Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast

Bill Leahy is the Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance Reliability, a veteran-owned and operated reliability and maintainability engineering consultancy dedicated to American manufacturers. Paul Lavoie is the Chief Manufacturing Officer at the State of Connecticut and is committed to helping manufacturers take advantage of market opportunities to grow their businesses and solidify Connecticut’s reputation as the Silicon Valley of advanced manufacturing.
The two worked closely on Unturning Steel, a documentary that helps provide service members with a path forward after returning home. In the film, Bill sets out on a hero’s journey to help his fellow veterans bring their talents to American manufacturing. Together with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Bill has created a new offering that provides veterans the support and training they need to find purpose in American manufacturing.
Bill and Paul recently spoke with Plant Services editor in chief Thomas Wilk about their work with veterans and how their initiatives are helping to close the skills gap in manufacturing in North America.

Smart Industry Managing Editor Scott Achelpohl discusses how smaller and midsize companies can embrace do-it-yourself automation with Etienne Lacroix, founder CEO of Montreal-based Vention, an automation technology provider.
Topics covered include: 
How smaller businesses can benefit from automation systems once only available to large enterprises
The seismic effect that cobots have had on robotics
The power of democratizing automation
See also: Smart Industry 2024 Crystal Ball Report 

Smart Industry's Robert Schoenberger spoke with Christina Hoefer, VP of global industry enterprise at Forescout, a cybersecurity company that continuously monitors, identifies, and protects all connected IT, IoT, IoMT, and OT assets against cyber threats and ensures compliance with incident response, threat intelligence, and dynamic segmentation.
Topics discussed included:
How to get IT and OT teams to play nice with each other
Understanding security risks from outdated systems
The need to automate data-collection functions because the hackers certainly are doing that

With labor shortages mounting, manufacturing advocates say there's a ready pool of talent available within underserved minority communities in many major U.S. cities. Discussing this topic are:• Erica Swinney Staley, Executive Director of Manufacturing Renaissance in Chicago, an organization that promotes career-track manufacturing jobs to young people in low-income communities.• Beth Dawson, Director of the Apprenticeship Program at Manufacturing Works Cleveland where she connects manufacturers with Cleveland public schools students seeking career opportunities• Jordan Hooser, a recent graduate of Cleveland’s Max S Hayes High School, who's working as an apprentice at WLS Stamping & Fabricating Co.• Ryan Joseph, an industrial recruiter and regular contributor to SecurityInfoWatch.com and a recruiting at the Recruit Group. Ryan has written several articles about some of the challenges faced in DEI hiring.

In this “in case you missed it” edition of Supply Chain Insider, you’ll learn how Six Sigma methodology can optimize supply chain quality and efficiency.
About the Article
Supply Chain 101: Six SigmaWritten by Jagan ReddyRead by Adrienne SelkoRead the article

Companies around the globe are working hard to establish new systems for documenting and reporting their greenhouse gas footprints, and other data relating to their products and supply chains. To achieve this and stay in compliance with ESG standards, plants are leaning more than ever on their logistics partners to provide key data on supply chain-related carbon emissions.
In this bonus podcast, Plant Services chief editor Thomas Wilk continues his conversation with Jason Manganaro, VP of Commercial Technology for the Americas at SPARX Logistics, on the current capabilities of logistics to calculate and provide these carbon data.

Many plants around the world have invested to some degree in Just In Time Manufacturing, where goods are created to meet demand, not created in surplus or in advance of need. However this model was stress-tested in 2020, as the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on the global supply chain, leading many plants to adopt more of a "just in case" approach to spare parts inventory and beyond.
For this episode of Great Question! we're joined by Jason Manganaro, VP of Commercial Technology for the Americas at SPARX Logistics, who talks with Plant Services chief editor about how a post-COVID ripple effect through the global supply chain resulted in innovation at every step.

A B2B consultant with experience in manufacturing SMBs explains the proper role for manufacturing executives on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc.

Awards season is here with applications open for the IndustryWeek Best Plants Award, our annual recognition of manufacturing excelllence as measured by a stringent set of performance metrics. And while bragging rights for the winners are great, awards can also improve operations.
In this episode of our bi-weekly livestream Production Pulse, we talked to:
Rick Bohan, principal and CEO of Chagrin River Consulting, a frequent IW Best Plants Award judge, and the author of a recent story about the benefits of entering these sorts of contests. 
Brandon Davis, vice president of Components at Dexter Axle Corp., a Northeast Indiana company that produces parts for trailers and RVs. Davis was a 2022 winner when he was plant manager at NOV Texas Oil Tools, and he co-wrote a piece about what you can learn from entering contests with Rick Bohan. 
Jill Jusko, IndustryWeek's executive editor and director of the IW Best Plants Program.

IndustryWeek News Editor Anna Smith recently discussed how ill-fitting protective gear is a multi-faceted problem--creating potential unsafe working conditions for women and reinforcing messages that female employees don't belong in manufacturing plants or on construction sites. However, several companies and groups are working to address those challenges.
Hear from Ana Kraft, founder and CEO of Xena Workwear, and Adonica Rodriguez, indirect material and services buyer at Ardent Mills, to hear how they're solving those challenges to ensure women and comfortable, empowered and protected in the workplace. 
About the Article
Lack of Women’s PPE Causes Safety Issues. Is Anything Being Done?Written and ready by Anna SmithRead the article