Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

Join Chris Butler, President of Embedded and Critical Power at Flex, and Matt Vincent, Editor-in-Chief of Data Center Frontier, as they dive into America's soaring electricity demands driven by data centers and electric vehicles. They discuss Flex's new facility in Dallas, producing essential components for energy-hungry data processing. The conversation highlights major investments in grid infrastructure, the challenges utilities face, and innovative solutions for future energy resilience. Tune in for insights on powering the digital age!

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 Read the article

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.

Join Rosemary Coates, Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute and supply chain expert, as she dives into the implications of proposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. She discusses how these tariffs might affect reshoring initiatives in North America, urging companies to rethink their supply chains in light of recent economic changes. Additionally, Rosemary highlights the interconnectedness of semiconductor supply chains and the ongoing demand for innovative technologies amid global challenges. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone interested in manufacturing's future!

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?

In this discussion, Jana Gerber, president of Schneider Electric's North American microgrid business, and Rod Walton, managing editor of Microgrid Knowledge, dive into the transformative potential of microgrids in manufacturing. They explore their integration of renewable energy sources, enhancing sustainability and resilience. The conversation highlights the economic implications of power outages, the shift towards on-shoring due to an aging utility grid, and innovative projects reshaping energy solutions, ultimately empowering communities with reliable power.