Modern Industrialist Xchange

What does it actually take to run continuous improvement across a fleet of 115,000 rail cars? James Chapman spent nearly a decade at GATX, one of North America's largest railcar leasing companies, moving from Director of Continuous Improvement all the way to leading all of the company's owned North American operations. His approach was simple in concept and hard in practice: get on the flo...

What does it actually take to keep a small or mid-size manufacturer competitive right now? Jason Hehman sits down with David Boulay, President of IMEC, the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, to find out. David and his team work with thousands of Illinois manufacturers every year. His read on the industry is grounded, honest, and a little different from what you usually hear. In this convers...

In this episode Jason Hehman, Industry 4.0 Vertical Lead at TXI, sits down with Jim Pang, a senior technology executive and product innovator with decades of experience in freight transportation. Together, they uncover the surprising truth about rail's quiet leadership in AI and machine learning applications—innovations that have been transforming the industry for over two decades.  From acous...

Immersive technology is revolutionizing workforce training, and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are leading the way. From reducing downtime in manufacturing to enhancing hands-on learning without real-world risks, AR/VR is shaping the future of industrial operations. In this live episode of the Modern Industrialist Podcast, Jason Hehman is joined by Ed LaFoy, Lead Engineer speciali...

What if you could optimize your manufacturing processes in real time, anticipate failures before they happen, and optimize processes with just a few key data points? That’s the power of digital twin solutions—an evolving technology that’s reshaping industries from smart manufacturing to logistics. Host Jason Hehman, Industry 4.0 Vertical Lead at TXI, is joined by Andrew Horner and Alan Gardner, pr...

What does it take to lead a company at the forefront of innovation in highly regulated industries? Melissa Robbins, Chief Operating Officer at Mindr, joins the Modern Industrialist Podcast to share her approach to balancing cutting-edge technology with a people-first mindset. Mindr, a leader in substance detection and monitoring solutions, is reshaping public safety with products like Intoxalock a...

When you’re in high-mix, low-volume manufacturing, you have a unique perspective on efficiency and improvement processes. There aren’t a lot of iterations where you can implement improvements or amortize suboptimization. Brian Montanari is the President & CEO of HABCO Industries, a leader in high-mix, low-volume manufacturing. He joins us on the show today to bring his unique perspective to th...

If you had a bird’s-eye view of digital transformation projects in manufacturing plants across the world, what would you see? No need to guess: Today, our guest is a man who has that exact view. Tim O’Neal is the Global Operations Director for Operational Excellence and Leveraged Services for Dow Chemical. He oversees digital transformation projects at over 300 plants in 31 different countries.  W...

What’s all the buzz about NVIDIA? And what does it have to do with manufacturing and logistics? In today’s episode, Jason Hehman and Patrick Turley break down everything you need to know. Jason and Patrick explain the technological difference between traditional computer chips (CPUs) and NVIDIA’s GPUs. Then they explain how these NVIDIA GPUs are making GenAI, machine learning, and edge computing p...

In Patrick Turley’s own words, his “dogs are barking,” but the ache of his feet doesn’t compare to the excitement he felt walking around the International Manufacturing Technology Show for days. Patrick joins the podcast to give us highlights from the event. He tells about trends he saw from 3D printing and additive manufacturing vendors. Then Patrick goes over what he saw in the automation and ro...

Both IoT devices and 3D printing have followed a similar timeline recently: a surge of interest, lots of hype, and now stricter scrutiny.  In this episode, Jason Hehman and Matt Reich discuss where these two technologies are trending, both in the consumer world and in the industrial space. Listen in as Jason and Matt break down IoT devices and 3D printing (aka additive manufacturing) in terms of v...

Jason got to take a tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center and he’s here to share takeaways that every industrial business can benefit from. With co-host Patrick Turley, Jason breaks down Amazon’s use of computer vision, edge computing, and digital twins and what it can teach us about Industry 4.0. They also touch on how technology can improve workforce retention and how it can help managers make be...

What’s virtual reality’s value for manufacturing today? In this episode we break down everything you need to know about today’s spatial computing (virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, etc.) for manufacturers. We discuss how it could speed up and standardize training. We envision how it could empower more stakeholders, including clients and maintenance teams, to provide input earlier...

What lessons can manufacturing professionals learn from Friday’s Crowdstrike catastrophe? We give an overview of what happened and what it can teach the manufacturing community about best practices in the software development process.  We also explain what incident response should look like in these situations. This episode is for manufacturing executives who need to have a basic understanding of...

HS Inc. is a success story of a family-owned manufacturing company surviving and thriving by future-proofing itself. Today its Director of Business Development, Paul St. Louis, joins the show to tell us about their fifty-year evolution from mold maker to automation integrator.  Founded in 1969 close to Detroit Michigan, HS Inc. got its start creating parts for the automotive industry. As the indus...

The annual Rethink Conference by the Manufacturing Leadership Council is one of the top events in the digital transformation of manufacturing. What’s discussed there is indicative of what’s likely to come for manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. Jason attended the conference and is ready to report his top three takeaways. Patrick is here to help him analyze it all.  The first takeaway: Workforce...

Deepti Yenireddy has an incredible track record of creating tech products and platforms that change the trajectory of businesses. What’s her secret sauce? She spends 90% of her time with clients. When she’s not with a client, she and her team are in full ‘speed-to-value’ mode– getting iterations to clients to enjoy and give feedback on, within days, not months. Deepti is our guest on the show toda...

Patrick is finally back from his secret mission, so we’re here to do a group debrief about the past few episodes, tying together themes that we noticed ran throughout. We talk about AI safety, forecasting what will need to be done before enterprises are comfortable putting their data into AI tools and training models. We discuss how technology can play an important role in compliance and tracking...

Transportation is a uniquely physical business– it’s not going to be taken over by AI any time soon. But that doesn’t mean that AI or other tech innovations can’t be genuinely helpful for workers and management. Today, Chris Torrence, Chief Strategy Officer from Optym joins us to talk about how tech automation and optimization should work. We have a great conversation about how tech shouldn’t be a...

In this episode of the Modern Industrialist Podcast, we explore the cutting-edge of last-mile delivery with Mike Koleno, the Chief Technology Officer at Better Trucks. Mike, whose background spans financial services and technology, now leads the charge in revolutionizing logistics with Industry 4.0 innovations. Under his leadership, Better Trucks has become a beacon for technological advancements...

Today we’re diving into the world of cannabis supply chain management with Colton Griffin, CEO of Flourish Software. With a rich history in optimizing supply chains through innovative data analytics, Colton brings to the forefront the intricacies and challenges of navigating the cannabis industry. Flourish Software stands out as a pioneer in offering technological solutions that span the entire ca...

In this episode of the Modern Industrialist Podcast, we sit down with Ben Sprecher, the Chief Product Officer at Bookend.ai, to explore the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the realm of modern industry. Ben, a seasoned product leader and technology executive whose journey has traversed from Wall Street to leading a business into the arms of Google, brings a wealth of experience i...

In this episode of the Modern Industrialist Podcast, we delve into the crucial support system for startups navigating the transition from prototype to market-ready product. Our guest, Adam Rodrigues of FORGE, a nonprofit with offices across CT and MA, shares his journey and the mission of FORGE to connect innovators with local manufacturing resources. With a rich background in supply chain operati...

In this episode of the Modern Industrialist podcast, hosts Jason Hehman and Patrick Turley speak to Zach Peña from Empirix Partners to explore the pivotal role of strategic sourcing and procurement in the era of industry 4.0. They delve into the challenges and strategies for building resilient supply chains, particularly in mission-critical infrastructure like data centers. With Zach's extensi...

In this episode we're joined by Bo Guilbeault of Starbucks, a leader in IT Asset Management and Retail Infrastructure Technologies. Dive into the heart of Industry 4.0 with us as Bo shares his expertise in managing complex IT assets across Starbucks' global network. Learn about the integration of IT Asset Management with cybersecurity, financial strategies, and sustainability efforts. Bo a...