NEW Manufacturing Insights

Heather Chatelois-Kashal of Fox Valley Literacy joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to discuss the impact of the literacy gap on the Northeast Wisconsin workforce, including what employers should look for to best help support their workforce with digital and financial literacy, as well as language barriers, in addition to traditional reading challenges. As a nonprofit adult education organiz...

Kate and Ann take a look back at Insight's biggest Manufacturing First Expo & Conference ever, as more than 1,300 gathered at the Resch Expo last Wednesday, Oct. 28 for Wisconsin's largest manufacturing event. Listen to their reflections on the day, including keynote speaker Phil Gwoke, and hear sound from the expo floor featuring conference participants. Save the date for the next one: Oct. 2...

This week's episode is a conversation with Ian Johnson, fabrication manager, and Ryan Gauthier, a youth apprentice, at the Clintonville-based fire apparatus manufacturer Seagrave, which will be a recipient of the forthcoming NEWMA Excellence in Manufacturing K-12 Partnership Awards Oct. 27 in Green Bay. Seagrave is being recognized for its extensive youth and community engagement, including donati...

2026 NEW Manufacturing Alliance Excellence in Manufacturing K-12 Partnerships Award recipient Lynn Stangel, an HR generalist at Green Bay Packaging, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to talk about the company's educational and talent strategies. Listen as she gives her best insights on cultivating youth apprenticeship and overall leadership ahead of the NEWMA Excellence in Manufacturing K-...

This fall the announced merger between Scott's Industrial Coatings of Green Bay and Arizona-based Perfection Industrial Finishing made headlines as the era of new brand, UltiCoat, dawned under the leadership of president JQ Salas. On this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, JQ joins Kate and Ann for a quick chat about the industrial coatings industry, what the future holds for UltiCoat,...

Manufacturing Month 2026 kicked off with a bang Oct. 1 at the Robinson headquarters in De Pere, as training and development manager Jeff Engelbrecht and training and development specialist Ryan Gibbons joined co-hosts Kate and Ann on a special talent-focused episode recorded before a live audience. This marks the third year NEW Manufacturing Insights has recorded a show live as a special Manufactu...

The 16th annual Manufacturing First Expo and Conference is just about a month away, and first-time participant Spherion Staffing joins this week's episode to give a preview of their breakout session and sponsorship with Senior Manager of Regional Risk & Safety Chad De Santo, who will be presenting Oct. 28 at Resch Expo, as well as Director of Revenue Operations Natalie Walsh. Speaking on this...

Dean Nemecek is a veteran, entrepreneur and founder of the organization Veteran Bridge Solutions, which is working to close the gap between the military talent pipeline and the organizations that need it most. On this week's episode, Dean outlines for co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz the characteristics most define veteran-ready employers, offers advice on translating job descriptions into langua...

Raisa Ramos is the founder of Find Joy Off the Path, a Neenah-based HR consultancy that specializes in employee retention, which has been a hot topic among NEW Manufacturing Alliance members as well as the subject of the organization's most recent "Future of Work" Summit, at which Raisa was a featured speaker. On this week's episode, sponsored by Stoke RGA, hear Raisa's insights on pre-boarding ne...

We're going back to school on this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights with Jason Johnson, principal of the N.E.W. School of Innovation, and Jennifer Flatt, provost of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Jason and Jennifer join Ann and Kate in the studio to talk about the new fifth location for the rapidly-growing Green Bay charter school, which was initially formed to reach students w...

Mike Kilgore, vice president of marketing and design at Wisconsin Plastics, has seen a lot in his 26 years with the Green Bay-based company. When he first joined, Wisconsin Plastics was in the process of transitioning from just a manufacturer into a product development and manufacturing firm. He details his personal career journey as well as the past, present and future of the company in a convers...

Chief Operating Officer Brian Lakari of Alwin Manufacturing in Green Bay has racked up more than three decades of experience in the manufacturing industry. For his sit-down this week with NEW Manufacturing Insights, he shares a number of stories and pieces of advice from throughout his career — including how his leadership style has evolved, what he thinks about artificial intelligence and the evo...

Walt Melcher, the CEO of Bold Value Partners and a guest lecturer at UW-Green Bay since 2018, is later this year coming out with a new book, Bold Value Selling. On this week’s episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast, he and longtime manufacturing industry leader Hans Bachmeier give their insights on manufacturing sales paint points and possibilities. All episodes of NEW Manufacturing Ins...

On this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, Ann and Kate chat with two Fox Valley natives who are working on the cutting edge of innovation in the manufacturing industry: Arzana founder Marshall Kools, whose AI startup focuses on helping manufacturing companies eliminate tedious data entry tasks, and Trent Duerr, president of MillTown Paper in Neenah and a client of Arzana who says befor...

On this week’s episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, Kate and Ann visit with Ahmik Hindman, a senior network and security solutions consultant at Rockwell Automation, about the challenges of implementing CISA's recommended zero trust for OT guidance in the manufacturing environment, as well as other hot automation topics such as AI, secure data management, and the benefits of automation in addres...

Jeff Anderson, president of Precision Paper Converters in Kaukauna, is Kate's and Ann's guest on this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights. Precision, a contract manufacturer, is the only manufacturer in North America that specializes in the niche category of facial tissues. On the podcast, Jeff tells Kate and Ann about the challenges and opportunities he sees ahead for his industry and wh...

Jody Graetz, vice president and owner of Graetz Manufacturing in Pound, Wisconsin, joins Ann and Kate on this week's episode to talk about the past, present, and future of the manufacturing company with a history that dates back to a blacksmith shop in 1936.  Jody, who married into the Graetz family, is now part of the firm's fifth-generation leadership. Graetz's first patent was on a barn cleaner...

Stoke RGA's Jen Fietz returns to NEW Manufacturing Insights this week to offer her insights on the economic challenges and opportunities facing Northeast Wisconsin manufacturers at the year's midpoint. Among the topics covered on the episode include Wisconsin's recent manufacturing job losses; economic uncertainty and inflation; tariff refunds; rising petroleum costs; hidden opportunities for manu...

This week we're re-releasing Insight's and NEWMA's conversation with Oshkosh Door leader Chris Calawerts, which recently was honored with a "Best Podcast" award by the Alliance for Area Business Publishers. Check it out if you missed it the first time! NEW Manufacturing Insights is taking a break for the upcoming holiday, but we will be back again July 9 with another episode, sponsored as always b...

Staffing expert Mark Leupold of Express Employment Professionals in the Fox Valley says he has watched the region’s hiring landscape whiplash from pandemic exodus to overcorrection. And now, on this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, Mark hits the reset button with Kate and Ann and unpacks how the latest business trend, AI, is reshaping recruiting in Northeast Wisconsin manufacturing. ...

Ryan Ruzziconi is president of Aspiro, a Green Bay-based nonprofit providing life and employment services to individuals of all ages living with disabilities in Northeast Wisconsin, operating with the motto "live your way." On this week's episode, he shares with co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns what he has learned and appreciated in his first year-and-a-half on the job, both about the reach of th...

This Saturday marks the 20-year anniversary of the creation of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and this week's episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast marks the occasion by having two people in the room who have been in the room from day one: co-host Ann Franz, executive director of NEWMA for 20 years, and Lindquist Machine's Mark Kaiser, who was one of 12 manufacturing l...

The episode features a discussion on cybersecurity threats in manufacturing with guest Brett Chittum of Sprinter Business Solutions. Brett shares with co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns some real-world examples of cyberattacks, such as a logistics company compromised through email and Stryker's infamous incident that wiped out 200,000 devices. He emphasizes the importance of identity as the new per...

Registration opened this week for Insight's 16th annual  Manufacturing First Expo & Conference , for which BridgeWorks CEO Phil Gwoke, a Wisconsin native, has been announced as keynote speaker. On this week's episode, Kate and Ann chat virtually with Phil about his planned visit to Green Bay Oct. 28 and about his extensive experience studying generational difference, which will be the topic of...

Following a year of federal funding uncertainty, the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) led by executive director and CEO Chris Baichoo is ready to move forward. On this week's episode, Chris joins Kate and Ann in the studio to talk more about the past, present and future of WMEP. He says the yearlong period of uncertainty was difficult, but also clarifying in that it helped WMEP...