In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, podcast host Winn Hardin speaks with Debra Phillips from NEMA and Tom Lawton of TESCO Metering about the impacts of tariffs on American markets. Winn’s guests share how both large and small enterprises are dealing with new complexities and supply chain management issues that started during the pandemic and continue during new tariff negotiations between global markets. They also discuss a number of efforts, including NEMA’s new Make It American program, for helping companies quantify and certify the percentage of each product that is actually manufactured in the United states, an important criterion for regulators and for U.S. government–funded projects.

Support the show

The National Association of Manufacturers reports that there were more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs open in June 2025. The labor shortage has been an ongoing challenge, but like many other challenges manufacturers face, some of the best minds are tackling the issue, with industry leaders like ABB leading the way. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, co-hosts Jimmy Carroll and Amanda Del Buono Lilley talk to ABB Robotics’ Christelle Keefer, Global Segment Manager for Education, to learn how to fill these openings and build a pipeline for the future. They discuss the roles industry, education, and communities play in manufacturing workforce development, and how manufacturers large and small can contribute. 

Support the show

If you’re a first-time climber trying to tackle Mount Everest, the only way you’ll make it to the top and come back alive is if you’ve got a great set of Sherpas to carry your stuff and show you the way. That’s how Ted Larson, CEO and co-founder of OLogic, views his company’s role as it helps startup companies navigate their way from lab to volume production. 

Building a good working prototype in an academic setting can be a far cry from building tens of thousands of production-grade products. But it’s not just startups that need help and guidance along the way. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Larson sits down with TECH B2B Marketing’s Aaron Hand and Dan McCarthy to share stories of opportunity and challenge from two decades in the trenches helping electronics and robotics manufacturers develop successful products. 

Support the show

When manufacturers miss deadlines for capital project startup, that can have a huge impact on product and business success. Operational readiness is not just about production hitting set goals — ultimately, it’s about getting product to consumers faster. For its latest Horizons report, Operational Readiness, project delivery experts at CRB surveyed almost 400 consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to tackle questions from planning to commissioning — what works and what doesn’t. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Ken VonderHaar, director of client engagement at CRB, shares his insights with TECH B2B’s Aaron Hand and Dan McCarthy, discussing key takeaways and lessons learned.    VonderHaar points to the four Ms: Minds, Machines, Materials, and Methods. Manufacturers tend to focus on the machines without paying enough attention to workforce training, material and ingredient availability, or operation and maintenance plans. Strong operational readiness strategies address all four elements.  

Support the show

"Businesses in manufacturing and beyond face significant challenges today, whether their reshoring operations, skill shortages, labor shortages, or political strain, but today’s automation technologies can help solve these problems."

In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Darcy Bachert, CEO of Prolucid Technologies and Chairperson of the A3 Board of Directors joins TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to take a high-level look at some of the biggest challenges in manufacturing today and how automation fits in. Bachert also dives into some of the pain points that companies in the nuclear and medtech fields are experiencing today, and how his company has made their jobs easier through automation. In addition, the conversation touches on the role of AI in manufacturing today, working with integrators and engineering design service companies as a software development company, and why young people should start gravitating toward manufacturing jobs. 

Support the show

“While many applications within the food manufacturing space have been successfully automated, some gaps exist when it comes to high-mix automation, including the handling of prepared sandwiches, salads, and other meals. By augmenting robots with advanced AI, automation can be scaled to all parts of the food supply chain, starting with manufacturing.”

In the automation of food manufacturing, certain challenges are inherent to the industry, particularly when it comes to handling a highly variable mix of organic and delicate items. Rajat Bhageria, president of the AI-enabled robotics company Chef Robotics, sought to tackle this challenge head-on when he founded the company in 2019. In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Bhageria joins TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss Chef’s solutions for the food industry and how they can be used for difficult applications, whether it’s handling leafy greens and chicken breasts for fresh prepared meals or dealing with sticky foods like mac and cheese or peanut butter. Additional topics include the role of AI in paving the way for new automated tasks, conquering food industry automation challenges, and real-word examples of how Chef Robotics is automating food manufacturing.

Support the show

"As much as we feel like the change is never ending right now, that's going to be the constant for the next couple of decades. We're going to have more options for how we increase productivity, how we collaborate with robots and each other, and how we build value. "

Right now, we are at such an incredible moment in history in terms of AI and robotics, and we’re just at the beginning of this journey, suggests Anthony Jules, Founder and CEO of Robust AI. The hard part, he says, is going to be selecting from the incredible abundance that's available, not, "Is there a way to get X, Y, or Z done. In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Jules joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss the current state of AI, and more specifically, physical AI and how it is applied to robots to enable dynamic navigation and perception, which helps businesses today improve processes and become more efficient. The discussion also touches on machine vision advances, humanoid vs. wheeled robots, human-robot collaboration, and much more.

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Robotics #Robots #MachineVision #HumanoidRobots #Humanoids #TECHB2BMarketing 

Support the show

“From a fab perspective, you’re not only looking at submicron structures, but then some of these fiber interfaces may be centimeters. You have to be able to inspect and fabricate structures which vary in orders of magnitude.” 

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which use light instead of electricity to transmit and process data, will enable faster, more efficient communication critical for applications like data centers, telecom, and advanced sensing. GlobalFoundries, a major semiconductor foundry based in Malta, N.Y., is at the forefront of the industry’s PIC work. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B’s Dan McCarthy and Aaron Hand talk with Vikas Gupta, senior director of product management for silicon photonics, about the GF technology that combines photonics with a 45 nm RF CMOS technology — all on a single piece of silicon. Gupta details the challenges faced in manufacturing electronics and photonics on the same chip, the trickiness of optical interfaces, packaging complexity, thermal mismatch, and more.

https://www.manufacturing-matters.com
https://www.techb2b.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/manufacturing-matters/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manufacturing_matterspodcast/

#PhotonicsIntegratedCircuit #SiliconPhotonics #Photonics #PIC #ManufacturingMatters #Semiconductors #ElectronicsManufacturing #Manufacturing #DataCenters #Sensing #techb2b

Support the show

"How can lessons learned as an Apache pilot in the military translate into aerospace engineering and the general world of manufacturing?"

Lead like a pilot means placing an importance on structure, guidance, and community, says Operation Lead’s Craig Coyle. A former Apache pilot, Coyle joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll on this episode of Manufacturing Matters to discuss this concept and its applicability to manufacturing today. The discussion covered workforce challenges, leadership during tariff disruptions, and dealing with the employee disengagement problem. In addition, the episode touches on manufacturing trends and technologies, AI adoption strategies, and a first timer’s impression of the Automate show.

Support the show

"With AI technology, anyone can be a programmer. If you have an idea, whether you can code or not, AI can write the RealSense code, and you can deploy an AI-enabled 3D camera for less than $100."

Walk any robotics show floor and chances are you will see RealSense cameras in many of the robots and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) on display, which made it surprising years ago when erroneous reports said that Intel was winding down the RealSense division. Things have changed drastically since then: RealSense just recently spun out of Intel as a standalone business, with no plans of slowing down.

In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Chris Matthieu, chief developer evangelist, and Fred Angelopoulos, vice president of global sales, join TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to discuss the future of RealSense, along with topics including the state of 3D imaging, the convergence of AI and 3D technology, and recent innovative applications that leverage RealSense technology. Additionally, the discussion covers humanoid developments, advice for startup companies, digital twins, and more.

Support the show

"Today, video AI agents exist that turn your existing cameras into AI teammates across a range of applications. If you can leverage this technology to make your assembly line operate 1% more efficiently, that can result in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue in a year."

In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Dunchadhn Lyons, Director of Engineering and Allison Lilly, Director Product Marketing at Spot AI joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to talk about the concept of video AI agents, what this means and how it works, and the different industries and applications in which the technology can add value. While businesses like car washes and offices can benefit, global manufacturers that are looking to improve safety outcomes on manufacturing floors and warehouses and to improve operational efficiency can as well, according to Spot AI. Additionally, the episode covers real-life examples of productivity gains, reception of the Spot AI product from plant floor workers, the overall topic of AI in the industrial space today, and more. 

Support the show

Artificial intelligence has been around for many years, but the face of AI is continually changing. Today, by applying well-engineered AI to manufacturing toolsets, we can get closed-loop control and automation that has more humanlike characteristics than ever before. For this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Aaron Hand caught up with Kence Anderson, founder and CEO of Composabl, at Automate 2025. Anderson puts Composabl’s multi-agent AI systems into perspective, explaining how applying skill-based, expertise-based, practice-based methodology can turn AI into an expert operator in a tiny fraction of the time it takes humans to learn these jobs.

Support the show

"Manufacturers and businesses of all types must always be ready to pivot, whether it means dealing with tariffs and geopolitical strife, labor shortage, supply chain issues, or other disruptions, everyone must be ready to pivot. Indeed, it’s a dance."

When tariffs were first announced, many businesses, including systems integration company Creative Automation, already had containers full of parts and equipment on the water making their way to headquarters. While this presents significant challenges, businesses must react in stride while preparing themselves for a constantly evolving world landscape. In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Gerd Walter, President and CEO of Creative Automation joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll and Aaron Hand at Automate 2025 to discuss a range of topics, including the immediate and long-term impact of tariffs. Additional topics include the latest in systems integration, ranging from machine tending and part handling to marking systems and machine vision, a new engineering services division, cybersecurity, and more. 

Support the show

Katana Cloud Inventory powers inventory and manufacturing workflows for 1500+ small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and routinely tracks over $300 million in monthly procurement data. That gives Katana a unique near-real-time window on the shifting interplay between unit costs, inventory and market demand in sectors like manufacturing. 

In this episode of “Manufacturing Matters,” TECH B2B Marketing’s Aaron Hand and Dan McCarthy invite Katana co-CEO Ben Hussey to share what trends Katana is currently watching, what those trends might tell for SMB leaders, and how brands are rethinking their sourcing strategies and cash flows to stay nimble in uncertain times. Join us for a special live session by registering at the link below.

Support the show

"We’re on a mission to build climate resilient homes for all…leveraging the latest robotics and automation technologies."
 
Construction costs have doubled in the last decade, and we have a shortage of skilled workers to build them anyway. In addition, climate events are getting more severe, so how can we start designing products that are climate-friendly, more resilient to changing weather patterns, and significantly less expensive? That’s Reframe Systems in a nutshell, explained Vikas Enti, CEO and Co-Founder of Reframe Systems. In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Enti joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss the company’s mission, enabling technologies, and process. The discussion covered robotics, physical AI, 3D imaging, construction trends, and more. Check out this episode to learn how Reframe is leveraging industrial automation technologies to build sustainable homes. 



https://www.manufacturing-matters.com
https://www.techb2b.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/manufacturing-matters/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manufacturing_matterspodcast/

#manufacturing #automation #manufacturingmatters #techb2b

Support the show

"We must teach kids that they can be a manufacturer too – not just a doctor, lawyer, or fireperson. You get to work with cutting-edge machines and with your hands, but we haven’t really been able to create this feeling yet."

There’s a lot of work to be done when it comes to reaching down further into school systems to help them understand, and to help teachers and faculty understand that manufacturing is a viable career, said Suzy Teele, Chief Strategy Officer at the ARM Institute. In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Teele dives into the work that the ARM Institute to grow manufacturing and increase national security, while also covering a wide range of other topics and technologies, including labor shortage and job resources available today, automation adoption in small and medium-sized businesses, and of course, AI. Additional topics include the use of VR in robotics, humanoid robots, some examples of recent companies that have spun out of the ARM Institute, and more.

Support the show

"When it comes to AI in the industrial world, it represents supply chain optimization with demand forecasting, predictive maintenance, machine vision for quality control, and much more. But it also represents the elimination of manual tasks."

Views on AI have changed drastically over the last five or so years, suggests Naresh Ram, Chief Science Officer at AAXIS. Today AI represents the elimination of manual and repetitive tasks that no one wants to do or should be doing in the first place. For example, today it is possible to convert emails to orders by extracting information from a message and placing it into an ERP system for about two cents. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Ram joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss the different ways companies are using AI today, the impact of AI on the environment, and generative AI and its use in the industrial space. Additional discussion points included data storage and cloud computing, the importance of digitization, and more.


https://www.manufacturing-matters.com
https://www.techb2b.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/manufacturing-matters/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manufacturing_matterspodcast/

#manufacturing #automation #manufacturingmatters #techb2b

Support the show

“Whether its tariffs, COVID-19, the chip crisis, shipping issues, changes in EV direction, or beyond; every market disruption is a chance to adopt or adapt your strategies and methods of getting things done.”

In this special panel discussion episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Jeff Stello (Metaphase Technologies), Jason Covar (The Imaging Source), Gerd Walter (Creative Automation), and Stu Shepherd (this year’s Engelberger Award recipient; Shepherd Solutions, Inc., joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to discuss tariffs, supply chain, and the outlook for the industrial automation landscape. Topics included automation solution pricing, COVID vs. trade negotiation comparisons, regional impacts around the world, reshoring, retasking, and much more.

Support the show

The waveguides, modulators, microscopic lasers, photodetectors, and other optical components that form photonic integrated circuits (PICs) all need to be perfectly aligned to minimize signal loss on the chip. PICs simply cannot improve yields, lower costs, or efficiently scale without ever-faster alignment tools able to perform with nanometer precision. In this episode, TECH B2B’s Dan McCarthy chats with Physik Instrumente’s Scott Jordan about the advanced alignment tools and AI algorithms that are helping to streamline the fabrication and packaging of PICs today.

Support the show

When systems integrators hit roadblocks where they must design something brand new that’s never been done before, that’s what we’re good at.

There are a lot of great systems integrators out there that build industrial automation systems that can do exactly what you need, bringing together industrial robots, controllers, vision systems, control cabinets, PLCs, and so on, explains Doug Harriman, Vice President of Engineering at Simplexity Product Development. These integrators know the space, know the suppliers, and do a great job – but Simplexity isn’t trying to play there, instead, the company aims to find a niche in the market where there’s a new problem, where solutions don’t quite exist, and this is where we think we can add a lot of value, he explains. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Harriman joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss the company’s philosophy, recent projects, labor shortage issues, and more.

Support the show

Systems integrators can become victims of their own success. In these cases, remote support becomes a much more viable and cost-efficient option.

Some systems integrators can become victims of their own success. When integrators deploy many systems and the crew that built the cells don't have the bandwidth to travel and see all these customers and can’t staff up massive service departments – it can become an issue. Companies looking for a more cost-effective means of keeping customers happy while also building new cells now have options, according to Fredrik Rydén, CEO of Olis Robotics. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Rydén joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss the company’s unique service within the industrial automation space, which is a remote monitoring system that runs next to a robot system, not only monitoring it 24/7 and catching, recording, and logging faults, but also enabling remote control and teleoperation of the system.

Support the show

By some measures, the production of optics and photonics core components is $400 billion a year market now, and the technology’s downstream value far exceeds that figure — particularly when calculating in new developments like photonic integrated circuits (PICs). But will photonics ever challenge the value of electronics? Or is it more of an analog to electronics’ early days? Or is photonics simply one of the electronics industry’s more interesting corners?
Optica’s senior industry advisor, Dr. Tom Hausken, joins TECH B2B Marketing’s Dan McCarthy in this episode of Manufacturing Matters to discuss this and other big questions about photonic trends and technology.

Support the show

If you're selling a limited number of products over the course of Q1-Q3, and then suddenly you have this incredible spike in demand with peak season, that variability doesn't lend itself to sort of traditional forms of automation.

The world is changing, day to day, week to week, and what you are selling today may not be what you are selling tomorrow. In addition, consumer e-commerce demands can shift drastically – whether it’s the pandemic, the labor shortage, or seasonal spikes – different types of automation technologies are required to automate modern day warehouses, said Al Dekin, Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder of Locus Robotics. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Dekin and his colleague Vered Tomlak joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll to discuss an extensive range of automation topics, including advancements in AMRs and AI, the humanoid vs. AMR debate, and how companies can handle the automation demand during peak season. In addition, the discussion covers the approach Locus takes with understanding customer needs, some forthcoming technology announcements, the company’s recent milestone of achieving 4 billion successful robot picks, and more.

Support the show

Whether it’s in retail, robotics, or quality inspection, our customers today are finding ways to leverage AI to merge multiple different components at once instead of having a single line for one component.

While the attention of the masses may gravitate toward robots and AI, machine vision remains an indispensable and increasingly vital technology for businesses of all types around the world. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Jason Covar and Jeremy Bergh of The Imaging Source joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to discuss a range of different machine vision topics, including the advancement of edge computing and edge AI, the difference between computer vision and machine vision, and the somewhat nebulous realm of embedded vision. Additional topics include cybersecurity, digital twins, the complementary role of AI within machine vision, and more.

Support the show

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) technology is sparking transformations in applications as diverse as LiDAR systems, agri-food, and hyperscale data centers. But manufacturing PICs at scale demands a level of complexity beyond the scope of any single company. It will take an ecosystem. That is the principle behind PhotonDelta’s alliance of materials foundries, PIC designers, chip packaging firms, and other technology partners working together to fulfill the promise of PICs technology. PhotonDelta’s Eelko Brinkoff and Jorn Smeets join Dan McCarthy on this episode of Manufacturing Matters to explore the revolutionary potential and practical challenges of bringing PICs to market.

Support the show