Reindustrializing in 2025 — AI, Scale, and the Future of U.S. Manufacturing with MIT’s Liz Reynolds

In this bonus episode, our guest is Liz Reynolds, manufacturing and workforce expert at MIT and strategic advisor to Tulip.. Fresh from Detroit's Reindustrialize (https://www.reindustrialize.com) conference, Liz and Natan share key insights on America's urgent push to bring manufacturing back home. They explore the "Spring of momentum" in reindustrialization efforts, from AI moving beyond hype to real implementation on the shop floor, and break down the massive scale challenges facing US manufacturers across critical sectors. Drawing from major industry conferences including Reindustrialize, the Hill and Valley Forum (https://www.thehillandvalleyforum.com), Industry Studies Association (https://www.industrystudies.org), and MIT's Initiative for New Manufacturing (https://inm.mit.edu), she explains strategic workforce development approaches to address the 400,000 manufacturing worker shortage and the Department of Defense's $1 trillion budget impact on industrial capacity. Reynolds sheds light on how this Spring's discussions and strategic planning around technology adoption and workforce training are beginning to take concrete shape as the real work accelerates into Fall. Augmented Ops is a podcast for industrial leaders, citizen developers, shop floor operators, and anyone else that cares about what the future of frontline operations will look like across industries. This show is presented by Tulip, the Frontline Operations Platform. You can find more from us at Tulip.co/podcast or by following the show on LinkedIn. Special Guest: Elisabeth Reynolds.