Manufacturing Happy Hour

We’re back for 5 more interviews with leaders in Robotics, Automation, and Artificial Intelligence. These conversations all took place in Pittsburgh at Cascadia Connect 2022 with investors, ecosystem leaders, high growth companies, and other movers and shakers in this industry. This was truly a unique event designed to bring all of these different players together, and Cascadia Capital deserves a...

Have you ever been in a room full of growth companies, investors, academics, entrepreneurs, and technologist all working together to advance the industry? It’s rare to get all of these players in a tech ecosystem together in one place, but that’s just what Cascadia Capital did at Cascadia Connect 2022 in Pittsburgh, PA. With such a range of leaders in Robotics, Automation, and Artificial Intellige...

Welcome to another episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour recorded in front of a LIVE audience. A couple of months ago at IME West in Anaheim, we had a chance to sit down with Jerry Perez, FANUC America's Executive Director of Global Accounts. FANUC is one of the biggest names in industrial robotics in the world, so as you can probably guess, this is a very robot-centric conversation. In this episode...

Willemijn Schneyder and her team are changing the game for post-sales support. Willemijn is the CEO and proud Founder of SwipeGuide, a next-generation instruction software that provides an intuitive way to create enhanced-reality work instructions. So how is this creating a revolution? Well, you're going to hear about that in this week’s show. Before venturing out into the world of entrepreneurshi...

Scot Lindemann has seen a thing or two when it comes to robotics. The guy has over 30 years of engineering and leadership in this space, from his long tenure with JR Automation to where he is now as the CEO of Mission Design and Automation, a Western Michigan-based robotics integrator and automation company. It's only appropriate that he take us through the world of robotics, "then and now," in to...

Rachele Focardi is a generational diversity expert, international speaker, author, and Founder of XYZ at Work. We've talked about attracting the next generation to the workforce on this show quite a bit, but today is probably our most holistic conversation to date when it comes to all of the generations in the workforce and the wonderful things each generation brings to the table. In this episode,...

Are you ready for 2022's biggest automation event in North America? Automate 2022 is right around the corner. Hosted by A3 - The Association for Advancing Automation - Automate is bringing together over 500 exhibitors and thousands of attendees for the ultimate networking, education, and technology event. The event takes place in Detroit, MI June 6-9 and you can register for FREE at https://manufa...

The future is digital, and the manufacturing industry is no exception. Jerry Foster, the CTO of Plex, is one of the select visionaries who jumped on the ‘digitization’ bandwagon quite early in the game. Plex is a company that paved the way for business enterprise software in the cloud through a smart manufacturing platform that connects people, systems, machines, and supply chains. Jerry joins Man...

Divya Thadani leads PPG’s strategy and business development for the company's architectural coatings business in the US and Canada. But her impact doesn’t end there. She’s made her mark as a diversity, equality, and inclusion champion at PPG. In this episode, Divya shares some insights from her childhood and how growing up in an entrepreneurial family influenced her life. She explains what she bel...

What goes on behind the scenes at some of the top theme parks in the country? A whole lot of custom scenic design, courtesy of 3dx Scenic, a L!VE company that creates immersive 3D expressive designs. Mark Rosenzweig, 3dx’s Senior Account Executive, joins the show to give some insight into what it’s like being part of a team that creates models for theme parks, exhibits, and more. In this episode,...

Roman Piszcz is the Founder and CEO of Quotebeam, a new company that's reducing friction in the purchasing process and building a marketplace for automation parts, quotes, and collaboration. But before Roman became an entrepreneur, he was leading a team at Apple, and that’s where this week’s story begins… Roman joined Apple back in 2016 and worked there for nearly five years as part of the iPhone...

Sharad Chadha is the CEO of Sprecher Brewing Company and through hard work, risk-taking, and out-of-the-box thinking, he’s living the American dream. Originally an engineering major, Sharad topped that with an MBA and used his skill and business acumen to rise through the ranks at renowned companies like GE Healthcare, Electrolux, and Samsung. Now he’s pouring all his business acumen into running...

Working on first-generation products and new product development is no walk in the park. But, Milo Werner, General Partner at The Engine, joined the "Build Better 2022" virtual conference to share her wealth of experience. Milo joined Tesla in 2007 at a critical stage in the company's trajectory, where she led new product introduction launching the Model S and Model X powertrains. In addition to T...

If you can’t tell from the title, there’s a lot of variety in this week’s episode. Michael Wrinch is the President and CEO of Hedgehog Technologies, an engineering consulting firm based in British Columbia that specializes in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and risk management. From rides and attractions to projects that impact sustainability, Hedgehog’s motto is fitting: “We make...

We talk a lot about ways manufacturers can save money and grow their business on Manufacturing Happy Hour...digital transformation, process optimization, all of that. Sometimes it makes sense to talk about the basics. While tax credits aren't necessarily "sexy," they can impact your balance sheet. Today we're focusing specifically on the Employee Retention Credit. So how's this credit work? To ans...

Sarah Boisvert has a long history in the manufacturing world. She started her career in lasers which fed into 3D printing, and now she's helping close the skills gap as the Founder of both the Fab Lab Hub and the New Collar Network. In this episode, Sarah delves into the inspiration behind the New Collar Movement and how it’s impacted her career since then. She also explains the thinking behind Fa...

Jay Douglass has been around robotics and technology for a long time. After a long history with Carnegie Mellon, he’s now the COO of the ARM Institute. This organization is creating a nationwide group of elite manufacturing, academic, technology, and government organizations that share the common mission of a robust U.S. manufacturing ecosystem, impacting everything from the US economy in general,...

Our guest this week is Jose Palomino, the CEO of Value Prop. Jose works with B2B business owners to unlock new growth by helping them ensure their value proposition actually aligns with the biggest challenge their ideal customers are facing and making sure there's a sales process and delivery to support that. He's also the author of a book also called Value Prop, host of The Revenue Throughput Pod...

Ashleigh Walters is the President of Onex and author of the book Leading with Grit and Grace. Onex is a more than half-century-old industrial furnace manufacturing and service company based in Pennsylvania. When Ashleigh became the leader of the company, she truly changed the company's culture for the better. Hence the title of her book and the main theme for this episode. In this episode, Ashleig...

Want a taste of one of the best events in manufacturing? This week, we're giving you an inside look at the A3 Business Forum. This is the Association for Advancing Automation’s premier leadership and networking event that takes place at the beginning of every year, but really, it’s a community, and not just any community. The people in this association easily make up the single strongest group of...

Eddie Saunders Jr. is a guy who wears a bunch of hats. He’s the Creative Director and Brand Collaborator at Flex Machine Tools. He's got a background in theater. He runs an MMA gym. But – since this is a manufacturing podcast – you're most likely to know him as the host of the Flex & Friends, a web series where Eddie chats with influential and passionate leaders in the manufacturing industry....

What’s the role of investment banking in manufacturing and logistics? Our guest this week is here to answer that question. Firdaus Pohowalla is Managing Director at Cascadia Capital, where he leads investment banking coverage for robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence, or if we're talking in acronyms, RAAI. In this episode, Firdaus gives us a little backstory on how he got to where he i...

Laura Timbrook is a national board-certified health and wellness coach who is focused specifically on the manufacturing industry, particularly on shift workers. She's also a speaker on the topic and runs her own podcast Outspoken Nutrition. We haven't really approached this topic on the show before, but it's one that Laura is uniquely qualified to cover. Health and wellness isn’t a topic that’s di...

Erik Nieves is a robotics expert and an individual who believes technology should be used to elevate human existence and well-being. Erik has a very long history in the robotics world and is the CEO and Co-Founder of Plus One Robotics, a company that makes vision software for logistics robots. More than that, they deliver a novel approach that allows industrial robots and humans to work together....

James Novak is the CEO of Fiix Software, a company that provides an industry-leading cloud-based CMMS that helps manufacturers plan, track, and optimize maintenance. It's also worth noting that just over one year ago, they were acquired by Rockwell Automation, which brings us back to the premise of today's show…leading through an acquisition! Managing a company acquisition is a tough job, and keep...