Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

The Art of the Practical: Turning Digital Transformation Dreams into Tangible Outcomes

From their (R)Evolutionizing Manufacturing program, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Industry 4.0 enthusiast Jeff Winter get back into what's practical in your factory floor tech transformations. An intriguing discussion about mindset in manufacturing today and tomorrow.

America Needs More Electricity: Production Pulse

America is hungry for electricity. Between the rising number of data centers that power AI chatbots and cloud computing systems to electric vehicles to new home construction to trends in manufacturing, we need more electricity going into the system and upgrades to the distribution grid to safely deliver that power to users.
Early Thursday, electronics manufacturing Flex announced plans to build a new facility near Dallas, Texas, to make switchgear and other components necessary to support data centers. The so-called power pods include all of the major components needed to add adequate power for electric-hungry data processing facilities. 
And the Flex news follows recent announcements from Eaton Corp. and Schneider Electric on similar investments in grid-supporting components. ArcelorMittal recently announced a $1.2 billion plant in Alabama to make speciality steel for electrical applications as well.
Major electrical equipment manufacturers are boosting production of transformers and switches to make that happen. Our editors roundtable from Endeavor Business Media (owner of IndustryWeek) include:
Chris Butler, president of Embedded and Critical Power at Flex
Nikki Chandler, group editorial director for T&D World, EnergyTech and Microgrid Knowledge
Sara Jensen, executive editor of Power & Motion
Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek
Matt Vincent, editor-in-chief of Data Center Frontier

How AI Can Improve Workplace Safety

Benchmark Gensuite’s Natasha Porter explains creative applications for AI in the workplace and how AI-based tools can help move the needle on occupational health and safety.

Smart Strategies for Training Your Maintenance Team, No Matter Your Budget

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 training the maintenance and reliability team and building credibility.

Time to Choose: Robot or CNC Grinding for Your Metal Casting Production

The scarcity of labor and the need to remain competitive means that producers of cast parts must embrace automated grinding. Jeff Antonic of Stratecasts explains why that decision leads to more choices.

How to Successfully Integrate Time-Sensitive Networking in Your Facility

Time-sensitive networking (TSN) has emerged in the industry, promising to change industrial communication networks for the better through guaranteed data delivery with minimal latency and jitter. In this episode of the Great Question: A Manufacturing podcast, New Equipment Digest editor-in-chief Laura Davis discusses the challenges that arise from implementing time-sensitive networking and how to overcome them for successful integration.
About the Article
Time-Sensitive Networking: The Benefits, the Challenges, and How to Integrate SuccessfullyLearn about Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN)—an advanced ethernet technology—along with its benefits, its main challenges, and tips to help you integrate it successfully.Written by MoxaRead by Laura DavisRead the article

Manufacturing Cybersecurity in 2025: Getting the Shop Floor Involved [Production Pulse]

Education and training remain the best ways for manufacturers to protect themselves against hackers, but that can be a challenge when you're talking about hundreds or thousands of employees on shop floors instead of a handful of people in offices. IT managers often don't understand how the shop floor works or comprehend the difficulties of the tasks that manufacturing workers perform daily. 
That's a key takeaway from IndustryWeek Senior Editor for Technology Dennis Scimeca's recent interview with Rob Larsen, security advisor for Silverfort and former chief security architect for General Motors. 
In this episode from the regular Production Pulse livestream series, Scimeca and Larsen discuss why hackers love to target manufacturers (hint: it's where the money is), how not to shame employees for possible breaches and how to set up basic protections. 

Crystal Ball Series Shows All the Advancements in Store for 2025—and More

From AI, to cybersecurity, to decentralizing utility grids, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl breaks down highlights from the monthlong web series that SI debuted to start the new year.

Will Trump's Tariffs Impact North American Reshoring Initiatives?

Rosemary Coates is the executive director of the Reshoring Institute, as well as the President of Blue Silk Consulting. She has more than 30 years of experience in supply chain, reshoring, and nearshoring, and is the author of several books including 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, and the Reshoring Guidebook.
Rosemary appeared on the podcast in 2024 to talk about the general impact that reshoring initiatives were having in North America, and in this new episode she unpacks some of the ripple effects on reshoring that might occur as a result of new 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico curretly being proposed by the Trump administration.

How Trump Could 'Win' with the Panama Canal

U.S. troops are not likely to invade Panama to retake the Panama Canal, but U.S. influence over the trade zone could expand greatly in the next few years, says Andrew Thomas, a professor at the University of Akron and author of books about the Canal and the shale gas boom making the canal more influential. 
In a wide-ranging interview with IndustryWeek Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger, Thomas explains why the Canal is relevant again after decades of being something that the United States wanted to divest, how China became a dominant player in the region and how Trump's new insistence that the U.S. retake control of the canal could play out. 
The conversation builds on a series of stories that Thomas wrote for the publication:
China Saw Opportunity in the Panama Canal as US Interest Dwindled
Trump, China and Shale: What's Next for the Panama Canal?