The Manufacturing Executive

In many instances where we put AI technology to use in our personal lives today – whether that means using ChatGPT to research a subject or taking recommendations from Netflix about what other shows or movies we might like – the stakes are pretty low. But as CEO of Fero Labs, Berk Birand, will tell you, on the shop floor in a manufacturing facility, where critical decisions are being made every hour that directly affect quality, throughput, waste and downtime, the cost of a mistake is extremely high. In other words, you can't be right only 80% of the time. In today's conversation, Berk will talk about where AI technology is (and is not) applicable in the manufacturing sector today. In particular, he'll dive into AI use cases in diagnostics and in forecasting.

We all know there are labor gaps on the manufacturing front lines. But today my guest, CEO of TBM Consulting Group, Bill Remy, will argue that those gaps are also emerging (and will continue to emerge) in manufacturing leadership as well. In our conversation, he'll talk about not only WHY this leadership problem is growing, but what we can do about it inside our companies to develop more effective manufacturing leaders headed into 2025 and beyond.

This episode is conversation that I recently recorded with Wendy Covey – CEO and Co-Founder of TREW Marketing – a marketing agency that works exclusively with companies marketing to engineers in industries that range from embedded design to control and automation. And as you'll learn shortly, Wendy and her company TREW Marketing joined forces early this year with my agency Gorilla 76 to put on a very niche and unique marketing event, live in Austin, Texas called The Industrial Marketing Summit. Our inaugural event was a huge success as we drew over 200 marketers from the manufacturing sector to Austin. And we're back for round two this coming February of 2025. In this conversation, which originally aired a few weeks ago on Wendy's fantastic podcast, Content Marketing Engineered, we dive into some of the major themes that are creating marketing challenges today for B2B manufacturing organizations and how this event is designed to help address those challenges. You'll hear about the topics, the speakers and everything we're doing together to create a community of industrial marketers that are looking to grow as individuals in ways that will also help their organizations grow and thrive.

In this conversation, product configuration expert and co-founder of Configit, Henrik Hulgaard, talks about product modeling ahead of production. More specifically, he'll dive into the ways model-based engineering can help manufacturers: - Reduce product complexity - More easily meet sustainability requirements and regulations - Break down knowledge silos between different parts of your organization (particularly engineering and sales) - And more

Traditionally, for a lot of small and medium-sized manufacturers, lower production volume has made it difficult to justify major investments in automation. But if the technology can be made simple enough for practitioners on the shop floor to manage it themselves, new automation opportunities can be unlocked. In this conversation, Founder and CEO of Vention, Etienne Lacroix, will talk about productization of robotics applications, virtualization and how the robotics industry will to begin resembling the software and technology sectors in the years ahead.

In today's conversation, Plant Manager at Geislinger Corporation Jason Woodard will be talking everything apprenticeships. He'll dive into: – The value an apprenticeship program creates for your organization AND for the apprentice – How to get started with building a program – Where to find resources to support you in doing so – And much more A manufacturing leader who was once an apprentice himself, and whose current organization's machinist staff is made up of 20% apprentices, Jason has plenty of wisdom share about how to make apprenticeships a part of your own operation.

Finding the right suppliers can be challenging for manufacturing leaders. Especially on a short timeline, and when quality control and lead times are at risk for customers. And on the supplier's end, filling capacity and expanding into new business opportunities can be equally challenging. My guest today, Markus Seibold, is the founder of a marketplace for parts manufacturing called MakerVerse. In this conversation, he'll talk about these challenges from both perspectives, and how to think about effectively matching supply and demand.

If common belief holds that high-mix, high-variability manufacturing applications are not meant for automation, then my two guest today are here to bust that myth. In this conversation, Co-Founders of GrayMatter Robotics, Dr. Ariyan Kabir and Dr. SK Gupta will talk about: - How the advancement of robotics technology is rapidly changing what's possible with manufacturing automation - How to build resiliency in the manufacturing workforce through AI and robotics - How robotics are becoming more accessible to smaller manufacturers - And more

Leadership transitions are hard. They're hard for the leader who's on his or her way out. They're hard for the incoming leader, stepping into a brand new role. And they're hard for everyone else at the organization living through the disruption and uncertainty that naturally comes along with a big change. Jon Summers, President of Noble-X Companies, is a manufacturing leader who's dealt with change management from a variety of angles. In our conversation, he'll share his advice for those experiencing leadership transitions from all three seats.

Think about your most important product. Who are your suppliers? Do you know who's supplying THEM? And in turn, do you know who's supplying the suppliers of your suppliers? CEO of BioMADE, Doug Friedman, is an expert in the biochemical manufacturing space. And today, he's here to explain why every manufacturing leader should care about the global chemical supply chain. Because regardless of how many steps away from it any of our respective products might be, we're more vulnerable than we may realize.