Manufacturing Happy Hour

300 episodes of Chris asking all the questions, this week he is finally in the hot seat - and it’s his high school buddies doing all the grilling!
Recorded live at Urban Chestnut Brewing, this episode is split into two parts. First, Chris sits down with a Missouri manufacturing panel - Michael Eaton, Joe Mazzola and Maria Berra to talk Apollo 13 battery cells, pepper spray, whiskey barrels, and keeping it in the family in St. Louis.
In part 2, we are flipping the script. To celebrate this milestone episode, three of Chris's oldest friends, Pat, Rob and John take over, asking Chris about his 'magic drug' for keeping the show running for 300 episodes, reminiscing on his first experience of things taking a turn for the worst on stage, and a very exciting personal announcement.
In this episode, find out:
How Missouri became the birthplace of a surprising range of products that most wouldn't realize
How a kid who dreamed of building rollercoasters ended up building a manufacturing podcast instead
Why Chris's dad might be the most legendary guy in their entire high school network
Why Chris wouldn't watch the Blues win the Stanley Cup live, despite being in Boston
What Chris says helps you stand out when everyone in your industry is chasing the same trend
Where Chris would send you for the best food and drink in St. Louis

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes:
"I don't know if being an engineer is exactly what I wanted to be, but I was certainly going to take that problem-solving skill set and bring it wherever I go." - Chris Luecke, Podcast Host & Community Builder at Manufacturing Happy Hour
"The more you can take that ‘all ships rise with the tide’ approach, those are the regions I see really being successful in manufacturing." - Chris Luecke, Podcast Host & Community Builder at Manufacturing Happy Hour
”What are the things that you can talk about that are timeless, that highlight who you are, that highlight your expertise, that can allow you to stand out from the pack?” - Chris Luecke, Podcast Host & Community Builder at Manufacturing Happy Hour

Links & mentions:
AssetWatch and MaintainX, our partners for this leg of the All-American Manufacturing Summer Tour.
The Missouri Association of Manufacturers, supporting manufacturers and driving turnout for this special St. Louis event.
IMTS, hosted by AMT (the Association for Manufacturing Technology) - the country's largest manufacturing trade show.
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company is an unconventional-minded yet tradition-oriented brewer of craft beer with authentic heritage and proven quality.

Make sure to visit https://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Some of the best manufacturing advice comes down to one simple idea - buy back your weekends.
In this bonus episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, Chris is joined by Patrick Carmitchel, VP of Product Management and Dustin Moore, Condition Monitoring Engineer Manager at AssetWatch, to break down what condition monitoring and predictive maintenance looks like in practice, no jargon required.
They get into the differences between preventative and predictive maintenance, why the biggest ROI often comes from just doing one thing well, and how AssetWatch's own founding story led them from wireless power research into one of the fastest-growing names in industrial monitoring. Along the way, Dustin shares a personal philosophy that gives this episode its name.
In this episode, find out:
Why doing one thing well with your most critical assets can catch the majority of issues before you need to expand into other monitoring methods
How a maintenance technician went from feeling threatened by AssetWatch to calling it the best thing that ever happened to his job
What criteria actually determine whether an asset is "critical" - and why size has nothing to do with it
How AssetWatch went from researching wireless phone charging to building one of the fastest-growing platforms in industrial monitoring

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes:
"The proof is in the pudding... once they start seeing the results on their end - that bearing running a lot cooler, a lot smoother - that's when they come around." - Dustin Moore, Condition Monitoring Engineer Manager at AssetWatch
"You've got to start somewhere. Meet maintenance teams where they're at - they're all in different parts of their journey." - Dustin Moore, Condition Monitoring Engineer Manager at AssetWatch
"Predictive maintenance means you're looking at early warning signs... it's about your ability to be able to plan so that you do not have unplanned downtime." - Patrick Carmitchel, VP of Product Management at AssetWatch

Links & mentions:
AssetWatch combines vibration, temperature, and oil analysis in one platform for a holistic asset health view, detecting issues that a single technique might miss.

Make sure to visit https://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

We're not beating the drum this week… we're ringing Cici's bell.
Filmed live at Trinity College's Innovation Hub - our first time in Connecticut, and our first ever 9:30am taping. Not quite our usual ‘happy hour’, but our guests and the “small-but-mighty" state of Connecticut brought the energy all the same.
Chris sits down with Cici Bevin, sixth-generation President of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing and leader of the only remaining bell maker in the U.S, Andrew Gibson, CEO of AlphaQ, who came out of retirement to run a precision aerospace supplier for names like Sikorsky and Rolls-Royce, and Dustin Nord, Foundation Director at CBIA, tracking the trends shaping Connecticut's manufacturing future.
Together, they get into what keeps a 200-year-old manufacturer relevant, how a turnaround can make you a top global supplier almost overnight, and why one of the priciest states to manufacture in has built such a strong industrial cluster. Expect a state role you've probably never heard of, a centuries-old invention with surprising staying power, and what it takes to grow tomorrow's manufacturing workforce.
In this episode, find out:
How Andrew Gibson turned a failing aerospace supplier with 0% on-time delivery into Rolls-Royce's #1 global supplier
What surprising products are actually made in Connecticut, from Wiffle balls to Black Hawk helicopters
Why Connecticut created a Chief Manufacturing Officer role, and why other states might want one too
How a vicar from Wethersfield, Connecticut ended up inventing the first machine mill, and why that still matters today
How Connecticut manufacturers collaborate with neighboring states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island
Why Dustin believes no state has fully figured out manufacturing competitiveness, and what that means for the industry

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going! Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes:
"I don't think any state has the answer. That's what I learn the most when I look up what other states are doing. Everybody's experimenting." - Dustin Nord, Foundation Director at CBIA
“When you make a change, you have to follow through. You've got to keep your word, even if it's adding a water cooler." - Andrew Gibson, CEO at AlphaQ
"You have to have a vision. You've got to throw a rock out there tied to a string, and every day you want to make sure you can see that string." - Andrew Gibson, CEO at AlphaQ

Links & mentions:
CLA exists to create opportunities for clients, people, and communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, outsourcing, audit, tax, and consulting services.
MaintainX is one platform for maintenance, repair, and operations keeping the physical world running.

Make sure to visit https://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Selling the equipment is the easy part. The real revenue shows up after the sale.
Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC, joined the show to talk servitization - what it means, and why it's becoming the difference between OEMs who scrape by on hardware margins and ones who build real recurring revenue. Chris caught up with him live at PTC's headquarters.
Manufacturing folks, we didn't forget about you! This episode is geared squarely toward people building equipment. If you want to tighten up your sales process and make your customer relationships stickier, this one is for you.
Sam and Chris get into what's holding most OEMs back from servitization, how AI is starting to change what proactive service looks like, and the math behind why the money shows up years after the original sale.
In this episode, find out:
Why the smartest OEMs are lowering the price of the original sale, and what they're betting on instead
The three levels standing between a traditional OEM and a full servitization model
Why ‘tribal knowledge’ is the hidden gap between engineering and service teams
How AI is helping teams triage service issues before they need a technician
The Harvard Business Review stat that shows just how much revenue gets left on the table post-sale
What Schneider Electric did to grow revenue, win rates, and improve customer satisfaction at the same time
The first question every OEM should ask before attempting servitization

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes:
“You're reacting to a problem, instead of doing your best to extend and plan that time horizon to prepare for that problem." - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC
“Step 1 is what do customers expect from us, why do they expect that, and how can we give them that?" - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC
“The goal is how do I make money as the OEM, not just by selling you that box, but selling you the outcome of what that box provides.” - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC

Links & mentions:
Benchmark your servitization strategy, a complimentary assessment where ServiceMax experts will evaluate your current service organization and identify opportunities to improve performance, profitability, and customer outcomes.
ServiceMax, a PTC Technology, is on a mission to help customers keep the world running with asset-centric field service management software. As a recognized leader in this space, our cloud-based software and mobile apps provide a complete view of assets to field service teams.

Make sure to visit https://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Digital, real, real, digital. It sounds simple, but it's rewriting how a warehouse gets designed.
Joel Thomas has spent over a decade in the Intralogistics space and now leads OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens. Markus Thiel just crossed the six month mark as Head of Intralogistics, after years on the manufacturing operations and supply chain side of the business.
Chris caught up with both of them live in Atlanta during MODEX, over a Weiss beer and a pilsner at Halfway Crooks. They talk about what Intralogistics is, and how it's changed since the days of pallet jacks and conveyor belts.
From there the conversation covers the industry engineer shortage, robotics, AGVs versus AMRs, why standardization is becoming such a hot topic among vendors, and what a warehouse looks like when it's designed digitally.
In this episode, find out:
How the day-to-day work of moving goods within a warehouse has changed over the past decade
The shift to robotics, AGVs, and AMRs, and why orchestrating all of it is now the hard part
Why standardization is gaining ground even though flexibility with vendors used to be the priority
How AI is being used to spot bottlenecks and predict maintenance
What edge computing means for a warehouse
What it takes to build a digital twin, and why Siemens tests new technology in its own factory first
Whether a conveyor-less warehouse is realistic, and who's already exploring it
Why e-commerce has been the single biggest driver of growth in the industry
What's next for the space, software-defined automation and the IT/OT layer

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!
Tweetable Quotes:
"We want more individualized goods, and we want it faster and sooner, so that thing will not stop. It will further accelerate. It's great to see all the technology which is helping that development.” - Markus Thiel, Head of Intralogistics at Siemens
“It was always about taking off your professional hat, and just being a person. Go out and talk to people and just introduce yourself. The one great thing that you can do in this industry is say, ‘Can I help?’” - Joel Thomas, Director of OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens
”If you asked me 7 years ago, I would say that Europe was way ahead when it came to automation technology. Now, I think the US has caught up, if not maybe surpassed it.” - Joel Thomas, Director of OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens

Links & mentions:
Siemens Intralogistics provides intelligent material handling tech that empowers intralogistics to meet demands and overcome challenges via AI-enhanced automation and sustainable design.
MHI the nation's largest material handling, logistics and supply chain association - active since 1945.
Halfway Crooks Beer is the Atlanta brewery where this episode was recorded, known for traditionally brewed lagers in the Summerhill neighborhood.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.