Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

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.