NEW Manufacturing Insights

Get a preview of Thursday's NEW Manufacturing Alliance quarterly meeting keynote when you listen to this week's conversation with Mike Lee of Mindshift Labs, who shares his insights about living in the present moment and how it connects to leadership in today's distracted world. A Wisconsin native, Mike spent a significant portion of his career playing and coaching basketball, even working one-on-...

Jennifer Rome, who graces the cover of the 2025 NEW Manufacturing Alliance All Stars magazine, is Kate's and Ann's guest this week on NEW Manufacturing Insights. Find out more about Jennifer's career journey and why learning a trade and working in the manufacturing sector has been the right career move for her.  Jennifer took the wood manufacturing course at Fox Valley Technical College and worked...

David Gordon, director of career and technical education with Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 7, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to talk about youth apprenticeship and connecting the Northeast Wisconsin business community with young talent and our region's school districts. David was honored as NEWMA's Career Pathmaker Award recipient at last year's Excellence i...

Stoke RGA (Revenue Growth Accelerator), formerly known as Imaginasium, has officially launched its new brand with a sharp focus on helping manufacturers drive double-digit, scalable revenue growth. Built on years of hands-on experience with Midwest manufacturing companies, Stoke RGA partners with $75M+ manufacturers to align strategy, sales, marketing and operations and execute with precision. Jen...

Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing Productivity, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to help unpack the 2024-2025 Wisconsin Manufacturing Report, which WCMP has produced for the past four years in order to take the pulse of manufacturers across the state. He also notes how some of the results (including supply chain falling off respondents'...

On the eve of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance's "Future of Work" Summit on succession planning, featured speaker Mel Butcher of the organization Lead to Soar, which is working to close the leadership gender gap, joins Kate and Ann on the podcast to share more about the Madison-based organization, her personal background and passions and why closing the leadership gender gap is key to creating succe...

President Kevin Ignacio of Marion Body Works joins this week's episode to talk about the 120-year-old manufacturing company that has been owned by his family since 1980. The company that started out making milk wagons now manufactures commercial van bodies, custom cabs for fire truck chassis manufacturers, all-aluminum fire apparatus and more.  Kevin tells co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz about t...

This year's Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year winner in the mega category, Neenah-based Plexus Corp., is looking to step away from its former identity as the Fox Cities' best-kept secret. This week Plexus CEO Todd Kelsey joins Kate and Ann on the podcast to talk more about the company, which makes no products under its own name but is focused on building a better world through partnerships and in...

Nicole Malson's grandfather Fred started the aluminum fabrication company in his Appleton basement 60 years ago, and today Nicole is proud to serve as the third-generation president of STRYKER, which produces a product called Metalphoto and has major clients in the New North region. On this week's episode, Nicole shares her insights about taking over the company from her grandfather, and then her...

From construction to cosmetology, SkillsUSA is a student organization empowering students -- sixth grade through post-secondary -- to explore, and even master, skilled trades. Wisconsin state president Marli Novy, a 12th grader at Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to share more about the organization and how it is helping fill the talent pipeline in a var...

Katie Miner joins this week's episode to talk about OwnersEdge, the employee-owned holding company for which she has has been serving as vice president of integration, as well as QComp Technologies, the Greenville-based OwnersEdge child company of which she was recently named president. QComp creates integrated robotic systems for highly complex, end-of-line material handling in niche industries,...

Hope Voigt, who has served as chief operating officer for the De Pere-based mechanical contracting firm Tweet Garot since 2016, was recently promoted to company president. A certified public accountant with an MBA, Voigt was praised in her promotion announcement by Tweet Garot CEO Chris Howald as having been instrumental in driving operational excellence and strategic growth at the firm.  Today sh...

Brad Cebulski, who founded the social media marketing agency BConnected LLC in 2011, is this week's guest on NEW Manufacturing Insights and shares what he has learned about marketing since his time as a college student leading initiatives for the American Marketing Association.  Cebulski acknowledges social media has long been one of industry's most ignored marketing channels, as well as one of th...

1994 Olympic silver medalist John K. Coyle joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to talk about his presentation at the NEW Manufacturing Alliance's quarterly membership meeting, which was held this morning in Manitowoc. Coyle has dedicated 10 years of his life since leaving speed skating to the study of chronoception, which refers to time perspective. He started his work following a meditation...

Christa Kananen is associate director of the Sustainable Business Council, formerly known as the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, the 18-year-old organization that became an independent nonprofit organization in January after operating as part of WMEP Manufacturing Solutions since 2019.  She joined NEW Manufacturing Insights to discuss how SBC supports businesses, especially manufacturers i...

This week's episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast features an interview with Pierce Manufacturing President Bob Schulz, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Service. Schulz shares the joys and challenges of running one of the Fox Valley's most beloved manufacturers and highlights the company's award-winning efforts to engage the next-generation workforce. He also reflects on the special signi...

Pheonah Kisembo and Hilary Haskell from the nonprofit organization Hope and Help Together, which works to support immigrant and refugee populations by facilitating resources and relationships in Northeast Wisconsin, are this week's podcast guests. On the heels of a lunch and learn presentation to the NEW Manufacturing Alliance earlier this week, Pheonah and Hilary sit down with NEW Manufacturing I...

This Saturday at 1 p.m., Bloomberg Television will feature the 150-year legacy of De Pere's The Lawton Standard Company on an episode of "World's Greatest." And on this episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Service, fifth-generation CEO Alex Lawton gives a preview, shares the company's history, and provides his best leadership insights on running a multigenerational...

Ben and Amy Bertram had never before owned a business when they decided to buy Fiberglass Solutions in 2018. Since that time, the Bertrams have grown the company from two to 20 employees and relocated from a 9,000-square-foot facility in Green Bay to a 34,000-square-foot plant in Ashwaubenon. On this week's episode, sponsored by Werner Electric Supply, Ben and Amy talk about the challenges and rew...

Dan Shea, chief operating officer of electrical contractor Shea Electric and Communications, joins co-hosts Kate Bruns of Insight on Manufacturing and Ann Franz of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance on the 60th episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, sponsored by Werner Electric Supply. Dan tells the co-hosts the history of his business, which specializes in low-voltage projects and dat...

Todd Louthain, owner of Coex 3D in Green Bay, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode of the podcast, which ties in with the January 2025 IOM cover story on additive manufacturing, "Addition by Addition," that was released yesterday. Louthain bought Coex 3D and spun it off from The Village Companies in 2022, and today it is one of only 14 domestic manufacturers of 3D printing filament selling to...

Happy New Year from all of us at Insight Publications, the NEW Manufacturing Alliance, and Woodward Community Media, who are proud to kick off the third season of NEW Manufacturing Insights with a feature on Sturgeon Bay-based manufacturer Marine Travelift, which was recently awarded a military contract to build the U.S. Coast Guard's largest-ever boat lift and constructs 70 to 90 lifts per year,...

Mark Hawkins, founder of the nonprofit organization Hands on Deck, joins co-hosts Ann Franz and Kate Bruns on the final episode of 2024 to talk about how Hands on Deck is helping students learn the benefits of woodworking, enjoying device-free hobbies, and the fundamentals of manufacturing.  Mark shares the history of the youth boat-building organization and how it has grown in popularity, serving...

Jonathan Brill, a seasoned inventor, the first person to hold the position of "global futurist" at HP, and a former adviser to the U.S. Secret Service, will speak in Green Bay on Feb. 28 at Envision Greater Green Bay's annual Global Futures Day Forum. In anticipation of that visit and connecting with leaders in Northeast Wisconsin, Brill joined co-hosts Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance...

Greg Schrage of Mt. Calvary's Advanced Tooling, Inc. joins co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz on this week's episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, which looks back at the first-ever Best Places to Work in Manufacturing awards that were presented by Insight in November. ATI was not only one of the top 10 manufacturers that were honored for its high scores in the Workforce Research Group employee en...