What happens when you put five podcasters in a room together at one of the biggest events of the year for innovative industrial tech? A super broad view of what’s happening in the industry and what we’ve got to look forward to.

Recorded live from Hexagon’s 2025 event, we welcomed four friends of Manufacturing Happy Hour, returning to the show to talk about the innovations we were most excited to see at the event. But for the main part of our conversation, we do a mid-year check-in on the industry to hear their thoughts of what we have in store in the future.

Say hello to our panel:

Jim Mayer – Founder of The Manufacturing Connector and Host of the Manufacturing Culture Podcast

Nikki Gonzalez – Director of Business Development at Weintek USA plus Co-Founder and Host of the Automation Ladies podcast

Mike Payne - President & Owner of Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication and Co-Host of MakingChips

Nick Goellner - VP of Sales & Marketing at Hennig, and Co-Host of MakingChips

Tune in to hear about 3D printed body parts, how scientists are turning ocean trash into surfboards, and how new mentor programs are revolutionizing how we train the next generation.

We each take stock of what we’ve been seeing in the industry lately and why uncertainty isn’t dampening our optimism. While investing in new tech is naturally a big part of our conversation, we also widen the topic to investing in ourselves and our teams, highlighting the importance of relationships and staying true to company values.

In this episode, find out:

• The tech that stood out the most to us at Hexagon’s 2025 event
• A mid-year check-in: Jim, Nikki, Mike and Nick share their thoughts on manufacturing in 2025
• Why Jim’s optimistic about the industry and how technology adoption is fueling that
• How Mike’s balancing his optimism with concern over the access to capital challenge
• How manufacturers can weather the storm in uncertain times (some lessons from COVID)
• What it means to invest in yourself as a manufacturer and company leader and why it’s about more than just adopting new tech
• Why you should overlook working on relationships and partnerships in the industry
• Jim explains why we all need to reassess company values and make sure we’re staying true to what we believe in

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Tweetable Quotes:

• “Make sure everybody's looking at the same scoreboard. Train and coach your team to think like a business owner.” - Nick
• “Build the foundation on values and relationships. When one of those numbers changes, you work it out together.” – Nikki
• “The shops that adopt the new technologies will be the ones who really start to expand their capacity and workforce.”- Jim
• “All these solutions that are coming to market, whether it's hardware or software, help to fill that productivity gap. The concern that I have relates back to the current funding crisis with the MEP networks because if those grant dollars are going away, how do we adopt this stuff?” - Mike 

Links & mentions:

• Manufacturing Culture Podcast, hosted by Jim Mayer, this podcast explores the culture of manufacturing with different manufacturing leaders 
• The Manufacturing Connector, connecting manufacturers through training and storytelling, founded by Jim
• Automation Ladies, Nikki’s podcast for women in industrial automation
• Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication, high-precision CNC machining and advanced fabrication services 
• MakingChips, a podcast hosted by Mike and Nick that aims to bridge the gap between the shop floor and the online world
• Hexagon Live, an event bringing visionaries, industry disruptors and technical pros to explore the latest in AI, robotics, and digital twins

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.