Manufacturing Happy Hour
38:35Indiana's Manufacturing Future: A Panel on Leadership, Digital Transformation, and Culture
Recorded live in Indianapolis for Episode 229 of Manufacturing Happy Hour, this panel asked what it takes for a manufacturing region, and the companies in it, to keep thriving. Host Chris Luecke frame
38:33Aadeel Akhtar on Building PSYONIC's Ability Hand for Amputees and Robots
In a conversation on Manufacturing Happy Hour, host Chris Luecke spoke with Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, founder and CEO of PSYONIC, about how a childhood encounter in Pakistan led to a company that makes bioni
43:25Composabl's Kence Anderson on Why Manufacturing AI Agents Must Act, Not Just Perceive
On an episode of the Manufacturing Happy Hour podcast, host Chris talked with Kence Anderson, CEO of Composabl, about what an AI agent means on a factory floor rather than in a sales or office-softwar
36:11From GE Engineering to Amorphic Beer: Ron Hockersmith on Running a Brewery Like an Engineering Organization
This episode was recorded live at Amorphic Beer in Milwaukee as a crossover between two manufacturing podcasts: Manufacturing Happy Hour, hosted by Chris Luecke, and A BROADcast for Manufacturers, rep
39:20Russell Winter's Plan for Retiring Owners' Machine Shops: From Buying Shops to Building a Network
Russell Winter, founder of US MFG, first described the venture on this show's radar at IMTS as buying machine shops and connecting them with software. About six months later, recording over coffee at
58:39Building a Robotics Company in Ohio: Path Robotics and Drive Capital on Midwest Venture, AI, and Manufacturing
This live episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, recorded in front of a packed room in Columbus, Ohio, asked whether the Midwest can build world-class technology companies, and what that looks like in p
53:11Bootstrapping Over Venture Capital: Jim Belosic on Rebuilding American Manufacturing
Much of the talk about reindustrializing the United States centers on industrial policy and venture capital. On Manufacturing Happy Hour, Jim Belosic, CEO of SendCutSend, argued for a slower route: bo
58:32How Skillwork Borrows the Travel Nursing Model to Close the Skilled Trades Gap
In this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, host Chris talks with Brett Elliott, President and CEO of Skillwork, and Tim Raglin, the company's Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer. Skillwork
21:32Enriching Lives Through HVAC: Kevin Thompson on Culture, Morning Meetings, and Coaching at Cambridge Air Solutions
Recorded at a happy-hour session during the Midwest Manufacturers Trade Show and Conference, this interview with Kevin Thompson asks how a company that is not large by headcount has built a reputation
20:01From a Pink Slip to Serial Acquisitions: Josh Shelton on Building Etched, a Kansas City Nameplate Manufacturer
Josh Shelton owns Etched, a Kansas City-based company that makes metal nameplates and tags. In this conversation on Manufacturing Happy Hour, recorded live at the 2024 Midwest Manufacturers Trade Show
41:40Clint Bundy on Why Selling a Business Is a "War over the Numbers"
On this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, host Chris talks with Clint Bundy, Managing Director at Bundy Group, an M&A advisory and investment banking firm. The conversation centers on how buyers an
18:20How 27North Turned Van Life Into a Repeatable Manufacturing Process
Van life in the United States is usually pictured as a do-it-yourself project: someone converting a school bus or a Mercedes Sprinter in their backyard over months or years. Pavel Bosovik, founder and
40:52Following the Electron: Kevin Senn on How FTI Connects Energy, Automation, and Industrialized Construction
On an episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour recorded at Raised Grain Brewery in Waukesha, Wisconsin, host Chris sat down with Kevin Senn, Director of Automation at Faith Technologies (FTI), to answer a
42:44How Copia Automation Is Bringing DevOps and AI to Industrial Code: A Conversation with Adam Gluck
Adam Gluck, CEO and founder of Copia Automation, came to manufacturing from outside it. He studied sociology, taught himself software engineering, and learned DevOps at Uber. He then went looking for
41:19Dexterity's Bet on Robots That Can Handle an Unstructured World
Michael Patrick Perry, Dexterity's VP of Marketing, returned to the Manufacturing Happy Hour podcast for a third appearance. Host Chris recorded the conversation on January 9, 2024, at the company's R
30:25Rapid Robotics' Jordan Kretchmer on Scaling Robot Deployment Through Software and Vision
Jordan Kretchmer came to robotics without an engineering background, after more than a decade in marketing technology. In this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, recorded at Rapid Robotics' workshop
46:34Jim Carr on Rebranding a Machine Shop, Leading Through 2008, and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Jim Carr has spent decades at CARR Machine & Tool, the shop their father founded in 1972. On this episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour, recorded at the company's new facility in Elk Grove Village, Illi
1:03:32Why Josh Liebman Thinks Every Business, Including Manufacturing, Needs a "Hospitality Mentality"
Manufacturing Happy Hour host Chris Luecke recorded this episode in person for the first time, over chicken wings and beer at Tunes, a bar in Chicago's Southport Corridor near Wrigley Field. The guest
45:32Automating Intuition: Concurrency's Nathan Lasnoski on How Manufacturers Should Approach AI
This episode of Manufacturing Happy Hour was recorded at Central Waters Brewing in Milwaukee. The taproom sits in a former chapel on the old Pabst Brewery grounds, a short walk from the Marquette Univ
39:46Canvus: Turning Decommissioned Wind Turbine Blades Into Park Benches and "Functional Art"
Every year, thousands of fiberglass wind turbine blades come down, and they are hard to recycle by conventional means. On this episode of the Manufacturing Happy Hour podcast, Brian Donahue of Canvus,