Manufacturers do not have a data problem. They have an execution gap. The dashboards exist. The reports are generated. The KPIs are reviewed. Yet too often, action stalls between insight and impact. In this episode, Jan Griffiths and Tom Roberts sit down with Zack Sosebee, SVP of Operations & Customer Success at Redzone, to explore what changes when data moves beyond visibility and into the hands of the people closest to the work.

Zack shares a clear and practical vision of the connected workforce. Not as another layer of software. Not as another reporting system. But as a system of action. By giving frontline operators simple, real-time visibility through red, yellow, and green performance signals, manufacturers create clarity in the moment decisions are being made. That clarity builds accountability. And accountability drives results.

What makes this approach powerful is its simplicity. Instead of overwhelming teams with endless metrics, Redzone focuses on a few meaningful signals that operators can influence hour by hour. When teams see performance in real time, they respond in real time. Maintenance is called sooner. Problems are escalated faster. Peer-to-peer competition becomes a positive force. Execution accelerates because ownership shifts to the frontline.

But technology alone does not transform a factory. Coaching does. Zack explains how culture change happens when leaders reinforce new behaviors, close feedback loops, and respond quickly to issues raised by operators. When a long-tenured employee logs a safety concern and sees it fixed the same day, trust is built. When a retiring expert captures knowledge that strengthens the next generation, pride returns to the shop floor. These are not software wins. They are human wins.

This conversation is a reminder that digital transformation is not about collecting more data. It is about empowering people to act with confidence and clarity. When operators think like supervisors and supervisors think like leaders, performance improves. More importantly, culture evolves. And in today’s manufacturing environment, the companies that win will be the ones that move from reporting yesterday to deciding what happens next.

1. What “connected workforce” really means in manufacturing
2. Why digital transformation often stalls at dashboards
3. Overall Equipment Effectiveness explained in simple terms
4. Red, yellow, green real-time visibility on the shop floor
5. Coaching vs training in culture change
6. Turning skeptics into champions
7. Eliminating paper logs and manual downtime reporting
8. Using simplicity to accelerate adoption
9. Technology as an enabler of ownership, not oversight
10. Empowering operators to think like leaders

Name: Zack Sosebee

Title: SVP Operations & Customer Success, Redzone

About: Zack is Senior VP of Operations & Customer Success at Redzone, where he leads the entire customer experience across coaching, implementation, and support, with a clear focus on delivering measurable results. A member of the early Redzone team, Zack helped build the company’s coaching organization and drives a people-first, customer-focused approach that empowers frontline teams and creates sustainable operational impact. Prior to Redzone, he held operations leadership roles at Ignite Solutions, Lockheed Martin, Porsche Cars North America, and Ford Motor Company. Zack holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Connect: LinkedIn

Jan Griffiths

Jan is the host and producer of the Auto Supply Chain Champions Podcast and The Automotive Leaders Podcast. A former automotive manufacturing and supply chain executive, Jan is recognized as a Champion for Culture Change in the automotive industry. She brings direct, grounded conversations to leaders navigating execution, disruption, and transformation across the global automotive ecosystem.

Tom Roberts (Co-host)

Tom is Co-host of the Auto Supply Chain Champions Podcast and Vice President of Strategic Industry Development at QAD. He works closely with automotive and industrial manufacturers to close the gap between insight and execution, helping leaders move from visibility to systems of action that drive real operational outcomes.

[01:30] Data in the Right Hands: Jan challenges the idea of simply “moving data to the shop floor” and raises the deeper issue of empowerment. Technology alone is not enough. Culture must enable action.

[03:11] The Connected Workforce Vision: Zack explains Redzone’s founding vision: take critical executive-level data and put it directly in the hands of operators so they can think like supervisors and leaders.

[04:42] Speed to Value Over Analysis Paralysis: Instead of overwhelming teams with data, Redzone focuses on just a few signals that drive immediate decisions and measurable operational gains.

[09:33] Red, Yellow, Green in Real Time: Operators see hour-by-hour efficiency through simple visual scoring, creating healthy competition, faster decisions, and higher performance across lines.

[11:33] Coaching Changes Behavior: Technology is only half the equation. Redzone coaches push teams to act on data, raising expectations and building sustainable cultural transformation.

[13:52] Goodbye Paper Logs: Manual downtime sheets and whiteboard reports are replaced with real-time digital visibility that eliminates guesswork and false reporting.

[16:27] The Skeptic Who Became a Champion: A long-tenured operator resistant to change logs a safety issue on day one. It gets fixed immediately. That moment transforms him into an advocate.

[18:07] Legacy Over Retirement: A veteran employee planning to retire stays on after using Redzone to document his knowledge, leaving a lasting operational legacy.

[19:58] Training vs Coaching: Zack clarifies the difference between learning which buttons to click and building new behaviors that fundamentally change how factories operate.

[20:16] Culture Is the Real Business: Redzone is not just about software deployment. It is about coaching change and driving ownership at every level of the plant.

[03:28] Zack: “And our view is that every worker in the factory should be there for a career, should care about their role, should be making decisions that help influence the factory to be better.”

[11:22] Zack: “It's not about more data. It's about better decisions with the data you have.”

[18:55] Zack: “When people feel like it's more than a job, all of a sudden, like it's fun to work.”

[20:16] Zack: “If we have easy software and we have a simple deployment, we look at a few things. Now we coach in change and drive culture change, which is what we're really in the business of doing.”

Follow the Auto Supply Chain Champions Podcast for real conversations with leaders who are making hard choices, focusing their bets, and leading with intent.

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🔗 Learn more about QAD Redzone: https://www.qad.com/