Manufacturing Talks
There are millions of cool stories in manufacturing. Your host, Jim Vinoski, helps share them by talking to the people who are making them happen. Manufacturing is where the rubber meets the road. There's no hiding. You're either making good products people will buy for enough to keep you in business, or you're not. Meet the amazing folks who thrive in that survival-of-the-fittest world.
Episodes
The inimitable Mike Rowe joined us to talk about his passion for promoting skilled trades, highlighting the significant increase in open positions from 2.3 million in 2009 to 7.6 million today. We chatted about his new partnership with PureTalk, a wireless company, to support veterans transitioning into trades.
All that and a whole lot more!
Mike Rowe's Passion for Promoting Trades
Rowe...
"Manufacturing jobs aren't coming back to America, because rich nations are always service economies."
Wrong on all counts!
Our esteemed host explains why this oft-repeated statement is flat-out false, and what has really led to the decline of much of American industry.
We're already reshoring, and we can cement that trend and accelerate the recovery of American industry ...
Noel Joyce, an assistant professor at NYU Shanghai, discussed his open-source adaptive quad mountain bike design. After a mountain biking accident left him a wheelchair user for 20 years, Joyce pursued industrial design. He designed a bike to address the limitations of existing adaptive bikes, which often break down and are cost-prohibitive. Joyce's bike is modular, made from machine parts, and open-source, aimin...
Matt is Head of Reindustrialization at Veryable. We featured them in our early days, when the company's CEO, Mike Kinder, joined us for our Episode 11.
Now, with reindustrialization happening in real time, Matt is here to tell how Veryable is uniquely suited to helping supply chain companies with their labor needs as they grapple with the volatility that new opportunities bring.
Matt is also the...
Peace Corps veteran Clay Martin found his calling, and he's now founded company #2 that's focused on helping industry employers find skilled workers who want to come here from Puerto Rico.
In case you weren't previously aware, that is a territory of the United States, so the people there can come here with no red tape and no immigration complications. And there are a whole bunch of trained and ...
One half of the Energy Bad Boys came back on the show to discuss our electric grids and the good, the bad, and the ugly about them.
Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling published a Substack last month telling how my home state of Michigan's insane energy policies will likely shut down the last remaining iron mine in the Upper Peninsula, the Tilden mine. Now Isaac is on the show to do a deeper dive into that, the ...
Chris is with Global Search Network and is Senior Talent Acquisition Leader for Consumer Packaged Goods North America. So he is right there on the front lines of today's tough recruiting game.
Chris joined us to share valuable insights on what he sees every day that can help you no matter what part you're playing: hiring manager, HR, recruiter, or candidate.
Here are the highlights:
Right on cue, all the major media outlets are chiming in on how "manufacturing jobs aren't coming back," with claims that deindustrialization is somehow just a natural and wonderful thing for a wealthy economy.
Nonsense.
Your host with the most, Jim Vinoski, takes apart the "evidence" for those claims piece by piece, and then points out the elephant in the room: it's ove...
Rory has a stellar career's worth of know-how and insights, and he came guns-a-blazin' to fill us in on everything the wise manufacturing leader, executive, or owner needs to know to compete in today's marketplace.
Here are the highlights.
Chapters:
00:00 - introduction
03:00 - Rory's first day inside a factory
05:15 - the colossal importance of manufacturing
09:00...
Martha is an economist with the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis, and she did a video a few months ago for PragerU about growing up in Malawi and how very different her life was there versus since she came to America for school then work.
I saw the video right as I was first starting with my now routine message about how manufacturers have to stop apologizing for what we do. Martha's even...
For Episode 150, we wanted something really meaningful. Dan Meyer brought it.
Say you're in manufacturing and you can't find enough people to do the jobs you need done on your factory floor. (Sound familiar?)
Here's a thought: there is a whole class of people who are desperate for jobs, but because of a past bad decision, they're locked out of the very things they need to turn the...
Episode 149 features longtime leader from the Department of Energy and now CEO of CURIO Ed McGinnis talking about safely and profitably reprocessing all the "waste" nuclear fuel we have collecting at our many nuclear reactor sites across the country. It turns out most of it can be made into new fuel, and what remains - 3-4% - can be safely disposed of in boreholes.
Ed tells us all that and how the r...
Tony Demakis is one of those sons of a manufacturing-related business owner who didn't want to take over from his dad.
Until he did.
Now he runs Alliance Specialties/Alliance Laser Sales, and has great insights on how to succeed in our corner of the business world and how to build a great team.
He's also a fellow manufacturing show host, with his Manufacturing Alliance Podcast.
It's another stellar multi-generation family business: Malco Products in northeast Ohio, where they make the very best stuff folks use for auto detailing. Company president Seth Glauberman joined us for Episode 147 to tell us all about the company history, how he landed in the family business, and what's hot for the company these days.
Here are the highlights.
Chapters:
00:00 - introduc...
If you're looking for a great example of real-world results that using AI in the manufacturing realm can bring, you definitely want to hear this discussion with Chris Kuntz. He's the VP of Strategic Operations at Augmentir, provider of AI-based connected worker software. He covered how Augie, the company's generative AI assistant for industrial work, can make things better in a number of ways for your f...
Lots of manufacturers, especially those with small and medium-sized businesses, take a "it'll be fine" approach to their IT. Since it's not necessarily central to the business, it's easy for owners and managers to put off dealing with it or just leave to the same folks who've always handled it for them.
Jeff Borello, co-owner and CEO of Andromeda Technology outside Chicago, says ...
Are you curious about how manufacturers can keep up with the rapid advancements of the digital age? Join us as we chat from afar with Australian John Broadbent, the visionary behind Realise Potential. John shares many insights into the evolution of Industry 4.0, from the early days of PLCs and automation to today's AI-driven innovations, but you may be surprised as his recommendations for the best path forward fo...
Gearheads unite! Episode 143 features the CEO of Hellwig Products, Melanie Hellwig-White, chatting about how they make cool aftermarket parts like helper springs and sway bars.
It's a great fourth-generation manufacturing business story. Here are some highlights.
Chapters:
00:00 - intro
01:00 - how Melanie landed in the family business
03:00 - helper springs and the founding of Hellw...
This is a must-see chat with two true innovators in 3D printing! (Sorry for the little snafu with the camera viewfinder indicators showing up on-screen!)
Jason Murphy runs Next CHAPTER (not Next Generation, as I said in the video) Manufacturing and Brandon Teets runs Accel Digital Solutions, both in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Both companies recently appeared in episodes of our playlist "Welcome to the Mach...
For Episode 141, we got a great education in the state of business for farm tractors. Mahindra is a tractor maker headquartered in India, and they happen to have the best-selling model in the world. The President and CEO of their North and South America business, Viren Popli, joined us to fill us in on all the latest and greatest in this vital manufacturing sector. Here are the highlights.
Chapters:
00:00...
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