Manufacturing Meet Up

Manufacturing is growing again in the U.S., but there aren't enough people to run the plants. Ed and Alvaro sit down with Jared Pfeiffer, a former plant reliability and maintenance leader now working with Augury, to talk about the hottest topic in manufacturing right now: AI agents.

Jared breaks down what an AI agent actually does on the shop floor, and why it's different from the alert...

Ever had a VP show up and point at something you can't explain? Ed and Alvaro have both been on the receiving (and giving) end of tough plant reviews, and this week they're breaking down how to turn that often stressful visit into your biggest opportunity.

• Why the first 10 minutes of any tour set the tone for the entire day

Augury and IndustryWeek just dropped the State of Production Health 2026 report, and the findings are worth talking about. Ed and Alvaro dig into what 500+ manufacturing leaders said about their biggest challenges, where AI is actually being used, and the contradiction that sits at the heart of the whole study.

• For the first time, workforce constraints...

P&G is projecting $1.5 billion in savings from Supply Chain 3.0. PepsiCo is piloting AI and digital twins. Hershey just announced $100 million in inventory reductions. So why does McKinsey report that not a single manufacturer has fully integrated AI into operational decision-making?

Ed and Alvaro get real about:

• Why good systems stall...

When the pressure's on to cut costs, maintenance budgets are usually first on the chopping block. Ed and Alvaro have both been in that room, and they've got a lot to say about why that decision almost always costs more than it saves.

In this episode they break down how to actually win the budget conversation: 

• who you need in...

Doc Palmer, author of McGraw-Hill's best-selling maintenance planning handbook, joins Ed and Alvaro to talk about why most plants are leaving enormous money on the table without knowing it.

If your team is stuck in reactive mode, this one will reframe how you think about planning, scheduling, and the metrics you're probably using wrong.

In this episode:

Most plant managers think they're doing okay. Ricky Smith, CMRP, has walked enough plant floors to know better. Ed and Alvaro sit down with one of the most credentialed voices in maintenance and reliability to talk about what separates reactive plants from world-class ones.

Episode highlights:

• Reactive maintenance could be costing you 3x m...

Season 3 is here, and the "barbarians at the gate" brought company: $5.70 diesel, supply chain chaos, and labor gaps that won't quit. When the pressure hits, the knee-jerk reaction is to slash the maintenance budget. But Ed and Alvaro are here to tell you why that's a trap that can lead to even costlier failures.

Episode Highlights:

• M...

Ed and Alvaro are back with their year-end crystal ball episode…and boy, they nailed some predictions while completely whiffing on others!

In this episode, they score their 2025 predictions (spoiler: sustainability was a BIG RED failure ❌), breaking down the 20 episodes that shaped Season 2, and going out on a limb with their 2026 forecasts.

Here's what they covered:

What if your maintenance tech could pick up shifts like an Uber driver, but with the right skills and certifications guaranteed? In this game-changing episode, Ed and Alvaro speak with Rahil Siddiqui (Founder of Wilya) and Arianna Flores (former Maintenance Manager, now at Augury) to tackle manufacturing's most pressing challenge: creating flexibility for frontline workers while maintaining safety and quality standards...

You know that maintenance hero who gets the 2 AM call when the line goes down? The one who always saves the day? Ed and Alvaro have a hot take—that hero culture might be killing your plant's performance.

In this episode, they break down why firefighting becomes an addiction that's hard to kick:

• The People Problem: When "Jerry" become...

Ever been that stellar mechanic who gets tapped for supervisor, only to realize your overtime-inflated paycheck is about to take a hit? Or maybe you're the technical wizard who wants absolutely nothing to do with managing people? Ed and Alvaro tackle manufacturing's biggest career crossroads – whether to climb the management ladder or become a technical master of your craft.

With half a million open ...

With Halloween around the corner, Ed and Alvaro shine a light on the machine failures lurking in your plant. In this "ask me anything" episode, they tackle maintenance questions with real shop floor experiences—including a thermography inspection that prevented a million-dollar catastrophe.

Tune in to hear more:

• Worst machine health ...

Ed and Alvaro tackle the million-dollar question everyone's asking: Is all this AI investment actually paying off? Spoiler alert: When done right, the numbers are mind-blowing. But here's the catch – you need the right KPIs first. From 310% ROI to sub-6-month paybacks, they break down what separates AI winners from those stuck in pilot purgatory, with real data from a Forrester study that measured everything from downtime red...

Ever wonder how someone successfully leads 17 plants across the Americas? Andres Oviedo joins Ed and Alvaro for a conversation that's part leadership masterclass, part coffee shop wisdom. Building on the "Innovation Mentality" from the previous episode, Andres shows what it looks like in action, speaking from his experiences with Mondelēz, Kraft-Heinz, and Barry Callebaut. The guys explore how Andres' multicultural exp...

Let's get ready to rumba! With a nod to Hispanic Heritage month, Ed and Alvaro welcome Cuban-American author/leadership consultant Glenn Llopis to the show. The guys dig into Glenn's Innovation Mentality—six strategies that'll change how you see your plant floor. 

From Ed's hard-won insight that "80% of your plant's solutions are on the shop floor" to Glenn's powerful revelation that "respect re...

Welcome to graduate school, manufacturing style! Ed and Alvaro level up from last episode's basics to tackle the advanced skills that separate individual contributors from true business leaders.They dive into what it really takes to grow beyond being "too functional" – from mastering cross-functional collaboration to understanding how your decisions impact the entire enterprise, not just your corner of the operat...

Time to hit the books, manufacturing style! Ed and Alvaro are trading their signature hats for caps and gowns in this "Back to School" episode, where they break down the essential skills every manufacturing pro needs to master. Think of it as Manufacturing 101 – minus the detention and pop quizzes. From communication basics that can turn six-week delays into four-day solutions, to why your first guess at a root c...

Ed's rocking his Harley Davidson hat, and Alvaro's got golf on the brain as they tee up the question everyone's asking: Can American manufacturing actually compete in 2025?

Spoiler: Their answer might surprise you.

From Crayola's decision to stay put (and dominate 80% of their market) to robot dogs sniffing out air leaks, the guys break down why "Made in USA" might make more sense than you thi...