Back by popular demand! We’re republishing our #1 most popular episode from 2022. It continues to get the most downloads every month. We hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

** Winner of the Award of Excellence for Best Podcast from the 2022 APEX Awards of Publication Excellence in Corporate Communications. Learn more.

In this episode from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork magazine, Executive Editor Theresa Houck details the steps some manufacturers are taking to successfully build resilience and agility into their supply chain so they can recover from a shortage of people, products or capacity. You’ll learn the common thread in all of them is the use of digital solutions, data analytics and IT/OT convergence.

It’s useful to understand how and why the supply chain disruptions happen so you can evaluate your processes and technologies to minimize the impact. Theresa reviews the domino effect that started when COVID-19 hit in 2020, then examines ongoing factors that continue to resonate.

She examines catastrophic effects on the food and beverage industry, including the price and availability of bread, meat and eggs, and how food security is threatened in many parts of the world. Also learn about the semiconductor chip & other electronics and automobile industries.

Learn the real reasons behind The Great Resignation cited by MIT data and other research, and the strategies some manufacturers are using to streamline work and improve productivity and worker satisfaction.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please subscribe and leave us a 5-star rating.

Subscribe to The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork’s digital magazine.

** Winner of the Award of Excellence for Best Podcast from the 2022 APEX Awards of Publication Excellence in Corporate Communications. Learn more,

The popular 2022 Automation Fair event is the week of November 14 in Chicago. Learn about the wealth of educational sessions and technology demonstrations as Executive Editor Theresa Houck chats with Andi Stelpflug, Rockwell Automation Events, Experiences, Travel Industry Leader, who provides a sneak peek at the event and talks about 6 awesome things to look forward to during the event.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• 2022 Automation Fair Event Info & Registration.

Video of this special podcast conversation is available on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/DZibYZkxbe0.

** Award of Excellence Winner for Best Podcast, 2022 APEX Awards of Publication Excellence in Corporate Communications. Learn more.

• White Paper: Terminating Variable-Frequency Drive (VFD) Cables.

• Video: Proper Termination of VFD Cables.

• White Paper: Begin with the End in Mind: Proper VFD Cable Termination.

• Video: VFD Termination Kit Installation.

** Winner of the Award of Excellence for Best Podcast from the 2022 APEX Awards of Publication Excellence in Corporate Communications. Learn more,

** Winner of the 2022 Award of Excellence for Best Podcast from the 2022 APEX Awards of Publication Excellence in Corporate Communications. Learn more.

In this episode of award-winning “Automation Chat,” Executive Editor Theresa Houck talks with Dr. Al Beydoun, President and Executive Director of ODVA, a leading standards development organization and membership association. After listening to this podcast, you’ll walk away understanding what Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) and Ethernet-APL are and what implementation looks like.

Find out what makes them unique, technical benefits and trends motivating manufacturers to increase their adoption, and their impact on smart manufacturing.

Also learn 5 major ways SPE and Ethernet-APL help engineers, how they affect cabling and network topologies, and how ODVA works with industry suppliers and associations on standards development.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• ODVA EtherNet/IP Network Specification for Ethernet-APL Physical Layer for Process Automation

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating, and subscribe.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating and subscribe.

It’s vital for industrial firms and municipalities that use water in their processes to maintain regulatory compliance while helping to mitigate the global water shortage. In this episode, Executive Editor Theresa Houck discusses the role of digital technologies in helping organization achieve their water sustainability goals, including trends supporting their activities. She’s joined by Damon Sepe, Rockwell Automation Business Development Manager.

In their eye-opening chat, you’ll learn:

1. Why water sustainability has become a top priority for many companies.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• Rockwell Automation 2021 Sustainability Report

Video of this podcast conversation is available on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/pORjisLS03k.

Process instrumentation is critical to process management. In this insightful Q&A, Ryan Williams, Strategic Business Manager for Digital Solutions at Endress+Hauser, talks with Executive Editor Theresa Houck about how to integrate IIoT data into your process operations to drive collaboration and optimize analytics. Also learn about strategies to organize, secure and share data gathered from sensors, control systems and monitoring systems, and what data visualization tools operators can use to help improve decision-making.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

Access more resources from this episode:

• Case Study: Smart Monitoring System for IIoT Improves City’s Water Treatment & Storage.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating and subscribe.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating, and subscribe.

In this episode of “Automation Chat,” Executive Editor Theresa Houck discusses advanced analytics in industrial automation and their role in improving business results for any size company. She is joined by Chirayu Shah, Rockwell Automation Product Head of Edge to Cloud & Analytics. 

Learn about descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and cognitive analytics and why they're important to your organization as well as your specific job role.

Find out how to understand the context of your data; how edge and cloud technologies are processing data at much higher rates, supporting AI and machine learning to improve efficiency and business results. Get real-world examples of how manufacturers are using analytics.

And find out key trends and why they matter to you.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• FactoryTalk®Analytics™ software platform.

Video of this special podcast conversation is available on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/s9KcmUlXqR4.

In this episode from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork magazine, Executive Editor Theresa Houck discusses 2022 industrial automation trends affecting manufacturers and producers on their digital transformation journey.

Learn about the strategies and smart technologies companies are using to improve agility, productivity and performance — especially to help deal with the challenges of COVID-19, supply chain disruptions and skilled labor shortages that have arisen in recent years. 

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating, and subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• Case Study: Kraft Heinz, AB-InBev Share Their DX Journeys, from The Journal’s April 2022 print magazine.

In this episode from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork magazine, Executive Editor Theresa Houck details the steps some manufacturers are taking to successfully build resilience and agility into their supply chain so they can recover from a shortage of people, products or capacity. Our hope is that some of these can help you. You’ll learn the common thread in all of them is the use of digital solutions, data analytics and IT/OT convergence.

Agility allows you to make faster changes, and will help verify the right cost, service and quality given external market factors. Resilience will mitigate the impact of disruption where there are potential points of failure.

It’s useful to understand how and why the supply chain disruptions happen so you can evaluate your processes and technologies to minimize the impact. Theresa reviews the domino effect that started when COVID-19 hit in 2020, then examines ongoing factors that continue to resonate — including the China lockdown due to a COVID resurgence, labor shortages, a recent earthquake in Japan, the truck driver shortage, and particularly, the Russia/Ukraine war.

She examines catastrophic effects on the food and beverage industry, including the price and availability of bread, meat and eggs, and how food security is threatened in many parts of the world. Also learn about the semiconductor chip & other electronics and automobile industries, with reduced production in China, Europe and the United States that delay production and increase supplier and OEM costs.

Learn the real reasons behind The Great Resignation cited by MIT data and other research. And see how some manufacturers are successfully using cross-training, upskilling, labor-supporting technology like robotics or AGVs, and other strategies to streamline work and improve productivity and worker satisfaction.

And of course, get your family-friendly, silly Joke of the Day.

To learn more about how to build resiliency into your supply chain, download our newly released 2022 Supply Chain Reliability eBook.

If you like “Automation Chat,” please leave us a 5-star rating, and subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

Access more resources from today’s episode:

• 2022 Supply Chain Reliability eBook, from The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork.