The ReForge Podcast

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ go without a guest to run the numbers on Agility Robotics ahead of its SPAC, and make the case that robot as a service is the wrong model for the factory floor. If you care about robotics, automation, capital, supply chain, manufacturing, this one is for you. What we cover Why a six-year payback is dead on arrival in e-commerce The ERP integration bill...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ go without a guest to call two things: structural steel is now the critical path on American factory builds, and the customer-funded founder is the one most likely to survive the reindustrialization wave. If you care about manufacturing, construction, supply chain, policy, founders, this one is for you. What we cover Why you now order steel before you...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Mason Hensley (Managing Director at American Stator) about why the stator is the real bottleneck in American robotics, and what it takes to build that supply chain here from the steel coil forward. If you care about robotics, supply chain, manufacturing, automation, domestic production, this one is for you. What we cover Why roughly 80 percen...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Ryan Ray (Director of Partnerships at Ad Astra Equity Advisors) about why so many small manufacturers are worth far less than their owners expect, and why removing the owner from the business is the work that fixes almost everything else. If you care about manufacturing, capital, automation, and succession, this one is for you. What we cover...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Caleb Chamberlain (Co-Founder and CEO at OSH Cut) about building a fabrication company that competes on predictability and software instead of cash burn, and why that model scales across the country. If you care about manufacturing, automation, supply chain, industrial AI, capital, this one is for you. What we cover Monte Carlo simulation for...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Will Alverson (Managing Partner at Accurate Metal Products) about running a second generation steel plate business with no leverage through a demand boom he thinks is real, driven almost entirely by AI CapEx, and fragile enough to have a single point of failure. If you care about manufacturing, capital, supply chain, workforce, policy, this o...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Cole Studer (CTO at Miltech Manufacturing and CEO at Mericron) about what it actually takes to modernize a rural American machine shop, and why the same person rebuilding that shop floor is also building Mericron, an American chipset meant to replace the Chinese one most of our automation quietly runs on.  If you care about manufacturing, aut...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Daniel Scott Mitchell (Co-Founder & CTO at Takton) about what he learned touring 150-plus American factories before building anything, and why the future of American industry depends on keeping small shops alive rather than waiting for them to fail. If you care about manufacturing, machine monitoring, industrial IoT, small and midsize sho...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Jack Watson (Business Development Manager at HFW Industries) about thermal spray coatings, the engineering knowledge that walked out of corporate America, and why the Rust Belt is a better bet than its reputation suggests. If you care about manufacturing, thermal spray, industrial reliability, workforce training, the Rust Belt, or reindustria...

In this episode, Colin Russ runs the ReForge reindustrialization news rundown: what moved this week across defense contracting, semiconductors, aluminum, critical minerals, shipbuilding, and defense propulsion, and what it actually means for the shops and factories on the other end of those headlines. If you care about manufacturing, defense contracting, semiconductors, industrial policy, tariffs,...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Const Ivanov (Founder & CEO at DigiFabster) about what American manufacturing actually looks like in 2036, and which shops make it there. If you care about manufacturing, machine shops, automation, capital markets, workforce, or reindustrialization, this one is for you. What we cover Running his own machine shop for six years, then buildi...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Brittain Ladd (Supply Chain, Logistics, and AI Strategic Consultant at Ladd Strategic Advisors) about why reindustrialization lives or dies on supply chain design, and why the trucking industry as we know it is about to disappear. If you care about supply chain, logistics, automation, autonomous trucking, reshoring, or industrial AI, this one...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ walk through what it actually takes to build a factory from scratch, from the debt that funds it to the steel that isn't available until December, and why a serious greenfield plant is a three year process no matter what the announcement says. If you care about manufacturing, construction, permitting, supply chain, or capital access for industrial...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ break down Matt's takeaways from the Reindustrialize Summit in Detroit, from the government's Pax Americana manufacturing strategy to why the RaaS model is a dealbreaker for serious manufacturers, and what's still missing in the funding stack for hardware founders. If you care about manufacturing, robotics, venture capital, trade policy,...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ dig into the part of the silver tsunami nobody is solving: the decades of irreplaceable technical knowledge walking out the door with every retirement, and why AI-driven knowledge capture might be the only shot we have at saving it. If you care about manufacturing, engineering, workforce development, AI, or the future of American industry, this one is...

Who Speaks for the Small Manufacturer? (with Patrick Wolf and Ethan Copple) | ReForge 017 In this episode, Colin Russ sits down with Patrick J. Wolf, PhD (Executive Director) and Ethan Copple, PhD (Director of Strategy) from the Institute for American Manufacturing to talk about why small and medium manufacturers have no voice in the policy conversations that determine their future, and what the I...

In this episode, Matthew Chang, Colin Russ, and Brian Keith break down why American factories are getting hit with dirty power, rolling brownouts, and rising energy costs, and what can actually be done about it right now.  If you care about manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, reindustrialization, or what it takes to keep a factory running in America today, this one is for you.    What we cover...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ dig into the humanoid robot hype and why it doesn't match what's actually happening on factory floors, in logistics centers, or anywhere else.  If you care about robotics, automation, manufacturing, or the future of American industry, this one is for you.    What we cover   Why "robot" doesn't mean "humanoid" and the...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ break down four major manufacturing and reindustrialization announcements, dig into the capacity crunch hitting every corner of the industry, and make the case that in the next five years, relationships are the only thing that will actually move the needle.  If you care about manufacturing, energy, venture capital, reindustrialization, or what it'...

In this episode, Colin Russ sits down with Brian Keith (CMO of Chang Robotics) to have an honest conversation about what LLMs actually do inside manufacturing businesses, why they lie constantly, and what the five levels of AI adoption mean for every factory owner and job shop in America.  If you care about AI, manufacturing, operations, small business, or the future of the American workforce, thi...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ break down four major reindustrialization announcements from the past week and explain what they actually mean for American manufacturing, supply chains, and the bull run ahead.  If you care about manufacturing, defense, pharmaceuticals, drones, AI, or the state of American reindustrialization, this one is for you.  What we cover   Cleveland Cliffs par...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ bring back Brian Keith (CMO of Chang Robotics) to talk about what an agentically augmented human can actually do, why every town of 10,000 people should have a factory, and what Chang Robotics is building to make that happen.  If you care about AI, manufacturing, workforce, community, or the future of American reindustrialization, this one is for you. ...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Shawn Maxwell (Chief Operations Officer of Church of Eleven22) to talk about what it takes to scale a 35,000-person-per-week organization, and why the institutions doing the hardest community work may also be the key to solving America's workforce shortage.  If you care about community, workforce development, manufacturing, faith, or...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ dig into the questions that flooded in after Episode 6, tackling the real decisions facing students, parents, and employers as the workforce shifts faster than anyone expected.  If you care about education, workforce development, manufacturing, or what to actually tell a 15-year-old right now, this one is for you.  What we cover   The decision matrix e...

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Adam Rossi (CEO of Total Shield) to talk about what it actually takes to acquire a highly specialized American manufacturer, build a 100% domestic supply chain, and ride the coming wave of space industry growth.  If you care about manufacturing, aerospace, defense, American supply chains, or what real reindustrialization looks like on the...