Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence.
Meet the Manufacturing Group
Contributing to the podcast are seasoned manufacturing journalists from Endeavor Business Media’s Manufacturing Group:
- Robert Brooks, editor in chief, American Machinist
- Dave Blanchard, editor in chief, EHS Today
- Robert Brooks, editor in chief, Foundry Management & Technology
- Robert Schoenberger, editor in chief, IndustryWeek
- Dave Blanchard, editor in chief, Material Handling & Logistics
- Laura Davis, editor in chief, New Equipment Digest
- Thomas Wilk, editor in chief, Plant Services
- Scott Achelpohl, managing editor, Smart Industry
Episodes
3 days ago
3 days ago
IndustryWeek's annual IW U.S. 500 list of the largest publicly traded manufacturing companies in the country offers a glimpse into the health of the overall industrial economy. Editors have worked tirelessly in recent years to rid the list of companies such as Apple, Nike and Monster Energy that seem like industrial producers but in reality farm out the hard work of manufacturing to their supply chains.
Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger discusses who's up, who's down and describes a manufacturing sector stuck in the blahs, waiting for anything (well, one very-specific something really) to spark some excitement. Listen to hear about:
Why some materials producers are having great years while others suffer
How one product and one company is sinking the healthcare sector
What's up with Ford, General Motors and Tesla
5 days ago
5 days ago
Matt Doherty, managing director of workplace management with Sikich, discusses what California bill 533 could mean for all employers in terms of providing a detailed workplace violence prevention plan for their companies.
Thursday May 09, 2024
When Did Soft Skills in Industry Become Hard Skills?
Thursday May 09, 2024
Thursday May 09, 2024
You know the stereotype of frontline industrial workers when it comes to soft skills: they're poor communicators with great ideas and a lot of rough edges. But how true is that stereotype really, in an age where good soft skills are required for the average plant worker to succeed on the job? And for managers who do want to polish their skills, what methods are proven to work? Join Lisa Brownlee, the owner and founder at Leader’s Imago, for a conversation on these topics and more.
Lisa holds both BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering. She worked for 11 years for a major engineering and manufacturing company in Columbia, SC, and is also a Lean 6-Sigma Master Black Belt. Her experience spans operations, continuous improvement, training development and delivery, and product assurance.
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Electric Grids' Hyper-Complex Risk Environment
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Environmental phenomena, regulatory standards, expanding consumer demand - and disappearing generating capacity have combined to create an impossible dilemma for manufacturers that depend on electric utilities.
Saturday May 04, 2024
The One Meeting Every Plant Can’t Afford To Miss [Ask a Plant Manager]
Saturday May 04, 2024
Saturday May 04, 2024
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. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into how to get your team to support communication, accountability, and asking for help when they need it.
Friday May 03, 2024
Friday May 03, 2024
The IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit is approaching quickly. The inaugural event, slated for June 26-28, in Indianapolis, will address important topics from continuous improvement and smart technology adoption to workforce and leadership dynamics.
In this episode of Production Pulse, we are joined by two of the conference speakers, who discuss their upcoming presentations in the Summit's Continuous Improvement track. GE Healthcare's Sarah Tilkens speaks on optimizing talent for operational excellence, while Mercury Plastics' Carl Livesay addresses the challenging task of sustaining lean gains. Both are keen proponents of continuous improvement and unlocking the potential of your employees to drive manufacturing success.
This episode also shares an overview of the complete Summit program. Register for the event by May 3 and save $200.
Speakers are:
Sarah Tilkens, Sr Manager - Operational Excellence - GE Healthcare
Carl Livesay, General Manager - Mercury Plastics
Jill Jusko, Executive Editor - IndustryWeek
Laura Putre, Senior Editor - IndustryWeek, moderated the conversation
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
Tuesday Apr 30, 2024
From personalized 3D-printed bandages to robotic hair restoration, discover how cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing healthcare. Dive into the world of biomimetic robotics inspired by nature and the latest advancements in 3D-printed cranial implants.
Read about this episode's inventions on our site:
Skull Sculpting With World’s First 3D Cranial Implants
Strand by Strand, Robots are Changing Painful Hair Loss Treatments
Roll Up: Pangolin-Inspired Robot is Designed to Travel Within the Human Body
3D-Printed, Drug-Release Bandage Advances Treatment for Burn Patients
Saturday Apr 27, 2024
Regulators Target Chemical Producers in April [Production Pulse]
Saturday Apr 27, 2024
Saturday Apr 27, 2024
So far in April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued three major rulings on chemical producers that could have far-reaching impacts for manufacturers, food packaging and water infrastructure. And, more regulations are likely coming soon.
It's an election year, and the Biden Administration must get new rules finalized on the books well before November, or new rules will be easy for the next president to overturn if Biden loses his re-election bid. That's the view of Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Washington law firm Bergeson & Campbell PC.
Bergeson was a guest Thursday on a bonus episode of Production Pulse, IndustryWeek's live video series in which editors discuss important news topics with experts and manufacturing leaders. Typically, episodes run bi-weekly, but we wanted to get the regulatory episode in front of an audience right away, givien how active April has been.
Speakers were:
Lynn L. Bergeson with Bergeson & Campbell
Jon Katz, executive editor of Chemical Processing
Andy Hanacek, senior editor of Food Processing
Bob Crossen, editorial director for Water World and Endeavor Business Media's water group
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Why Younger Generations Aren’t Pursuing a Career in Manufacturing
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Jake Hall is best known as the Manufacturing Millennial. A true industrial influencer, Jake talks about the latest technologies in the automation and manufacturing space, while making it engaging for all audiences. He has more than a decade of experience working with manufacturers, system integrators, and distributors, and he understands the importance of advocating for smart automation, robotics, and skilled trades. Jake recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about manufacturing's need for companies to attract and mentor the future skilled workforce.
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
High-Tech Solutions to Repurpose ‘Robot Wranglers’
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Michael Bearman is the chief customer and administrative officer and general counsel at Vecna Robotics. For the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company he manages customer deployments and helps ensure the successful adoption of autonomous mobile robots. Before Vecna, he served as the chief operating officer at Vecna Technologies and is a member of the ASTM Committee 45 on Robotics, Automation and Autonomous Systems Executive Subcommittee.
He joined Smart Industry’s managing editor, Scott Achelpohl, to talk “robot wranglers” and how Vecna’s Pivotal Command Center and other products like it can remotely monitor the machines 24/7/365 and almost eliminate the need for humans to intervene in plants and warehouses, drawing people toward other, higher-value tasks and away from all that “wrangling.”