Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

Digital transformation implementation: Where does your facility stand?

Eric Whitley is director of smart manufacturing for L2L, with a background in lean manufacturing and total productive maintenance. In January, L2L surveyed 125 manufacturing leaders with mid to C-level titles across production, operations, engineering, IT, and management to uncover the state of digital transformation in manufacturing. Highlights from the survey are available at www.L2L.com/blog/digital-transformation-in-manufacturing-industry. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke with Whitley recently about the secret to successful digital transformation.

See Spot inspect assets with condition monitoring tech

Fluke and Boston Dynamics have developed a partnership where the SV600 Fixed Acoustic Imager payload from Fluke Process Instruments is connected with the Boston Dynamics Spot robot, enabling remote and/or automated plant inspection routes. Plant Services Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk spoke about this technology partnership with Martin Budweg, Product Marketing Manager for Fluke Process Instruments, and Tim Dykstra, the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Channel Sales for Boston Dynamics.

Where is your plant going? Setting goals to achieve your vision

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe talk about how to more efficiently get where you're going.

Implementing asset performance management best practices with Accelerators

Tracy Swartzendruber is VP of Marketing for Power Generation and Oil & Gas at GE Digital, connecting industry with software that solves some of industry’s toughest problems. In her own words, “a better run plant is a more efficient plant, which is actually a more sustainable plant.” At the ARC Industry Forum in June, she presented an update on several GE Digital initiatives including the use of “Accelerators” to help plants scale APM across the enterprise.

Lessons learned from Disney: Why creativity is essential to your team’s success

Lee Kitchen has 32 years of experience at the Walt Disney Corporation across multiple roles, including Innovation Catalyst. In that role, Lee trained groups within Disney on the design thinking process, and he conducted many ideas sessions across the company. He branched out from Disney five years ago to found his business, Magical Dude Consulting. Lee delivered the opening keynote at the 2022 Leading Reliability conference in Clearwater, Florida, where he spoke about the elements of success when it comes to new idea development. Lee recently spoke with Editor in Chief Thomas Wilk about how to foster greater creativity with your team.

How to collect and utilize compressed air system data

Neil Mehltretter is Technical Director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements.Werner Rauer is the Project Manager for Oil Injected and Oil Free Screw Compressors at Kaeser Compressors, and he's an active leader in the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, where he helped develop the widely used CAGI compressor data sheets. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Werner explore the benefits of knowing what is going on in your compressed air system.

Knowing where your plant stands: How to conduct an honest self-assessment

Assets Anonymous is a 12-step podcast series designed to help you get grounded in reliability basics and create a culture of continuous improvement with your team. This series will feature interviews with George Williams and Joe Anderson of ReliabilityX. ReliabilityX aims to bridge the gap between operations and maintenance through holistic reliability focused on plant performance. In this episode, George and Joe explain why knowing where you stand is an essential first step in your maintenance and reliability journey.

The future of industrial work: Navigating current and future challenges

José Rivera is the CEO of the Control System Integrators Association, and has been working with the CSIA members on the role of the system integrator in digital transformation. José is focused on strategy and business development, and has a deep understanding of industrial markets and technology, as well as business-to-business marketing and sales. Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk recently spoke with José about the people, places, and work that system integrators provide.

Regulating the compressed air industry for improved energy efficiency

Matt Smith is Vice President of Sales and Customer Experience at FS-Curtis, and he also serves on the Compressed Air and Gas Institute’s board of directors. Matt recently spoke with Plant Services managing editor Anna Townshend about his work with CAGI, current and upcoming regulations, and what the compressed air industry can expect for the future.

Alternative design strategies for your compressed air system

Neil Mehltretter is technical director for Kaeser Compressors, and he has conducted and supervised thousands of industrial compressed air studies to help plant teams achieve significant energy savings and operational improvements. Bill Kemph is a project manager for engineering solutions for Kaeser Compressors and has more than 20 years of experience with building, testing, designing, and installing compressed air systems. In this episode of the Compressed Air Podcast series, Neil and Bill address the opportunities and challenges plants face when they consider alternative compressed air system design strategies.