having operators perform maintenance tasks will help or hurt your company.
Today’s EHS professionals are at the nexus of some of the most critical priorities in manufacturing. Competitive pressures and continued automation of processes are creating new challenges in managing the internal and external environments surrounding a plant or facility, placing enormous pressure on the management of equipment, materials, and people to maintain a compliant environment. Meanwhile, compliance requirements continue to grow and intensify, bringing new requirements for capturing data and information.
All of this speaks to a big opportunity in EHS for manufacturers – centralizing and connecting data. The ability to capture as much data and information as possible in one place can not only ensure buildings, equipment, and people are safe and protected, but also unlock opportunities for greater automation that can help streamline processes and protect and preserve business continuity.
Emily Cash, M.S., Director of Global EHS and Regulatory Compliance, can take listeners through a “day in the life” of a modern EHS professional, sharing her experience in managing 17 facilities for medical device manufacturer Tecomet, Inc.
Dave Aebischer is a senior data analyst for Cintel. Throughout his career, Dave has focused on improving Army weapon system sustainment outcomes and developing new diagnostic technologies for combat equipment applications. He has introduced innovative technologies and techniques for meeting the challenges of sustaining complex weapon systems in combat environments.
Dave recently spoke with Thomas Wilk, editor in chief of Plant Services, about a project he and his team worked on to support the PATRIOT missile defense system program. In part 1 of their conversation, Dave details how he combined vibration analysis and 25 years of experience on power generators to successfully identify and correct an issue with new generator assets.
The rising volume of aluminum in automotive production is changing the requirements for - and the means by which - those raw materials are sourced, and along with regulatory changes it is reshaping the scrap sorting and processing industry. This installment of the podcast samples a new article highlighting the benefits, limitations, and challenges of recycling aluminum from used cars, underscoring the importance of nonferrous metal recycling in a sustainability-driven world.
About the Article
Advances in Aluminum Recycling for Metalcasting
The shift from abundant, cheap energy sources with minimal waste reduction to stringent global regulations focused on minimizing pollution and resource consumption presents challenges and opportunities for the foundry industry.
Written by Engin Kılınç
Read by Robert Brooks
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Manufacturers have known for more than 20 years that they needed more engineers and science/engineering/math-oriented students to work in their shops. So, many are now starting younger, as early as middle school to expose young people to future manufacturing careers. Hear from:
Megan Barrett, Director of Operations at Engineering Tomorrow
Michael Gretczko, Deloitte’s Chief Business Architect
David Hook, R&D Engineer at CoorsTek Inc.
and IndustryWeek's Anna Smith
No one will ever accuse Dave Rizzardo, associate director of the Maryland World Class Consortia of being shy or dispassionate about lean manufacturing and operational excellence. But, on a panel discussion at IndustryWeek's recent Operations Leadership Summit, the audience got an earful from the operations expert on treating people right, listening to your employees and how it's the leader's job to make sure everyone else can do their work.
Joining Dave for this particularly lively panel discussion was his friend (well, they were friends at the start of the conversation) Carl Livesay, general manager of Maryland-based Mercury Plastics. Also speaking was Sarah Tilkens, CEO of the KPI Lab and senior manager for operational excellence at GE Healthcare. The moderator is Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief at IndustryWeek.
Bust your misconceptions of fiber optic cables by learning about their construction, types, terminations, costs, and advantages when used for the industrial IoT.
About the Article
A Guide to Fiber Cable Types and Cost for the Industrial IoT
Bust your misconceptions of fiber optic cables by learning about their construction, types, terminations, costs, and advantages when used for the industrial IoT.
Written by Henry Martel
Read by Laura Davis
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It’s a story so familiar that it is also a children’s proverb: “for want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.” In this new podcast episode we cover how to identify and eliminate pinch points on the manufacturing floor. Our guests this week, Jerry Nation and Hunter Price of Ingenics Corporation, talk about their experience helping plants in the automotive sector get past production bottlenecks that were dramatically slowing down production, and stressing out downstream operations teams.
Sean O’Meara is CIO of Monticello, Indiana-based heavy-duty generator and power enclosure maker Girtz Industries, and Jason Ryska is director of manufacturing technology development at one of the big Detroit Three, Ford Motor Company.
Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl moderated a question-and-answer session with O’Meara and Ryska at IndustryWeek’s end-of-June Operations Leadership Summit in Indianapolis, and since the chat was all about artificial intelligence applications in manufacturing, SI is bringing it to you as part of our group’s “Great Question” series.
Sean will say he knows a lot about what Girtz Industries does, but he’ll also say he’s their IT guy, meaning it’s his job to support the real experts, the engineers and manufacturing people who make it possible to do what Girtz does. He has helped Girtz overhaul its IT landscape, encompassing system integrations, network enhancements, and the adoption of robust platforms.
As the “IT guy,” part of his life has been all about AI, and how he can help Girtz leverage the use of AI in advancing its business processes and manufacturing processes. And he’s been a regular speaker at our industry conferences lately on the topic of how AI to the factory floor, including the just-concluded Operations Leadership Summit.
Jason and his team serve as intermediaries between technology companies and the automaker. His team looks at what problems need solving, the available technology and whether a technology initiative ties into Ford's larger objectives and business plan. Jason has almost 30 years of experience in automotive manufacturing.
The Reshoring Initiative's 2023 report shows jobs continuing to flow into the United States from Asia as companies look to shorten supply chains and protect themselves against ongoing trade disputes. The figure fell in 2023 from 2022's record but remains well elevated compared to pre-pandemic statistics.
At IndustryWeek and other Endeavor Business Media publications, we've seen that trend building with new battery plants, trucking hubs, pharmaceutical operations and plastic injection molding facilities popping up -- operations that might have gone to Asia a decade ago.
Discussing that trend are:
- Lynne Sherwin, managing editor of Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing
- Karen Langhauser, chief content director for Pharma Manufacturing
- Kevin Jones, editorial director of EBM's fleet group, including FleetOwner, Trailer/Body Builders, Bulk Transporter, Refrigerated Transporter, American Trucker, and Fleet Maintenance magazines and websites
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek and editorial director of EBM's manufacturing group
In this “Talking EHS” podcast episode, you’ll learn about the new tools and strategies companies are using to foster psychologically safer workplaces.
About the Article
The Psychology of Safety
New tools and strategies emerge to foster psychologically safer workplaces.
Written and read by Adrienne Selko
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Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into why fake numbers fake real progress.
Captain Unreliability is a satire of the state of the manufacturing industry in ’Merica today and is written by an industry professional known for using humor to get the point across. In his columns, The Captain covers a range of topics, including the art of avoiding work, creating a culture of unreliability, and why a reliability program is like a toilet. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Alexis Gajewski, senior content strategist for Plant Services, shares The Captain’s thoughts on fads and why all complex problems can be solved by embracing The Next Big Thing as the solution.
About the Article
Why chasing fads is the key to corporate success
Captain Unreliability thinks that you can tackle all complex problems by embracing The Next Big Thing as the solution.
Written by Captain Unreliability
Read by Alexis Gajewski
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2024 has reached its midpoint, and in businesses that is a good time for evaluation. There is uncertainty everywhere in manufacturing – with slow demand for manufactured products leading to weak revenue growth for manufacturing businesses. Here are three perspectives on the first half of 2024, and a peek at the months ahead of us.
Join Alexis Gajewski, who is filling in for Laura Davis, Editor in Chief of New Equipment Digest, as she talks about her choices for the latest new products to hit the manufacturing industry this past month.
Learn more about the products mentioned in this episode
Corey Dickens, CMRP, is a senior solutions consultant at Brightly, and describes himself as a maintenance practitioner and CMMS super user. Hs career has taken him into a wide variety of plants and industrial facilities, and recently he presented on maintenance best practices to the Craft Brewers Conference. In this conversation with chief editor Thomas Wilk, Dickens explains why some brewers refer to it as "equipment caretaking" and the hunger among brew pubs and micro breweries for maintenance knowledge.
Satish Saini, who is utility industries specialist for HEXstream and head of the United Nations Transmission & Distribution Energy Efficiency Working Group as well as the Chair of IEEE Smart Grid Technical Activities Committee, joins Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl as a follow-up to a February article Satish wrote on “smart” or advanced metering, which can help manufacturers cut energy costs, enhance reliability, and bolster conservation and sustainability.
According to Satish and HEXstream, investing in energy efficiency provides companies and organizations with opportunities well beyond energy savings. These techniques and technologies such as advanced metering can optimize and increase productivity at manufacturing companies while also reducing operating and maintenance costs and creating safer and more welcoming environments for their employees and customers.
Plus, governments and utilities welcome these advancements in industry because they help the environment and provide a way to measure energy consumption and power requirements, especially in areas where industrial activity is higher.
Keeping workers safe on the job should be the top priority for every business, so how is industrial America doing? Join IndustryWeek's Robert Schoenberger, EHS Today's Dave Blanchard and Chemical Processing's Traci Purdum as we discuss how companies are reducing worker risk and avoiding workplace accidents.
In this Supply Chain 101 “explainer” podcast, you’ll learn how outsourcing logistics allows companies to free up resources and focus on their core competencies.
About the Article
Supply Chain 101: Outsourcing Logistics
Outsourcing logistics allows companies to free up resources and focus on their core competencies.
Written by Jagan Reddy
Read by Adrienne Selko
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Enterprise technology expert Stu Johnson reports on the results or Rootstock Software’s recent survey of manufacturers – their expectations for generative Artificial Intelligence, and how they assess their business’s digital transformation.
Root cause analysis helps engineers analyze asset performance and identify the source of machine failure. But how many RCAs are enough for your maintenance program, and how can you use them to change behaviors instead of just fixing the assets? Shon Isenhour and Brian Hronchek of Eruditio join us for a discussion on how to optimize your time spent doing RCAs so they have maximum positive effect on your plant.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how to stop nurturing the emergency maintenance/dumpster fire culture.
For all of the hype and fear about ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, manufacturers say they're not really using generative AI, says IndustryWeek Senior Editor for Technology Dennis Scimeca. They're using all sorts of AI from machine learning to quality control systems, but few seem to be asking chatbots to write machine code in the style of Kenny Rogers.
Scimeca and IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger discuss attitudes toward technology from the latest IW Technology Survey, a report that also found that manufacturers might be using IIoT, but they don't really identify with the term anymore.
Join Laura Davis, EIC of New Equipment Digest as she talks about her choices for 10 of the latest new products to hit the manufacturing industry. Learn more about the products mentioned in this episode.
Glenn Jacobs is the Mayor of Knox County, TN. Heavy industry in the State of Tennessee is booming, especially automotive, and Knox County has added more than 2,500 jobs and seen $217 million in capital investment under the leadership of Mayor Jacobs. In this podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk gets in the ring with Mayor Jacobs to talk about several projects that are growing this manufacturing and industrial base.
Kiteworks CISO Frank Balonis, a 20-year veteran of IT support and protecting manufacturing data, joins Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl as a follow-up to an April article he wrote for SI in which he riffs off cyber threats that threaten the factory floor—both industrial OT and IT—and which methods of data intrusion require the most urgent action.
The proof is in numbers from Kiteworks: The average cost of a data breach in manufacturing has reached a staggering $4.47 million per occurrence. Much has been said about OT and IT defenses in manufacturing environments, which often are at the very least fragmented to combat the threat, so these companies are vulnerable to this kind of financial loss should they suffer an attack.
Frank discusses for how stealing private data is the objective for a majority of the malicious cyberattacks in manufacturing, with the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report indicating private data is compromised 58% of the time in cyberattacks in the manufacturing sector.
IndustryWeek's annual IW U.S. 500 list of the largest publicly traded manufacturing companies in the country offers a glimpse into the health of the overall industrial economy. Editors have worked tirelessly in recent years to rid the list of companies such as Apple, Nike and Monster Energy that seem like industrial producers but in reality farm out the hard work of manufacturing to their supply chains.
Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger discusses who's up, who's down and describes a manufacturing sector stuck in the blahs, waiting for anything (well, one very-specific something really) to spark some excitement. Listen to hear about:
- Why some materials producers are having great years while others suffer
- How one product and one company is sinking the healthcare sector
- What's up with Ford, General Motors and Tesla
Matt Doherty, managing director of workplace management with Sikich, discusses what California bill 533 could mean for all employers in terms of providing a detailed workplace violence prevention plan for their companies.
You know the stereotype of frontline industrial workers when it comes to soft skills: they're poor communicators with great ideas and a lot of rough edges. But how true is that stereotype really, in an age where good soft skills are required for the average plant worker to succeed on the job? And for managers who do want to polish their skills, what methods are proven to work? Join Lisa Brownlee, the owner and founder at Leader’s Imago, for a conversation on these topics and more.
Lisa holds both BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering. She worked for 11 years for a major engineering and manufacturing company in Columbia, SC, and is also a Lean 6-Sigma Master Black Belt. Her experience spans operations, continuous improvement, training development and delivery, and product assurance.
Environmental phenomena, regulatory standards, expanding consumer demand - and disappearing generating capacity have combined to create an impossible dilemma for manufacturers that depend on electric utilities.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how to get your team to support communication, accountability, and asking for help when they need it.
The IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit is approaching quickly. The inaugural event, slated for June 26-28, in Indianapolis, will address important topics from continuous improvement and smart technology adoption to workforce and leadership dynamics.
In this episode of Production Pulse, we are joined by two of the conference speakers, who discuss their upcoming presentations in the Summit's Continuous Improvement track. GE Healthcare's Sarah Tilkens speaks on optimizing talent for operational excellence, while Mercury Plastics' Carl Livesay addresses the challenging task of sustaining lean gains. Both are keen proponents of continuous improvement and unlocking the potential of your employees to drive manufacturing success.
This episode also shares an overview of the complete Summit program. Register for the event by May 3 and save $200.
Speakers are:
- Sarah Tilkens, Sr Manager - Operational Excellence - GE Healthcare
- Carl Livesay, General Manager - Mercury Plastics
- Jill Jusko, Executive Editor - IndustryWeek
- Laura Putre, Senior Editor - IndustryWeek, moderated the conversation
From personalized 3D-printed bandages to robotic hair restoration, discover how cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing healthcare. Dive into the world of biomimetic robotics inspired by nature and the latest advancements in 3D-printed cranial implants.
Read about this episode's inventions on our site:
- Skull Sculpting With World’s First 3D Cranial Implants
- Strand by Strand, Robots are Changing Painful Hair Loss Treatments
- Roll Up: Pangolin-Inspired Robot is Designed to Travel Within the Human Body
- 3D-Printed, Drug-Release Bandage Advances Treatment for Burn Patients
So far in April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued three major rulings on chemical producers that could have far-reaching impacts for manufacturers, food packaging and water infrastructure. And, more regulations are likely coming soon.
It's an election year, and the Biden Administration must get new rules finalized on the books well before November, or new rules will be easy for the next president to overturn if Biden loses his re-election bid. That's the view of Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Washington law firm Bergeson & Campbell PC.
Bergeson was a guest Thursday on a bonus episode of Production Pulse, IndustryWeek's live video series in which editors discuss important news topics with experts and manufacturing leaders. Typically, episodes run bi-weekly, but we wanted to get the regulatory episode in front of an audience right away, givien how active April has been.
Speakers were:
- Lynn L. Bergeson with Bergeson & Campbell
- Jon Katz, executive editor of Chemical Processing
- Andy Hanacek, senior editor of Food Processing
- Bob Crossen, editorial director for Water World and Endeavor Business Media's water group
Jake Hall is best known as the Manufacturing Millennial. A true industrial influencer, Jake talks about the latest technologies in the automation and manufacturing space, while making it engaging for all audiences. He has more than a decade of experience working with manufacturers, system integrators, and distributors, and he understands the importance of advocating for smart automation, robotics, and skilled trades. Jake recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about manufacturing's need for companies to attract and mentor the future skilled workforce.
Michael Bearman is the chief customer and administrative officer and general counsel at Vecna Robotics. For the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company he manages customer deployments and helps ensure the successful adoption of autonomous mobile robots. Before Vecna, he served as the chief operating officer at Vecna Technologies and is a member of the ASTM Committee 45 on Robotics, Automation and Autonomous Systems Executive Subcommittee.
He joined Smart Industry’s managing editor, Scott Achelpohl, to talk “robot wranglers” and how Vecna’s Pivotal Command Center and other products like it can remotely monitor the machines 24/7/365 and almost eliminate the need for humans to intervene in plants and warehouses, drawing people toward other, higher-value tasks and away from all that “wrangling.”
Whether you're a small business or a large industrial operation, choosing a compressed air service provider can significantly impact your efficiency, productivity, and bottom line. This sponsored podcast chat features Tony Montalto, the Director of Technical Product Management at FS-Curtis, as he reveals practical tips and strategies to help you navigate the selection process with confidence and make an informed decision that aligns with your goals and requirements.
For our bi-weekly Production Pulse series, Smart Industry managing editor Scott Achelpohl spoke with Dale Tutt, VP of Industry Strategy at Siemens, and Aaron Merkin, CTO at Fluke Corporation, about where to draw the line with AI as a tool or an overlord.
EHS Today’s editors analyze current workplace safety trends and developments, including a review of the 2024 Ohio Safety Congress, robot safety, and lessons learned from the Baltimore bridge disaster.
Brian Hronchek is a principal trainer and consultant at Eruditio. Over the years, Brian has worked as a maintenance manager, reliability engineer, and planning manager, and his background includes stints in the U.S. Marine Core and Purdue Aerospace Engineering. Brian recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about how to fill out the FMEA (click here for example template), and then use it to build robust equipment maintenance plans.
The relocation of manufacturing capabilities is a true phenomenon, making supply chains shorter and more sustainable, and reducing business's carbon footprints. The Reshoring Institute's executive director explains what's happening and what to expect.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how maintenance managers are failing their businesses and their direct reports.
The March 26 collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge resulted the losses of six lives, one of the busiest land routes on the East Coast and the temporary halt of shipping traffic through the No. 1 port for automotive imports and exports in the United States. Throughout the past week, editors at several IndustryWeek parent company Endeavor Business Media publications have been writing about the catastrophe, none more so than Roads & Bridges magazine.
For our bi-weekly Production Pulse livestream video series, we invited several of those editors to talk about the loss of the bridge, what that will do to shipping, how it could impact worker safety, how other reports will respond to the snarls and what's next for Baltimore. Speakers were:
- Ryan Curtiss, digital editor of Roads & Bridges.
- Anna Smith, news and supply chain editor of IndustryWeek.
- Rod Sutton, editor of Construction Equipment.
- Nicole Stempak, managing editor of EHS Today.
- Josh Fischer, editor-in-chief of FleetOwner.
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek.
In today's industrial world, keeping the gears turning smoothly is a big deal. Checking on those bearings and staying ahead with maintenance is key to avoiding those dreaded moments of downtime and equipment meltdowns. In a world where everyone's scrambling for efficiency, these new solutions for taking care of bearings and sealing things up tight are like secret weapons for staying ahead. They're making it a whole lot easier for manufacturers to stay on top in this ever-changing landscape. Listen as Laura Davis, Editor-in-Chief discusses six new products and solutions that are making maintenance and optimization easier in the world of bearings and seals.
If you would like to read more of Sheila's work and learn about new advancements in the industry, visit: https://www.plantservices.com/home/contact/11394358/sheila-kennedy.
About the Article
Advancements in industrial bearings and seals help improve longevity and functionality
Written by Sheila Kennedy
Read by Laura Davis
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What is an FMEA? When should you use it? Why is it an important step in helping maintenance teams move from a break-fix maintenance state to one that is more proactive? In this episode of Great Queston: A Manufacturing Podcast, Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk spoke with a specialist in the reliability field, Brian Hronchek, to start answering these questions and more about failure modes and effects analyses. Brian draws from his former experience as reliability engineer for U.S. Steel, maintenance manager for Exxon Mobil, and a 16-year veteran of the Marine Corps, in addition to his current work as a principal trainer and consultant at Eruditio.
Marcel van Helten of Red Lion Controls and Craig Resnick of ARC Advisory Group help Smart Industry address common challenges business owners face when their teams access data platforms and the easiest way to navigate the overwhelming amount of information that the platforms provide.
There are still a few more primaries to be held, but Joe Biden and Donald Trump have locked up Democratic and Republican nominations for November's election. So, what does that mean for the manufacturing world?
International trade, regulations, immigration, national security and taxation will all be part of the big national debate this year, and all of those topics touch on manufacturing in one way or another. Discussing those topics during the March 21, 2024, recording of Production Pulse, IndustryWeek's bi-weekly livestream program, were:
- Laura Putre, senior editor at IndustryWeek
- Bob Vavra, senior content director at Machine Design
- Karen Langhauser, chief content director at Pharma Manufacturing
- Andy Hanacek, senior editor of plant operations of Food Processing
Due to some technical difficulties, IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger, who produced this episode, occasionally pops up on screen and disappears. Sorry about that.
Hear from MH&L’s editors about the impact that AI, robots, automation and other technologies are having on warehousing and the supply chain, in this review of the MODEX 2024 trade show.
“Manufacturing technology” means machinery, and investments in machinery are a leading indicator of future manufacturing conditions. An economist spells out what is shaping the manufacturing economy right now.
Inderpreet Shoker is the directory of research as ARC Advisory Group. As a member of the asset performance management team, Inderpreet leads research initiatives related to APM, asset integrity management, plant asset management, and asset reliability. She has authored and co-authored several Worldwide Market Research reports, as well as researching augmented reality and other extended reality technologies. Inderpreet met up with Anna Townsend, managing editor of Plant Services, at the 2024 ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida, to talk about the changing landscape of asset management and what you can do to get and stay ahead of these disruptions.
Eight publications from Endeavor Business Media's Manufacturing Group contribute to Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, and once a month, the leaders of those brands get together to discuss what's been going on in their markets and what to expect in the near future.
Discussing the February and March were:
- IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger
- EHS Today and Material Handling & Logistics Editor-in-Chief Dave Blanchard
- New Equipment Digest Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis
- Plant Services Editor-in-Chief Tom Wilk
- Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl
- American Machinist and Foundry Management & Technology Editor-in-Chief Robert Brooks
Lights, camera, manufacturing! This weekend marks the 96th annual Academy Awards, where actors, directors, producers, and technical staff gather together to honor the achievements of the film industry. Despite the many varied categories, we would like to suggest a new award: Best depiction of manufacturing, maintenance, reliability, and engineering on screen.
In this special Oscars-inspired episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, editor in chief of Plant Services; Laura Davis, editor in chief of New Equipment Digest; Anna Townshend, managing editor of Plant Services; and Alexis Gajewski, senior content strategist of Plant Services, sit down to share their favorite maintenance, reliability, and manufacturing movies.
With International Women's Day tomorrow (March 8, 2024), IndustryWeek's Anna Smith discussed data showing that women in manufacturing are very happy with their career choices, but many feel that young women and girls aren't hearing enough about the opportunities available to them.
Joining Anna were:
- Adrianna Swift, an engineer at instruments manufacturer Endress+Hauser
- Elizabeth Parra, a process engineer at Subaru's plant in Indiana
Parra will be speaking this summer at the IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit, an event that will feature plant tours of the Subaru facility in LaFayette, Indiana, and Endress+Hauser's Indianapolis campus.
From garments that capture carbon emissions to self-healing fabrics, 3D-printed clothing, temperature-responsive fibers, and even textiles inspired by spider silk, we'll be uncovering the cutting-edge developments poised to revolutionize how we think about clothing and materials. In this episode, we take a closer look at these fascinating inventions, their potential impact on sustainability, performance, and design, and what the future holds for the textile industry.
All the innovations discussed in this episode are available in article form at the links below:
- Carbon Emission Clothing May Be Coming to a Walmart Near You
- Self-Healing Clothes May Become a Reality Thanks to Fungi
- LED Dress Opens Door to the Future of 3D Printing
- Shape-Shifting Fibers Expand and Contract Based on Body Temperature
- The Future of Textiles Lies in Spider Silk
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into the four truths you need to believe when beginning planned maintenance (PM).
Bill Leahy is the Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance Reliability, a veteran-owned and operated reliability and maintainability engineering consultancy dedicated to American manufacturers. Paul Lavoie is the Chief Manufacturing Officer at the State of Connecticut and is committed to helping manufacturers take advantage of market opportunities to grow their businesses and solidify Connecticut’s reputation as the Silicon Valley of advanced manufacturing.
The two worked closely on Unturning Steel, a documentary that helps provide service members with a path forward after returning home. In the film, Bill sets out on a hero’s journey to help his fellow veterans bring their talents to American manufacturing. Together with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Bill has created a new offering that provides veterans the support and training they need to find purpose in American manufacturing.
Bill and Paul recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about their work with veterans and how their initiatives are helping to close the skills gap in manufacturing in North America.
Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl discusses how smaller and midsize companies can embrace do-it-yourself automation with Etienne Lacroix, founder CEO of Montreal-based Vention, an automation technology provider.
Topics covered include:
- How smaller businesses can benefit from automation systems once only available to large enterprises
- The seismic effect that cobots have had on robotics
- The power of democratizing automation
See also: Smart Industry 2024 Crystal Ball Report
Smart Industry's Robert Schoenberger spoke with Christina Hoefer, VP of global industry enterprise at Forescout, a cybersecurity company that continuously monitors, identifies, and protects all connected IT, IoT, IoMT, and OT assets against cyber threats and ensures compliance with incident response, threat intelligence, and dynamic segmentation.
Topics discussed included:
- How to get IT and OT teams to play nice with each other
- Understanding security risks from outdated systems
- The need to automate data-collection functions because the hackers certainly are doing that
With labor shortages mounting, manufacturing advocates say there's a ready pool of talent available within underserved minority communities in many major U.S. cities. Discussing this topic are:
• Erica Swinney Staley, Executive Director of Manufacturing Renaissance in Chicago, an organization that promotes career-track manufacturing jobs to young people in low-income communities.
• Beth Dawson, Director of the Apprenticeship Program at Manufacturing Works Cleveland where she connects manufacturers with Cleveland public schools students seeking career opportunities
• Jordan Hooser, a recent graduate of Cleveland’s Max S Hayes High School, who's working as an apprentice at WLS Stamping & Fabricating Co.
• Ryan Joseph, an industrial recruiter and regular contributor to SecurityInfoWatch.com and a recruiting at the Recruit Group. Ryan has written several articles about some of the challenges faced in DEI hiring.
In this “in case you missed it” edition of Supply Chain Insider, you’ll learn how Six Sigma methodology can optimize supply chain quality and efficiency.
About the Article
Supply Chain 101: Six Sigma
Written by Jagan Reddy
Read by Adrienne Selko
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Companies around the globe are working hard to establish new systems for documenting and reporting their greenhouse gas footprints, and other data relating to their products and supply chains. To achieve this and stay in compliance with ESG standards, plants are leaning more than ever on their logistics partners to provide key data on supply chain-related carbon emissions.
In this bonus podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk continues his conversation with Jason Manganaro, VP of Commercial Technology for the Americas at SPARX Logistics, on the current capabilities of logistics to calculate and provide these carbon data.
Many plants around the world have invested to some degree in Just In Time Manufacturing, where goods are created to meet demand, not created in surplus or in advance of need. However this model was stress-tested in 2020, as the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on the global supply chain, leading many plants to adopt more of a "just in case" approach to spare parts inventory and beyond.
For this episode of Great Question! we're joined by Jason Manganaro, VP of Commercial Technology for the Americas at SPARX Logistics, who talks with Plant Services chief editor about how a post-COVID ripple effect through the global supply chain resulted in innovation at every step.
A B2B consultant with experience in manufacturing SMBs explains the proper role for manufacturing executives on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc.
Awards season is here with applications open for the IndustryWeek Best Plants Award, our annual recognition of manufacturing excelllence as measured by a stringent set of performance metrics. And while bragging rights for the winners are great, awards can also improve operations.
In this episode of our bi-weekly livestream Production Pulse, we talked to:
- Rick Bohan, principal and CEO of Chagrin River Consulting, a frequent IW Best Plants Award judge, and the author of a recent story about the benefits of entering these sorts of contests.
- Brandon Davis, vice president of Components at Dexter Axle Corp., a Northeast Indiana company that produces parts for trailers and RVs. Davis was a 2022 winner when he was plant manager at NOV Texas Oil Tools, and he co-wrote a piece about what you can learn from entering contests with Rick Bohan.
- Jill Jusko, IndustryWeek's executive editor and director of the IW Best Plants Program.
IndustryWeek News Editor Anna Smith recently discussed how ill-fitting protective gear is a multi-faceted problem--creating potential unsafe working conditions for women and reinforcing messages that female employees don't belong in manufacturing plants or on construction sites. However, several companies and groups are working to address those challenges.
Hear from Ana Kraft, founder and CEO of Xena Workwear, and Adonica Rodriguez, indirect material and services buyer at Ardent Mills, to hear how they're solving those challenges to ensure women and comfortable, empowered and protected in the workplace.
About the Article
Lack of Women’s PPE Causes Safety Issues. Is Anything Being Done?
Written and ready by Anna Smith
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Join Laura Davis, editor-in-chief of New Equipment Digest as she breaks down six of the top technology trends reshaping the manufacturing industry in 2024.
About the Article
Embracing the Future: The Tech Trends Reshaping Manufacturing in 2024 and Beyond
Written and ready by Laura Davis
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Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight on who should take ownership of reliability at your facility.
The annual Leading Reliability Conference provides participants with the opportunity to learn more about maintenance and reliability by attending live presentations, workshops, and trainings. Held this year May 14-16 in Clearwater Beach, Florida, the intimate event offers participants the opportunity to build relationships with influential professionals from across the country. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with the four sponsoring organizations of the conference about what to expect at this year's event. The podcast guests include:
- Shon Isenhour, founder and owner of Eruditio
- Jeff Hay, CEO at RDI Technologies
- John Waldron, product manager at ACOEM USA
- Maureen Gribble, director of marketing for UE Systems.
Manufacturers and tech companies have suffered severe cyber attacks in recent months, timing that coincides with new Securities and Exchange Commission rules that force publicly traded companies to disclose when they've been hit by hackers, as long as the damages are "material" to the companies' performances.
Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl discusses cybersecurity trends and the new requirements with Dennis Scimeca, senior technology editor at IndustryWeek.
Things got a lot better for manufacturers in 2023 when it came to getting raw materials into plants and finished goods to customers. But, the supply chain was still fragile and had to deal with several shocks, including massive capacity reductions at the Panama Canal.
Editors from several IndustryWeek parent company Endeavor Business Media’s publications discussed how 2023 shaped up and what to expect in the new year. Major topics of discussion were challenges in the Red Sea, continued problems in Panama, nearshoring and onshoring shortening supply chains and labor availability.
Speakers were:
- Adrienne Selko, senior editor at Material Handling & Logistics
- Anna Smith, news editor at IndustryWeek
- Kevin Jones, editorial director of the commercial vehicle and a infrastructure group which includes brands such as FleetOwner and Bulk Transporter
- Tyler Fussner, managing editor of Supply Chain Connect and director of the Market Moves Supply Chain newsletter that draws logistics and supply chain material from all of Endeavor’s publications
Like this episode? Listen to
- Has the Post-COVID Global Supply Chain Become More Reliable or Less?
- How are logistics companies helping plants calculate the carbon cost of their operations?
- Supply Chain Basics: What You Need to Know about Six Sigma
Hear about the latest regulatory updates coming from OSHA, as well as current developments in mental health awareness.
High-tech businesses, creative types, luxury retailers, and property developers all want something that is inherent to operations at manufacturing’s most basic level – and if they cannot earn it they’ll just take it.
Luke Clark is a reliability professional and senior program manager for HECO Apollo. In his current position, Luke identifies reliability value for clients by utilizing vibration analysis and IoT technology. Luke recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about how the skillset for reliability and maintenance engineers has changed over the past 10 years. In addition, the two discussed the table stakes skills necessary for current professionals to succeed in their jobs.
Electric vehicle sales were flat in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the third quarter, but automotive experts are still calling last year the Year of the EV because of the market's rapid growth. EVs accounted for 8% of vehicles sold last year, more than 1.2 million units.
Still, the industry mood has been less optimistic lately as slowing growth rates have led GM, Ford and others to slow investments in new plants and lower some of the lofty sales targets they'd initially offered for 2024 and beyond.
In our bi-weekly manufacturing livestream, Production Pulse, we discuss those issues with two automotive experts.
Speakers
- Kristin Dziczek is a policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a long time analyst of all things automotive. As she notes in the podcast, the opinions offered are her own, not an official report of the Federal Reserve.
- Stephanie Valdez Streaty is director of Industry Insights for Cox Automotive, a retail automotive giant with brands such as Kbb.com and Manheim Auto Auctions. Before joining Cox to spearhead EV research, Valdez Streaty spent decades in the auto industry including 15 years at Nissan.
Do you love the world of manufacturing technology? Are you always looking for news about the next cool tech invention? Do you wonder how everyone always knows about new products for the industry? Or maybe you just want to know how to choose between different machines. Listen to New Equipment Digest’s new podcast series for all things products for manufacturing.
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers from chemical producers to automakers to machine shops can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence. Contributing to the podcast are 14 seasoned manufacturing journalists from Endeavor Business Media’s Manufacturing Group. In this round table episode, editors from American Machinist, EHS Today, Foundry Management & Technology, IndustryWeek, Material Handling & Logistics, New Equipment Digest, Plant Services, and Smart Industry share their plans and expectations for the new podcast series.
Rue Phillips is the co-founder and president of SkillFusion, a platform that connects electric vehicle operations and maintenance service providers with a nationwide credentialed talent pool for electric vehicle service equipment O&M obligations. Rue has been at the forefront of developing online platforms that connect cleantech asset owners with a local and on-demand installation and service workforce, first in the solar sector with 365 Pronto and now in the EV charging sector. Rue also hosts EV Chat, a podcast with a rock'n'roll spin elevating industry leaders and making their knowledge and insight accessible to those across the electric vehicle space. Rue recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about the challenges of finding skilled workers for the EV infrastructure industry.
In this episode, Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl previews predictions for the new year we gathered from more than 20 experts in the areas of AI, machine learning, IoT, condition monitoring, and more.
As we prepare to close the books on 2023 and look ahead to the new year, IndustryWeek gathered top editors from several manufacturing media titles to discuss the year that was and the one to come. Sibling publications also owned by IndustryWeek parent company Endeavor Business Media offer unique insights on what manufacturers in different specialty markets have in common, and what's different.
The panel included:
- Karen Langhauser, chief content director for Pharma Manufacturing
- Lynne Sherwin, managing editor of Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing
- Jon Katz, executive editor of Chemical Processing
- Anna Townsend, manager editor of Plant Services and Control Design
- Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief, IndustryWeek
In this “in case you missed it” edition of Talking EHS, you’ll learn from two Travelers experts about the most common causes of worker injuries, and how to mitigate the risks of injuries on the job. Read the article here
Ron Marshall is the founder of Marshall Compressed Air Consulting, a compressed air energy efficiency consulting firm, where he provides technical advice, system auditing, and training. He first developed his skills as an industrial compressed air systems expert at Manitoba Hydro, where he worked for 38 years, supporting more than 600 energy efficiency projects. Ron is a level 2 instructor with Compressed Air Challenge and conducts training internationally. Ron recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about his most recent cover story, "8 ways to justify upgrades to your compressed air system," as well as how to persuade teams to invest in the compressed air equipment they need.
Future industrial professionals will look back on the year 2023 as the year that artificial intelligence truly started to scale and reshape plant operations. The increasing integration of software into manufacturing processes plus massive cloud compute power has laid the foundation for plant teams to apply AI to drive better business decisions, from supply chain and resource planning and scheduling to improved physical asset management.
Michael DeMaria is a product manager for Azima DLI, which is part of Fluke Reliability, where he manages the hardware platforms and integrations, diagnostic software and AI tools, and user portal deliverables and business metrics. Michael’s background is in Navy nuclear engineering, but he has been working in the vibration-analysis arena for more than 30 years.
In the following interview, DeMaria explains why starting with a pre-trained AI is critical to successfully using AI for machine condition monitoring.
With SEC rules forcing disclosure of material cybersecurity incidents, it's time for all companies to assess their immediate cyber risks—so what are the biggest network vulnerabilities and potential damage from a successful hack that manufactures need to worry about and what preventative measures can they take immediately?
Our Dec. 7, 2023, livestream featured:
- Dennis Scimeca, senior editor for technology at IndustryWeek
- Ryan Cloutier, CISSP, CISO at Synaptech Services
- Avishai Avivi, CISO at SafeBreach
In this “Talking EHS” episode of The Tool Belt, Dave Blanchard and Nicole Stempak offer highlights from EHS Today’s recent Safety Leadership Conference, and offer their insights into the best practices companies are using to keep their workplaces safer and healthier.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our new podcast series, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight on how to best measure productivity.
Rick Baldrige, CMRP, CAMA, has worked at Cargill for over 40 years, most recently as the company's Global Reliability Leader. He has also served as chair of the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP). Before retiring, Rick spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk at the SMRP Annual Conference. The pair talked about the future of SMRP, where the organization and the conference is headed, and SMRP's aproach to training and certification.
Jim Fitch is the CEO of Noria Corporation and is the founding director and a former board member of International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML). Paul Hiller is ICML Marketing Manager. Jim and Paul recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk at the SMRP Annual Conference about the importance of industrial training, overcoming challendges associated with oil analysis, and the new ICML 55® standard.
With high-profile attacks on Clorox and Boeing, cybersecurity has been top-of-mind for manufacturers for the past few months, reiterating advice offered from experts about the need to guard against attacks and be prepared for their fallout.
While we at IndustryWeek have certainly been writing a lot about it, we haven't been alone. Several other publications from our parent company, Endeavor Business Media, joined us to discuss where the industry is with cyber defense and what's coming next. Joining us on Nov. 9 were:
- Scott Achelpohhl, managing editor of Smart Industry. Scott recent wrote about the growth of digital adoption in manufacturing, noting that cybersecurity is a driving factor for many companies.
- Alix Paultre, editor-at-large for Electronics Design. Alix recently hosted a podcast discussing the cybersecurity implications of quantum computing.
- Bruce Geiselman, senior staff reporter for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing. In a recent podcast, Bruce spoke about steps manufacturers can take to defend against attacks.
- Jason McDaniel, editor of Bulk Transporter magazine and part of Endeavor's fleet group that also includes FleetOwner and Fleet Maintenance magazines. Jason recently covered cyberthreats in commercial trucking, including a demonstration of hackers taking over commercial truck antilock braking systems.
- Steve Lasky, editorial director of Endeavor's security group which includes SecurityInfoWatch.com and Security Technology Executive. Steve's recent work includes a podcast about digital twins.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our new podcast series, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight on how to make necessary budget cuts.
Karen Griffin is the Vice President at Hargrove Controls and Automation, and she's also the new chair of the Control Systems Integrator Association (CSIA) Board of Directors. When Karen took the role of chair in May 2023, she said, “I'm incredibly excited to help lead CSIA as board chair and proud to be the first woman to hold a position. The future looks challenging, but bright for system integration, and I'm honored to have a hand in leading the industry into it.” Karen recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about why plants need a good integrator partner to help identify where data is stored or siloed and to help bring datasets together to really draw insights from that data on how to improve operations.
With October's Manufacturing Month nearing its close, IndustryWeek invited people who participated in a recent survey about why they chose careers in manufacturing to share their stories.
Larry Gates, a process engineering manager for Fortune Brands' Fiberon division, talked about moving from design to the shop floor where he felt he could be more creative. Salvador Martinez joined us from Costa Rica where he's been a process engineer for 40 years, most recently as a freelance consultant.
Both had participated in a single-question survey that simply asked why people chose careers in this industry. While many people talked about the desire to work with their hands or family connections to the manufacturing world, other responses focused on the ability to find creative solutions to problems. One of the most frequent answers was the sense of job satisfaction that manufacturers gain from seeing a finished product and knowing that they contributed to making it -- something that's a little less obvious in many fields.
Mike Barrett is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Eurofins TestOil. He's currently working to help reliability practitioners maintain the health of their rotating equipment through same-day oil analysis services. Mike also specializes in helping teams develop programs, or providing guidance and support in getting a program back on track. Mike recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about his experiences, as well as what makes programs work, what trouble spots programs run into, and where you might want to take a look at improving your own oil analysis program.
Welcome to a special Manufacturing Month edition of Production Pulse, IndustryWeek's bi-weekly livestream show. Joining us to discuss the importance of recruiting young people into the manufacturing workforce were Rolland Abramah, superintendent of the Randolph Central School Corp. in Winchester, Indiana; Brant McCormick, plant manager of the Silvertowne Mint in Winchester; Jasper McConnell, a senior in Randolph schools and an employee at student-run machine shop Falcon Industries; and Lori Mesi, coordinator of Pathways Education programs at Dublin City Schools near Columbus, Ohio.
Mesi brought a group of Dublin students to Honda's central Ohio manufacturing plant late last month in advance of Manufacturing Day and works with students who want to pursue careers in advanced manufacturing. And, as mentioned, Randolph Center Schools runs Falcon Industries and offers machining and welding programs for students, putting them in touch early with local companies who may become future employers for those students.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our new podcast series, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight on how best to incorporate data into company decisions.
The United Auto Workers has been on strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis for about two weeks, taking down three manufacturing plants and 38 parts distribution centers. UAW President Shawn Fain plans to address the union's membership tomorrow, either to announce progress toward a new four-year deal or to escalate the strike by taking down more manufacturing plants.
Joining IndustryWeek to discuss the topic were Dave Green, director of UAW Region 2B covering Ohio and Indiana, and Lynne Vincent, a management professor who studies labor relations and other organizational issues at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management.
Speakers discussed how the union needs a big win here, not just to show its current members that it can deliver big economic gains after two decades of concessionary deals, but to show workers at Telsa, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia that joining a union could deliver better wages and benefits to them as well.
In this episode of Production Pulse, we're talking generative artificial intelligence (AI). Two weeks ago, we spoke to our colleagues from other Endeavor Business Media manufacturing brands. This week, we're talking to Mauricio Casares, the smart industry guru at Schneider Electric who determines how and where that industrial giant spends much of its technology investments.
As with the editors, Casares says most AI manufacturing applications use traditional machine learning techniques, but his companies and others are finding ways of using ChatGPT-style systems to boost productivity and drive operations.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our new podcast series, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight on how to upskill your department without hiring additional workers.
Kevin Clark is the VP of Marketing and Customer Success at Falkonry. A veteran of asset management, experienced as a practitioner and educated as an engineer, Kevin brings over 30 years of experience to the fields of engineering, maintenance, and predictive analytics. As a veteran and advocate in the industrial space, Kevin plays a key role in advancing manufacturing and encouraging new technologies as a thought leader, keynote speaker, and M&R expert. He has served through decades of leadership in the Society of Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP), International Society of Automation (ISA) and as a long-standing board member of Purdue University’s Polytechnic Industry Advisory Board (IAB). Kevin recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about artificial intelligence's impact on the worlds of operations, maintenance, and reliability.
ChatGPT is going to change everything! Generative AI is going to make every job in America obsolete by the end of Labor Day Weekend! Even fast food workers are worried that a teenager working in a parent's basement will be able to flip 500 hamburgers an hour using generative artificial intelligence tools.
OK, maybe the hype hasn't gotten that extreme, but as is typical when a technology is hot, many tech people are trying to ride the wave, adding the word "chat" to long-standing features or promoting their integration of large-language-model tools into their software. So, manufacturing technology editors are getting inundated with pitches about how software that lets people create iambic pentameter sonnets about poodle grooming will soon change how factories make things.
For this session of our Production Pulse live video series, Bob Vavra from Machine Design and Mike Bacidore from Control Design joined us to discuss how generative systems really could impact factory floors. Some conclusions:
- Manufacturers are pretty savvy to what AI can do as they've been using it for more than a decade for quality control, predictive maintenance and to manage production settings on machines
- Generative AI systems have more potential to revolutionize design and management but fewer obvious benefits for the shop floor
- There are some solid applications hidden amidst the hype
Nikunj Mehta is the founder and CEO of Falkonry, whose time series AI solutions are used by companies to power their digital transformation and achieve significant improvements in production uptime, quality, yield, and safety. He is the co-founder of the Industry 4.0 Club, an egalitarian effort among user advocates, technologists, and manufacturing leaders to advance industrial transformation through Industry 4.0 methods and technologies. Nikunj recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about the future of Falkonry, the relationship between asset management and artificial intelligence, and how detecting anomalies can improve sustainability.
In this editors roundtable, staff members from IndustryWeek, FleetOwner and EHS Today discuss some of the major manufacturing news stories of the past few weeks including:
- FleetOwner Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl discussed: 100-year-old Yellow shuts down, heads to bankruptcy.
- EHS Today Editor-in-Chief Dave Blanchard discussed: OSHA Announces Heat Hazard Alert.
- IndustryWeek News Editor Anna Smith shared finding from her recent story: More than Half of Women Leaders Believe Company Promotions Are Biased by Gender, Survey Shows.
- IndustryWeek Senior Editor Laura Putre shared highlights from her recent interview with U.S. Steel's Richard Fruehauf: US Steel Bets on Mini-Mills, EV Motors for Near-Term Sustainability.
Sean Phillips is a senior project manager with Hargrove Controls and Automation. In May, Sean was awarded the prestigious 2023 Rising Star Award at the Control System Integrator Association Executive Conference in New Orleans. The Rising Star Award is given to an individual who is relatively new to the industry yet has shown attributes of a leader. Sean graduated from Auburn University and began his career in control systems engineering in 2014. Sean recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about his career, how automation and advanced technologies are changing the industry, and how the tight equipment can prevent downtime and impact the bottom line.
On the record
"That being said, there's still a lot of those old bus protocols out in the plant and a lot of people think “if it's not broke, don't fix it.” Broke sometimes can be on a spectrum, you know? Just how broke is it? At what point is that costing you more money than it would cost to install a more robust, let's say, device level ring with EtherNet/IP. Just speaking generally, that's what I'm seeing, it's a matter of weighing the cost of the new install versus getting rid of the old stuff, which sounds like an obvious conclusion to come to, but intermingled with that is the education of the return that you would get from installing these more robust networks."
-Sean Phillips
Learn more
CSIA Hargrove Controls and Automation
IndustryWeek columnist, leadership coach and author Katie Anderson recently won the Shingo Prize for publications for her book, "Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn," a collection of stories and lessons from Isao Yoshino, a longtime Toyota executive who played big roles in the development of that automaker's business culture.
Anderson discusses key leadership lessons from Yoshino, offering a glimpse into Toyota's evolution from a company that only made vehicles in Japan into the global powerhouse it is today.
Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. Plant Services managing editor Anna Townshend recently spoke with Joe about the importance of leadership and how to establish a successful reliability culture at your plant.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why leadership is critical in maintenance and reliability
- How to establish a reliability culture at your plant
- Why reliability is a continuous process and why you need to sell reliability to your organization
On the record
"Operations owns reliability. The simplest example is, Anna, who owns the reliability of your car? You’re the one that drives it. You're the one that listens to it. You take your car into the maintenance shop for the 100,000-mile check. And they say, yeah, man, this belt looks bad. Your tires are bald, and your transmission is making noises. And then you say, I don't want to fix that. And then you drive on down the road. You're going out to Yellowstone National Park on vacation, and your car breaks down. Do you blame the mechanic?"
-Joe Kuhn
Learn more
Read Joe's column, Leadership in Action
Buy Joe's book, Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today's Business Challenges
Watch Joe's YouTube videos
Ford, GM, Mercedes, Volvo and Rivian have all agreed to adopt Tesla's plug standards for their electric vehicles, forcing charging station manufacturers to rethink how to make the next generation of chargers.
Ron Marshall is the founder of Marshall Compressed Air Consulting, a compressed air energy efficiency consulting firm, where he provides technical advice, system auditing, and training. He first developed his skills as an industrial compressed air systems expert at Manitoba Hydro, where he worked for 38 years, supporting more than 600 energy efficiency projects. Ron is a level 2 instructor with Compressed Air Challenge and conducts training internationally. Ron recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about training and professional development in the compressed air industry.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why training is an essential component of a successful compressed air program
- What resources are available to help professionals get certified and improve their compressed air skills
- Which new technologies are impacting the industry
On the record
"The lack of knowledge is the biggest obstacle in having an compressed air system running optimally. So yeah, that's quite important, and that was recognized back in the 1990s, right? And you know, as time went on, people working in Compressed Air Challenge and in the auditing field we get older and older, and the new people need to learn as well, so we can leave the field secure in the knowledge that people come coming to replace our vacancy know a lot about compressed air and auditing."
-Ron Marshall
Learn more
Marshall Compressed Air Consulting Compressed Air Challenge Compressed Air Challenge Training Calendar Compressed Air & Gas Institute Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP) program Compressed Air Training and Certification See compressed air leaks with acoustical imaging Ask the Experts: How important are storage receivers in a compressed air system?
In this special “Supply Chain Insider” episode of The Tool Belt, Sean Webb, director of sales and operations for North America with Sparck Technologies, looks at the impact of e-commerce on supply chains, and he explains when, why and how companies should automate their packaging processes.
Terri Lewis is a senior executive at Planet Connected and a 32-year veteran of Caterpillar. She began her career in technical field support before embarking on several "mini careers," including aftermarket parts marketing, service operations, product marketing, heavy construction marketing, product development, M&A, electronic supply chain, and end of life support. Terri then spent six years in digital strategy where she learned how digitalization could completely transform a business, from customer activities to client interactions and overall company goals. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk and managing editor Anna Townshend recently spoke with Terri about how to successfully implement digital transformation initiatives.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How companies are utilizing digital transformation to improve business operations and decrease downtime
- The connection between smart cities and smart manufacturing
- How artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the industrial sector and how evolving technologies will impact companies in the future
On the record
"I think that the really interesting stuff is taking data and technology and knowledge, right, and my take away was making unplanned downtime a myth. And that seems a bit bold, but I think it's doable, right? It's bringing together the elements of people, process, and technology together, and leveraging that, starting with people – emphasize people, right, it's not just about tech – and I think most companies can get there."
-Terri Lewis
Massa Product Corporation engineers and manufactures sonar and ultrasonic products for use in ocean, air, and fluids. Founded by the man who pioneered the field of electroacoustics 75 years ago, Frank Massa, the company specializes in solving problems in various fields and environments.
Massa transducers and sensors have been operating in air for industrial non-contact distance measurement applications for over sixty years. The company has designed hundreds of devices for use in many applications including liquid and bulk level monitoring, vehicle collision avoidance, distance measurement, web break detection, and tensioning. Massa technologies also function as “the eyes and the ears for naval ships and submarines to protect the US coastline with our undersea technologies.”
Dawn Massa Stancavish recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about the wide range of applications for ultrasonic technologies.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The history of Massa and how the company came to be
- How Massa develops products for secific industries and applications
- Trends in the wireless sensing market
On the record
"Sound goes all the way up to the megahertz range and all the way down to the infrasound range. Sometimes people dismiss ultrasonics based on what’s out there, and that’s really the wrong thing to do. I would say challenge your perception of what’s possible."
-Dawn Massa Stancavish
Learn more
Massa
Dave Blanchard is editor in chief of Material Handling and Logistics and EHS Today. During his career, Dave has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including Industry Week, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance, in addition to the two titles he currently manages. He also serves as a senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference and literally wrote the book on supply chain management, which is called Supply Chain Management Best Practices. He is also a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Dave about the evolving fields of safety and logistics, and what companies can do to keep supply chains and workers healthy and productive.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The state of industrial supply chains
- How the roles and responsibilities of safety professionals is changing
- What to expect at this year's Safety and Leadership Conference
On the record
"A lot of times it's the safety person that the CEO is coming to and saying, 'we need you to help us figure out how we're going to comply with these regulations from the EPA' and everywhere else that not necessarily you would think would be a typical safety problem. The old stereotype is there: the safety cops, they're the ones that make sure you you're wearing your hard hat and you're wearing your gloves and you're wearing your boots, and you’re not running around when you're in a warehouse, you're keeping your eye out for things. "
-Dave Blanchard
Learn more
Material Handling and Logistics
EHS Today
Safety and Leadership Conference
The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is a global trade association with over 500 member companies in 35 countries that seeks to advance the industry of control system integration. Control system integrators use their engineering, technical and business skills to help manufacturers and others automate their industrial equipment and systems. For this year's System Integrator Roundtable episode, Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk spoke with three veteran system integrator professionals about how the industry is changing and which new technologies are poised to make a big impact. Kurt Wakeman is the business director for Materials Handling group at E Tech Group. Bob Pusateri is director of business development at Electronic Drives and Controls. Sam Hoff is President and CEO of Patti Engineering.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- The role and responsibilities of system integrators within the industry
- Which new technologies are impacting industrial automation
- How sustainability is changing the way integrators approach the business
On the record
"What that allows you to do once you have a true digital twin is instead of conjecture or experience to say “What can I do to improve this system?” you can actually model your improvements in the digital world before wasting any money actually performing changes in in the real world. We're using a lot of the digital tools that have been used traditionally for design of these systems up front to create the digital twins."
-Sam Hoff
Learn more
Control System Integrators Association (CSIA)
E Tech Group
Electronic Drives and Controls
Patti Engineering
Bill Leahy is the Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance Reliability, a veteran-owned and operated reliability and maintainability engineering consultancy dedicated to American manufacturers. Bill has worked in manufacturing as an engineering superintendent, maintenance team leader, consultant, and service provider and is an expert in root cause analysis (RCA), reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), and design for reliability and maintainability (DfR). Bill served for 10 years in the United States Army as a West Point Cadet, NCAA Division 1 hockey player, and infantry officer where he learned the values of leadership, self-discipline, resourcefulness, integrity, and teamwork. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Bill about why reliability is the cornerstone of manufacturing success, and how veterans can help companies achieve their reliability goals.
On the record
"Reliability has to be a core value, has to be something we embody. The part that I struggle with is that it is so evident to us in our industry at how these things tie together, because we know if you improve reliability, you improve safety; if you improve reliability, you improve environmental scores; you improve reliability, your OEE goes up. Everything improves with reliability."
-Bill Leahy
Learn more
Renaissance Reliability
Ashleigh Walters earned a chemical engineering degree from Auburn University. Several years later, she found herself taking on the challenge of reviving Onex, a 50-year-old industrial furnace service business based in Erie, PA, which was owned by her husband's family. After she succeeded at Onex, she wrote a book about the experience called Leading With Grit And Grace, that recounts her journey and the lessons she learned along the way. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk met Ashleigh at the 2023 MARCON Conference, which is run by University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Reliability and Maintainability Center, where she shared her story,. Thomas and Plant Services managing editor Anna Townshend recently spoke with Ashleigh about her experiences in the industrial sector and her unique style of leadership.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How Ashleigh rebuilt and reimagined her family's company
- Why her company adopted a “coach approach” to management instead of a “command and control” leadership style
- Why you need to empower your employees to make mistakes
On the record
"I think the other piece of that is we've never thought as leaders that we should be serving. We've always felt like we should be served, right? And when you flip that around and you start serving others, they do serve you, they serve you more because they respect you and they trust you. It's a two-way street, respect and trust, and when they feel that, they know it's OK to make a mistake. You can't ask somebody to try something new to experiment and not allow for failure."
-Ashleigh Walters
Learn more
Visit Ashleigh's website
Email Ashleigh
Zorana Kojic is a regional sales executive for StormSensor, a company that links critical storm, sewer, and coastal infrastructure performance to climate data. StormSensor’s goal is to provide real-time advanced insights on flood and overflow risks across the community, including factories. The company offers advance insights and warnings when there might be a disaster or stormwater event that could impact plant operations. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk and managing editor Anna Townshend recently spoke with Zorana about how this new technology can help plants make better decisions about disaster preparedness to avoid unplanned downtime.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why it's important to monitor stormwater levels, and how stormwater can impact your facility
- How new technologies are making stromwater data easier to obtain and utilize
- How smart sensors can help improve disaster preparedness at your plant
On the record
"A lot of plants located near bodies of water and with sea level rise, things like that, changes are needing to be made. So the more data you have of what's going on in your particular area, the better decisions you can make about where to spend your money for those improvements."
-Zorana Kojic
Learn more
StormSensor
Case studies
The Leading Reliability Conference provides participants with an opportunity to learn more about maintenance and reliability by attending live presentations, workshops, and trainings. In addition, attendees are also provided with ample opportunity to socialize and make connections – allowing participants to build relationships with influential professionals in maintenance and reliability from around the country. This year's event happens May 16-18 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with the team behind the Leading Reliability Conference, including Shon Isenhour from Eruditio, Blair Fraser from UE Systems, Mason McNally from RDI Technologies, and Brian Shanovich from ACOEM. The group reminisced about last year’s event and outlined what attendees can look forward to at the 2023 conference.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What to expect at the 2023 Leading Reliability Conference
- Who will be presenting and what new tech will be featured at the event
- Which is better, Star Wars or Marvel
On the record
"I think the big thing that you'll see with this conference and I think it's it is that fun environment that we create, it's not so serious. You know, you get to a lot of conferences and I kind of feel like it's so choreographed and you don't really get to talk to people. Everybody's on a schedule and then that sort of thing. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of people will see at this conference is, we're going to have fun. We're going to have a good time, but we're also going to learn a lot of things while we're there. And because of it, we get to spend a lot of times really batting around new ideas like Blair was talking about with the underwater sensor."
-Shon Isenhour
Learn more
Leading Reliability
Register now for the conference
Laura Davis is the editor in chief of New Equipment Digest (NED), a brand part of the Manufacturing Group at Endeavor Business Media. NED covers all products, equipment, solutions, and technology related to the broad scope of manufacturing, from mops and buckets to robots and automation. Laura has been a manufacturing product writer for six years, knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the industry along with what readers are looking for when wanting to learn about the latest products on the market. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Laura to get her perspective on new products and innovations that are affecting the industry, as well as the upcoming partnership between Plant Services and New Equipment Digest.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Which product categories are seeing the most innovation
- How smart technologies are affecting the industry
- How Plant Services and New Equipment Digest are partnering to bring up-to-the-minute product information to our audience
On the record
“Now we're at a point where these products are coming out with AI integrated into them. There's a lot less connection steps, and we're really finally getting to that point of the smart connected factory. My machine can actually tell me not just the real time data, but it's smart data, it's doing rolling averages over time of everything that's happened, not just today. I think that's really interesting because we've been talking about these smart factories for years. It's always been like, “oh, we're here now. We're here now.” We're really just starting to get there, and as it becomes more ubiquitous, even smaller companies are going to be able to get in on the action. I just think it's really cool.”
-Laura Davis
Learn more
- New Equipment Digest
- Laura Davis ldavis@endeavorb2b.com
Jeff Shiver, CMRP, is the Founder and Managing Principal at People and Processes Incorporated. Jeff guides people to achieve success in maintenance and reliability practices using common-sense approaches. He's also a contributing editor for Plant Services, authoring two columns to date. His current department, From The Plant Floor, features reports on what Jeff is seeing and hearing from a practical, hands-on perspective. He also authored a library of columns called Ask Jeff, where he answered readers' questions on a variety of topics, including planning and scheduling, reliability centered maintenance, best practices implementation, leadership, and much more. In the introductory episode of our Meet the PS Experts podcast series, Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Jeff about the improtance of mentorship and fostering a culture of continuous learning if you want to developing future leaders.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:'
- Why backlogs should not have birthdays
- How to build a network of both formal and informal mentors
- How to cultivate a culture around asset reliability and improving reliability
- Why employees should be allowed to make and learn from their mistakes
On the record
"How do you become a learning organization where you can make mistakes? We don't want to injure people from those kinds of mistakes, but we want to make sure that we have the opportunity to fail and learn from that. And when we talk about change management, I always say that people buy into what they help create."
-Jeff Shiver
Learn more
- People and Processes Incorporated
- From the Plant Floor
- Maintenance and Reliability for Managers: 4-Part Series
Eugene Vogel is a pump and vibration specialist with the Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA). Before joining EASA, Eugene operated his own business, General Maintenance Equipment Engineering, Inc., which is a marketing service and training organization for industrial maintenance and related technologies. He also has an extensive background in vibration and dynamic balancing and chaired the St. Louis chapter of the Vibration Institute from 1993 to 2000. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk and senior content strategist Alexis Gajewski recently spoke with Eugene about how new technologies like IIoT are affecting the industrial motor sector.
Key takeaways
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Where IIoT is heading in the coming months and years
- The industry's overall familiarity with new technologies
- How these technological changes will affect service centers
- The reality of smart motors
On the record
"Changes to the landscape in the machine condition monitoring business will affect your relationship with the customer and why you may or may not get that machine for repair. But when the machine comes in, it doesn’t change the way you do the business, it doesn’t change the way you repair that machine."
-Eugene Vogel
Learn more
- Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA)
- Understanding the potential of IIoT for industrial motor maintenance
- 3 steps to improve motor reliability
- The Big Four factors affecting motor health
- Electric motor noise: How to identify the cause and implement a solution
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe show us what's possible when you adopt a continuous improvement mindset.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explore how to partner with operations to improve plant efficiency and increase everyone's peace of mind.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe answer the question “What will maintenance do about it?”
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe help you understand how your facility's critical assets fail.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explore how a criticality assessment can help pivot your plant from reactive to proactive work.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe talk about the importance of training and developing your employees.
Neil Mehltretter is Technical Director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements. Werner Rauer is the Project Manager for Oil Injected and Oil Free Screw Compressors at Kaeser Compressors, and he's an active leader in the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, where he helped develop the widely used CAGI compressor data sheets. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Werner explore control options for systems with multiple compressors.
Plant Services, in partnership with Augury surveyed readers about Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies and practices earlier this year. The survey explored company policies, practices and perceptions about ESG and personal engagement by employees on these issues.
Plant Services Managing Editor Anna Townshend talked with retired Global Chief Engineer and industry executive Dave Penrith about the survey for his real-world perspective on the numbers. Penrith spent his 35-year career at a global consumer goods company. During his tenure there, he oversaw 300 factory units across all parts of the world. Penrith is a champion of digital technology, deploying automation and robotics on thousands of applications, and he is also known for his dedication to collaboration, community, and diversity.
Wayne Perry is Senior Technical Director at Kaeser Compressors, and has more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of the compressed air business. Matt McCorkle is Manager of Branch Operations for Kaeser Compressors and has worked as a Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Wayne and Matt explore the concept of compressed air as a service and how to determine if this model is right for your facility.
Eric Whitley is director of smart manufacturing for L2L, with a background in lean manufacturing and total productive maintenance. In January, L2L surveyed 125 manufacturing leaders with mid to C-level titles across production, operations, engineering, IT, and management to uncover the state of digital transformation in manufacturing. Highlights from the survey are available at www.L2L.com/blog/digital-transformation-in-manufacturing-industry. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Whitley recently about the secret to successful digital transformation.
Fluke and Boston Dynamics have developed a partnership where the SV600 Fixed Acoustic Imager payload from Fluke Process Instruments is connected with the Boston Dynamics Spot robot, enabling remote and/or automated plant inspection routes. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke about this technology partnership with Martin Budweg, Product Marketing Manager for Fluke Process Instruments, and Tim Dykstra, the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Channel Sales for Boston Dynamics.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe talk about how to more efficiently get where you're going.
Tracy Swartzendruber is VP of Marketing for Power Generation and Oil & Gas at GE Digital, connecting industry with software that solves some of industry’s toughest problems. In her own words, “a better run plant is a more efficient plant, which is actually a more sustainable plant.” At the ARC Industry Forum in June, she presented an update on several GE Digital initiatives including the use of “Accelerators” to help plants scale APM across the enterprise.
Lee Kitchen has 32 years of experience at the Walt Disney Corporation across multiple roles, including Innovation Catalyst. In that role, Lee trained groups within Disney on the design thinking process, and he conducted many ideas sessions across the company. He branched out from Disney five years ago to found his business, Magical Dude Consulting. Lee delivered the opening keynote at the 2022 Leading Reliability conference in Clearwater, Florida, where he spoke about the elements of success when it comes to new idea development. Lee recently spoke with Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk about how to foster greater creativity with your team.
Neil Mehltretter is Technical Director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements.Werner Rauer is the Project Manager for Oil Injected and Oil Free Screw Compressors at Kaeser Compressors, and he's an active leader in the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, where he helped develop the widely used CAGI compressor data sheets. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Werner explore the benefits of knowing what is going on in your compressed air system.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explain why knowing where you stand is an essential first step in your maintenance and reliability journey.
José Rivera is the CEO of the Control System Integrators Association, and has been working with the CSIA members on the role of the system integrator in digital transformation. José is focused on strategy and business development, and has a deep understanding of industrial markets and technology, as well as business-to-business marketing and sales. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with José about the people, places, and work that system integrators provide.
Matt Smith is Vice President of Sales and Customer Experience at FS-Curtis, and he also serves on the Compressed Air and Gas Institute’s board of directors. Matt recently spoke with Plant Services managing editor Anna Townshend about his work with CAGI, current and upcoming regulations, and what the compressed air industry can expect for the future.
Neil Mehltretter is technical director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements. Bill Kemph is a project manager for engineering solutions for Kaeser Compressors and has more than 20 years of experience with building, testing, designing, and installing compressed air systems. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Bill address the opportunities and challenges plants face when they consider alternative compressed air system design strategies.
Plant Services Managing Editor Anna Townshend spoke with authors and manufacturing leaders Kathy Miller and Shannon Karels about their new book Steel Toes and Stilettos: A True Story of Women Manufacturing Leaders and Lean Transformation Success.
Karels is a senior operations manager who has led multiple Lean transformations and run operations for two large corporations across multiple industries. Miller is a senior operations executive, who has held numerous global vice president and director positions in manufacturing and Lean enterprise leadership. She is a Shingo Prize Recipient for Large Businesses as a plant manager.
The two friends wrote the book together about their journey as women leaders, but their leadership message transcends gender or experience.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe focus on how to become a fire marshal.
Modern technologies and innovative designs are enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of asset surveys, inspections, measurements, and analysis. With more and more smart equipment, factories have more data available for asset health monitoring, which leads to better overall safety and more productive facilities.
Plant Services talked with Keith Riley, Product Marketing Manager for Level+Pressure at Endress+Hauser, which provides measurement instrumentation, services and solutions for industrial process engineering. They discussed asset health monitoring—what it is, how it impacts safety and productivity on the factory floor, and what’s next for smart instruments.
Earlier this year Plant Services and Augury conducted a research survey. Augury supports its customers by providing them with superior insights into the health and performance of their machines. The Machine Maintenance & Reliability study was designed to explore the common challenges to machine health faced by industry, and how organizations are putting it into action.
James Newman is Director of Market Strategy at Augury, with more than 20 years of experience focusing on understanding how assets and plants can operate better and more efficiently, and how that can be augmented by technologies. He recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk on the universal challenges that industry is facing, and how data from the survey shows how those challenges might be solved together by those on the front line and in the C-suite.
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The Leading Reliability Conference provides participants with a great opportunity to learn more about maintenance and reliability by attending live presentations, workshops, and trainings. In addition, attendees are also provided with ample opportunity to socialize and make connections – allowing registrants to build relationships with influential professionals in maintenance and reliability around the country. The ability to share ideas and perspectives with industry experts is always a great thing and will only be more beneficial as we continue to work our way back to a normal way of business. You can expect to learn a lot, have fun, and take valuable ideas home with you to your very own facility. Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Maureen Gribble, Shon Isenhour, and Dawn Kayatta from the Leading Reliability team to discuss the upcoming event, happening May 10-12 in Clearwater Beach, Florida.
Agenda, speaker, and registration information is available at www.leadingreliability.com.
Oswaldo “Oz” Rodriguez is a technologist with a background in software engineering, and is currently the head of product Go-To-Market strategy with Lloyd’s Register digital products. His LinkedIn profile also says one of his goals is to save the world by building one cool product at a time. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk met Oz several years ago at the ARC Industry Forum, where they talked about the value that a shared library of asset data could bring to industry. In this interview, Oz suggests it’s time for industry to come together in similar manner to promote sustainability and protect the planet.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. The first two steps in this podcast series were centered on understanding reactivity and proactivity. Episode three focuses on the circle of fire and how you can break the reactive cycle.
Andy Kling is the vice president of cybersecurity and product security officer for the industrial automation arm of Schneider Electric and member of the International Society of Automation (ISA) Global Cybersecurity Alliance (GCA). At Schneider he’s responsible for numerous industrial control system and process automation-type product families across the company. His responsibilities are to ensure that Schneider delivers secure products, systems, and services, and that covers a wide variety of topics from standards committees to government influence and government involvement. Andy talked with Plant Services Managing Editor Anna Townshend about this important standard today, as well as other cybersecurity topics like where to start with your cybersecurity program, cloud security, and cybersecurity in the future.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced many employers to reduce their staffs, but having workers who have the know-how and nurturing their growth is still important. In this podcast episode, Amanda Del Buono, Digital Engagement Manager for Control Global and Control Design, and Tom Strong, director of employer action for the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, discuss the importance of investing in and training employees for the long haul.
Larry West is a sales engineer for Perceptive Controls who has been in the engineering and electrical field for industrial use for roughly 25 years, and before that he served in the U.S. Navy as a gunner’s mate and missile tech. In January, Larry touched base with Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk for a podcast on how control systems and SCADA can support energy savings and sustainability. Recently, Wilk spoke with West on why automating OEE data collection can help solve problems on the line.
For the past year or so, many manufacturers have struggled to keep up and running, maintain staff, and adjust to the digital changes the pandemic required. Making these changes or funding a new project, like a digitalization effort, for example, can be expensive, but there are grants and funding available to help. In this podcast episode, Amanda Del Buono, Digital Engagement Manager for Control Global and Control Design, interviews Micki Vandeloo, president of Lakeview Consulting, a consultancy that works with manufacturers, not-for-profits, and other organizations to help them obtain grants to support major projects and initiatives.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. The second episode focuses on understanding proactivity.
Aaron Merkin is Chief Technology Officer at Fluke Reliability, and he is responsible for the development and execution of industrial IoT strategies. Aaron is an experienced technology executive with a deep understanding of technology and product strategy, solution architecture, M&A, and organizational transformation. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Aaron about the changing landscape of industrial maintenance, including remote condition monitoring, supply chain disruptions, and industrial cybersecurity.
Whether it's a global pandemic, inclement weather conditions, or other unforeseen challenges, being a good leader is key to making it through difficult times. In this podcast episode, Amanda Del Buono, Digital Engagement Manager for Control Global and Control Design, interviews Jay Richards, a member of the founding team and senior consultant at Denison Consulting, to discuss a little bit about leadership in a post-pandemic world.
Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. The first episode in the series focuses on understanding reactivity.
David Frye, CMRP, CRL, is principal at Legacy TPM Partners, and has more than 45 years of experience with reliability, starting with U.S. Navy weapon systems and then working for 21½ years at Kodak. He then became corporate director for reliability and maintenance excellence at Kaiser Aluminum, and then spent 10 more years at Kimberly-Clark, helping to lead global reliability. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with David in a wide-ranging podcast interview soon after connecting at the RPM Symposium in Kalamazoo, MI.
Larry West is a sales engineer for Perceptive Controls who recently gave a compelling presentation at the 2021 RPM Symposium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Larry's presentation, "Controls ans SCADA – How they support energy savings and sustainability," explored how a well-developed control and SCADA system can identify and solve unnecessary energy usage without affecting output. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Larry, who shared some insights from his presentation, including common situations where energy can be saved in process and machine operations.
Sam Hoff is the president and CEO of Patti Engineering, a Certified member of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA). Under Sam’s leadership, Patti Engineering has become a leader in applications of Industry 4.0 and digital twining to improve manufacturing through AI and data science. Plant Service spoke with Sam early last year about how maintenance teams can get their digital programs off the ground, and Sam checked in recently with Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk about what teams can do to kick-start these programs in 2022.
Brad Budde leads the Digital Customer Experience Program for Emerson Automation Solutions, working on digitizing workflows both internally and with customers. Recently Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Brad about how digital technologies are helping organizations build new partnerships and re-think the way traditional on-site maintenance teams are staffed.
In this final episode of The Hidden Costs of Compressed Air series, Matt McCorkle and Neil Mehltretter discuss how system monitoring can help facilities identify and control some of the hidden costs we’ve discussed in previous episodes. Keeping an eye on pressure as well as the status of compressors and dryers are a few examples of how to avoid issues. We talk about how to better manage critical compressed air assets by collecting and reviewing data and leveraging the built-in communications capabilities that most current compressed air equipment offers.
Mike Reed is the Manager of AVEVA’s AI Center for Excellence. He has over 25 years of experience in engineering and operations of electrical power plants, both in the U.S. and globally, and is experienced in mechanical engineering design, construction, startup, and operations. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; a M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California; and is a U.S. Army Veteran. Plant Services Editor-in-Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Mike about how AI and machine learning are going to transform asset performance management.
Rick Kaun is VP Solutions at Verve Industrial Protection and has worked in the industrial sector for more than 20 years on a wide variety of IT security projects. Plant Services Editor-in-Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Rick recently about what plants are doing to safeguard their OT assets in a world where IT and OT infrastructures are increasingly converging.
The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) is a nonprofit professional society formed by practitioners to develop and promote excellence in maintenance, reliability, and physical asset management while creating leaders in the profession. With over 6,250 members worldwide, SMRP provides value for individual practitioners and professionals looking to expand their knowledge and skills and build more business connections with others.
The SMRP Annual Conference is a maintenance and reliability event that brings together more than 1,000 attendees from all over the world. The conference also provides professional development, networking and tour opportunities. Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Adrian Messer, leader of strategic accounts for UE Systems, about what to expect at this year's SMRP Conference in St. Louis.
Per Hong is a partner at Kearney focused on Strategic Operations, and the lead partner for the company’s relationship with the World Economic Forum relationship. He has a 25-year career working with clients across a range of industries to mitigate disruption in their global supply chains and help them build long-term strategic advantage. In July, Kearney and the World Economic Forum released a report titled “The Resiliency Compass, Navigating Global Value Chain Disruption in an Age of Uncertainty”, and he spoke with Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk about some of the key findings.
With an expected 2.1 million unfilled U.S. manufacturing jobs by 2030, resulting in a potential negative impact to the economy of more than $1 trillion, the industry’s ability to attract and retain younger workers is an urgent issue. All eyes are on Generation Z, the generation of young adults who are just starting to make an impact in the workplace. What might attract them to industrial jobs? What motivates them? And what might make them stay?
A research study of 1,000 U.S. respondents aged 18-24 was conducted in June by Parsable, and found that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on Gen Z’s perception of manufacturing. For example, more than half of respondents (54%) said they had not considered frontline manufacturing as a potential career before the pandemic; of those, 24% are now open to exploring it.
Lawrence Whittle is the CEO of Parsable, and has been extensively involved in the manufacturing technology space throughout his 25-year career. Plant Services spoke with Whittle about findings from the Parsable study, and his thoughts on generational attitudes toward industry.
Based on research conducted this year by Plant Services, it is still a challenge for industrial facilities to recruit skilled workers, although it is getting somewhat easier to retain people once they come on board.
Chris Pepin is the founder of Progressive Reliability, a company dedicated to decreasing turnover and simplifying the hiring process. Chris and the Progressive Reliability team specialize in recruiting direct hires, contract experts, and subject matter experts in the maintenance and reliability space. Their approach is to focus the majority of the vetting process on intangible and untrainable traits, ensuring that the right candidates are paired with the right opportunities, eliminating the noise and frustrations that stem from poorly matched talent.
Plant Services recently spoke with Chris on key issues currently facing the industrial workforce, and some of the challenges involved with recruiting maintenance and reliability professionals.
One of the hottest topics on the minds of MRO professionals this past year has been how to add remote asset condition monitoring into their mix of daily maintenance work. Tim White, CMRP, is a Senior Manager at T.A. Cook focused on providing services related to Digital Asset Performance Management. Previously he worked in the industry as a Global Director for Asset Management, responsible for 83 sites across the globe. Plant Services Chief Editor Thomas Wilk had the opportunity to ask White for his thoughts on the renewed industry focus on condition monitoring and digitalization.
Most plant managers and operators know they need clean, dry compressed air at the point of use at the required pressure to avoid scrap rates and production equipment downtime. But do they know how much is enough? In this episode of The Hidden Costs of Compressed Air series, speakers Justin Aycock and Neil Mehltretter discuss how the problems of over treating air and running at unnecessarily high pressures are usually overlooked, and how to find the right balance. The discussion includes how piping and storage can affect the different dimensions of air quality.
As the world seemingly shut down due to COVID-19, the teams at Eruditio, Fluke Reliability, RDI Technologies, and UE Systems came together to develop ways to continue to connect, engage and educate the reliability community. What started as a series of webinars quickly morphed into a larger initiative and thus the inaugural Leading Reliability Virtual Conference was created. Now, the Leading Reliability team is thrilled to announce a live and in-person conference happening August 25-26 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. This conference will bring together reliability professionals from around the globe to discuss best practices in asset availability, reliability, safety, quality, and maintenance. Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Maureen Gribble, Greg Perry, Shon Isenhour, and Jeff Hay from the Leading Reliability team to discuss the upcoming event, including session topics and technological advances that will be showcased at the conference.
Agenda, speaker, and registration information is available at www.leadingreliability.com.
Manufacturing is currently moving out of the time of COVID crisis, and many plants report that they are increasing their digital/automation budgets. Kevin Starr works in the digital service space within ABB for North America and, in particular, the process industries component, and has been involved with every step of service and reliability for the past 34 years. Plant Services Chief Editor Thomas Wilk had the chance to talk with Kevin recently about the digital changes currently taking place in industry, and the extent to which they are being driven by COVID considerations.
Kevin Price is technical product evangelist and product strategist at Infor, a global company that provides enterprise software products for every aspect of business. In these roles, Kevin is globally responsible for product strategy functions for the Infor EAM, Infor MP2, iProcure, and Energy Performance Management product families. He also is a longtime contributor to Plant Services, having written several articles and presented on many of our webinars. Thomas Wilk recently spoke with Kevin on how maintenance conversations are evolving from enterprise asset management (EAM) to asset performance management (APM), and why reliability is taking on new urgency in our current post-crisis moment.
Operation New Uniform, founded in 2014, has established itself as a trendsetter in the veteran service organization space. The mission of the organization is to ensure all U.S. Veterans have a successful transition after service by treating each Veteran as an individual, serving as many Veterans as possible without reducing quality, and meticulously tracking the results and successes of our Veterans.
Plant Services editors Thomas Wilk and Anna Townshend recently had the chance to talk with co-founder and executive director Michele McManamon and Dr. Kim Bynum, ONU’s director of Veteran training and transition, about what it takes to graduate more than 350 alums from the program, and the skill sets possessed by Veterans that impress employers in industry.
Floor space in a plant can be precious, and providing your compressed air system with ample room for ventilation and service can be hard. Yet cramming compressed air equipment into a space can cause unexpected costly issues. Whether you are adding equipment to your compressor room, expanding the room, or building new there are several key considerations to promote air system performance, reliability and equipment longevity. We discuss these points in our second episode of The Hidden Costs of Compressed Air series.
Additional resource: Compressed Air System Installation Guide
Mark D’Agostino is the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Hunter Industrial Fans’ Commercial Division / Industrial Division. Mark studied Business Administration at Lock Haven State University, and has held the position of Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Power-Flo Pumps & Systems; President & CEO of Raven Products; and President & CEO of Wilo USA. Mark recently spoke with Thomas Wilk about HVLS fan systems, including the ROI on fan investments and the benefits of HVLS fans at your facility.
Peter Christian’s resume includes working as executive director at the Crayola Corporation, and he’s also worked as founding partner and president at the business consulting firm, Enterprise Systems Partners, Inc. His current focus is on why businesses and managers succeed or fail, and he has written two books on this topic, ‘"What About the Vermin Problem?’’ and ‘’Influences and Influencers,’’ both of which are available at www.petechristianbooks.com and on Amazon.com. Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk had the chance in May to connect with Pete to discuss his thoughts on success and failure in leadership and maintenance and reliability, as well as what is happening to Lean programs in the post-COVID age.
What would you do if your digital assets stopped talking to each other? Are you confident that you could find them all if they vanished from a network map, from large machines to tiny remote sensors? Ellen Boehm is VP of IoT strategy and operations at Keyfactor, which along with the Ponemon Institute recently released the first-ever State of Machine Identity Management report. Ellen spoke recently with Plant Services Chief Editor Thomas Wilk about how this new dimension of asset management is expanding traditional maintenance responsibilities.
Dylan Erwin is the Technical Sales Manager for Fluke Process Instruments and has previously worked as a product innovation manager and regional sales manager, among other responsibilities. Dylan received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University and spent the first few years of his professional career in the industrial automation market. Dylan recently spoke with Thomas Wilk about the many uses of thermal imaging devices on the plant floor and the future of the technology, including the release of the TV40 Thermal Imager from Fluke Process Instruments.
Cloud computing is drastically changing the way many organizations operate. Forward-looking maintenance and reliability teams across industry are starting to explore how the cloud can help them improve their asset management practices.
IFS recently launched IFS Cloud, which is the next step forward from IFS Applications 10 and which enables companies to manage the customer, people, and asset elements of their business in a single solution. During the launch event, Plant Services had the opportunity to speak with Colin Elkins, Vice President of Manufacturing Industries, and learn how IFS Cloud is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to fill some of the pressing needs in manufacturing today.
PS: What innovations in IFS Cloud help differentiate it from previous IFS software releases?
In mid-2020, ARC Advisory Group and Wind River collaborated on a survey of manufacturing leaders to better understand the challenges industry faced during the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain production as a result of disruptions to their supply chains and operations. That report, “Industry 4.0 and 5G in the COVID Pandemic,” explores Industry 4.0 initiatives and manufacturer's increased focus on supply chain improvements, innovations, and remote operations support. Nermin Mohamed, the Head of Telco Solutions at Wind River, talked with the Plant Services editors Thomas Wilk and Anna Townshend about some of the findings in this report.
Paige Morse is the industry marketing director at Aspen Technology. Morse enables digital transformation progress at companies worldwide. She has significant experience with leading operating companies, including Shell, Dow, Sunoco and Clariant, covering R&D, marketing, commercial and strategy roles. Morse recently spoke with Thomas Wilk about the upcoming OPTIMIZE 21 event and the benefits MRO professionals could attain from attending the virtual conference.
Compressed air is inherently expensive. On top of that, very often it is produced inefficiently. But it doesn’t have to be. Taking a look at your compressed air system’s equipment, layout, performance, and environment can help you improve the overall system’s reliability and efficiency saving you money on energy, maintenance, and life-cycle costs.
A review of thousands of compressed air systems reveals that, on average, users operate below 50% of system capacity. Oversized compressors are among the most common problems in air systems. In this episode of The Hidden Costs of Compressed Air series, speakers Matt McCorkle and Neil Mehltretter address why oversizing occurs and how an oversized system reduces reliability and increases maintenance and lifecycle costs.
Additional resource: Over-sized and Under-utilized: An Epidemic
Haven Allen is CEO and co-founder of mHUB, a leading hardtech and manufacturing innovation center, and is a managing partner of mHUB’s $15M Seed-stage product impact fund. Allen is an entrepreneur and technology strategist who most recently concentrated on growing the manufacturing industry and strengthening its community throughout the greater Chicago area. Allen recently spoke with Thomas Wilk about how companies are using digitalization to stay competitive and what organizations like mHUB are doing to attract the next generation of workers.
Plant Services met veteran millwright and newly minted predictive maintenance technician Michael Macsisak several years ago, and Mike has checked in with the editors as he began work in mining and then again last year to discuss transitioning from a predictive mindset to a reliability-focused approach. Plant Services Chief Editor Thomas Wilk recently caught up with Mike to talk about life in a post-COVID industrial world.
Ron Brash is the director of Cyber Security Insights at Verve Industrial, a multi-faceted role that includes engaging with customers to work on identifying vulnerabilities that are often not disclosed, explaining and researching technical details buried in products onsite or in a lab, and staying on top of trends or tools. Plant Services Chief Editor Thomas Wilk caught up with Brash for a discussion on cybersecurity trends in 2021, a conversation that took on added urgency as last year’s data breach of the U.S. federal government came increasingly to light.
Kevin Milici is the executive VP of marketing and technology for Kurita America, a global leader in water solutions and one of the world’s largest suppliers of water treatment equipment, chemistries and services. The Kurita Group takes an integrated solutions approach to water treatment, looking for the root cause of a plant’s real problem or inefficiency, and developing a site-specific remedy. Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk spoke with Kevin late last year on the role that maintenance and reliability teams play to drive effective water treatment and management.
Ben Dickinson is Global Product Manager for Cyber Security at ABB. In December of last year, breaking news of the SolarWinds supply-chain attack moved cybersecurity into the top headlines, as news emerged that many U.S. governmental systems were at risk. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk had the chance to talk with Ben about the links between cybersecurity, energy efficiency, and physical safety in the age of COVID.
In this episode of The Tool Belt, Thomas Wilk sits down with Mara Hitner, director of business development for MatterHackers. Mara's mission is to empower, enable and equip everyone to create our future by turning the ideas they have into the things they use via desktop 3D printers, CNC machines and laser cutters. During the interview, Mara discusses how MatterHackers' COVID-19 Maker Response Hub is connecting those who need medical aid and those who can create it using digital manufacturing.
In this episode of The Tool Belt, Thomas Wilk sits down with José Rivera, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association. Jose works to help independent system integrators build better companies through the adoption of the association’s best practices guidelines. During the interview, Jose discusses the changing role of system integrators.
In this episode of The Tool Belt, Thomas Wilk sits down with Donovan Tindill, senior cybersecurity SME for Honeywell Connected Enterprise Industrial Cybersecurity. For over 20 years, Donovan has specialized in cybersecurity and infrastructure for control systems. During the interview, Donovan discusses cybersecurity trends and best practices for 2020.
We’re all familiar with the old adage “always use the right tool for the job.” But as the industrial landscape continues to evolve, having the necessary knowledge and skills to keep your plant up and running might just be the most important tool of all.