Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

Vera Newland, Director of Digital Transformation Services at Kauffman-Rawson, dives into the transformative potential of digital commerce for mid-market manufacturers. She highlights how embracing digital strategies is crucial for keeping pace with evolving buyer expectations, particularly among millennial and Gen Z consumers. Vera also discusses the innovative use of AI agents in customer service, which enhances customer interactions and reduces workload. By implementing these digital commerce practices, manufacturers can create seamless buying experiences and drive significant growth.

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 Read the article

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 Read the article

Mike Holloway, president of 5th Order Industry and a seasoned expert in tribology, dives deep into the importance of oil analysis for equipment reliability. He highlights that only 10-15% of companies fully utilize oil analysis data, comparing it to regular health check-ups. The conversation also touches on the transition to AI and automation, discussing ethical concerns about workforce displacement and the need for a balance between technology and human expertise. Holloway emphasizes that human insights are crucial for effective data interpretation and maintenance practices.

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.