Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Francisco Almada Lobo, CEO of Critical Manufacturing and an Industry 4.0 evangelist, educator, and author, joins Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl to chat about what real transformation looks like, which steps to use, and how not to leave outdated processes still in place.

James Lane is a plant manager with Trivium Packaging . He works out of their Youngstown plant, which is the largest of many plants that Trivium operates, and he's skilled in operations management, continuous improvement, and business process improvement. James is also a strong media and communications professional, having earned a J.D. degree focused on corporate law from Capital University Law Sc...

This podcast discusses the opportunity around digital commerce for mid-market manufacturers. It explores how digital commerce can drive growth, how AI-powered solutions reduce barriers to entry, and how companies can scale their approach strategically. Businesses that invest in digital now can position themselves ahead of the competition, creating seamless buying experiences that meet customer exp...

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 tw...

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...

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...

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 d...

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 an...

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, chief editor Thomas Wilk talkes with Mike Holloway, president of 5th Order Industry , about the intersection of artificial intelligence and oil analysis. Mike has more than 40 years experience in industry and holds 16 professional certifications, a patent, an MS in polymer engineering, a BS in Chemistry, and a BA in philosophy. Mike is a...

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.

America is hungry for electricity. Between the rising number of data centers that power AI chatbots and cloud computing systems to electric vehicles to new home construction to trends in manufacturing, we need more electricity going into the system and upgrades to the distribution grid to safely deliver that power to users. Early Thursday, electronics manufacturing Flex announced plans to build a...

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....

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...

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'...

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.

Rosemary Coates is the executive director of the  Reshoring Institute , as well as the President of Blue Silk Consulting . She has more than 30 years of experience in supply chain, reshoring, and nearshoring, and is the author of several books including 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, and the Reshoring Guidebook. Rosemary appeared on the podcast in 2024 to talk about the  general...

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...

Many modern manufacturing plants generate some amount of electricity, either from solar panels on the roof or diesel generators or natural gas turbines. Some are trying to meet sustainability goals, others are working to ensure they'll have the power they need to run production. Great power not only comes with great responsibility (my apologies to Stan Lee), it comes with managment challenges. Mak...

Phillip Russell, a partner with Ogletree Deakins, offers his insights into what OSHA under a new Trump administration will be like, and offers suggestions on how companies can best work with OSHA. About the Article What Will OSHA Look Like Under New Administration? “I think we will see innovation from Trump 47 like we’ve never seen before,” says Phillip Russell, Ogletree Deakins.  Read the article

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...

Get an inside look at four game-changing technological developments poised to change multiple industries.