Ep. 208 - Modernizing Manufacturing: Insights on Cybersecurity, Obsolescence, and AI Integration

In this episode of Manufacturing Hub, co-hosts Vlad and Dave turn the spotlight on themselves and share deeply practical stories from the front lines of industrial transformation. With decades of experience consulting across manufacturing verticals, they unpack some of the most pressing (and often misunderstood) topics shaping the future of factories today—from aging infrastructure and insurance-driven cybersecurity to real-world applications of artificial intelligence and organizational change.

If you're a plant manager, controls engineer, systems integrator, or digital transformation leader, this episode delivers grounded, no-fluff advice you can apply right away.

🧠 Key Themes & Topics Covered:
🔐 Cybersecurity as a Financial Decision:
Vlad explains how cybersecurity initiatives often originate from IT and are directly influenced by rising insurance premiums, making cyber-risk quantifiable. Learn how assessments now inform insurance underwriting and why updating your legacy OT systems could lower your premiums and risk exposure.

🛠️ Obsolescence Assessments & Risk-Based Planning:
Explore the actual workflow of auditing plant-floor systems, from identifying unsupported PLCs (like PLC-5s or Data Highway+) to negotiating priorities between IT directors, engineering teams, and insurance firms. Vlad shares real examples of balancing modernization costs with production constraints and process uptime.

📊 Why Assessments Are Just the Beginning:
Understand how post-audit phases translate into strategic proposals that combine low-hanging fruit projects with long-term roadmaps. Learn how organizations build 3–5 year modernization strategies—without bringing operations to a halt.

🤖 AI Strategy in Manufacturing—Beyond the Hype:
Dave shares how enterprise leaders—from CEOs to HR and IT departments—are approaching AI with curiosity but confusion. He outlines a clear framework for structuring executive workshops, evaluating tools, and identifying high-impact use cases across functions (from maintenance to HR to accounting).

🧩 AI Agents, Co-Pilots, and the Future of Decision-Making:
Explore the evolving role of AI agents and LLM-based tools on the shop floor. Dave breaks down what AI agents are, how they might function in the future (e.g., executive dashboards that talk back), and what security hurdles still block widespread deployment in industrial settings.

⚠️ The Reality of Change Management:
Implementing new tech is hard. Dave discusses how real change happens only when frontline champions (not just executives) see personal value in new tools. Hear the story of how one skeptical veteran technician became a project’s biggest advocate—once it solved a pain point he had lived with for decades.

🔁 IT/OT Alignment & Organizational Silos:
The hosts discuss why most enterprise-scale modernization efforts stall—not due to technical complexity, but due to siloed budgets, conflicting incentives, and competing visions between digital transformation leads, IT VPs, and plant operations.

⏱️ Timing Is Everything:
Even with budget in hand, projects often face delays due to scheduling around critical uptime windows. Vlad explains how production planning often dictates digital progress, especially in lean operations like food & beverage and life sciences.

🎯 Who This Episode Is For:
Engineering & operations leaders navigating legacy infrastructure
Cybersecurity professionals responsible for OT risk mitigation
Plant managers balancing uptime with modernization goals
Digital transformation executives driving multi-year initiatives
System integrators and consultants supporting migration projects
Anyone curious about how AI is actually being evaluated in manufacturing

📢 Don’t forget to:
✅ Like this episode if you learned something
📝 Comment with your thoughts or questions
🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes exploring the frontlines of manufacturing
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite platform