Toolpath CTO Justin Gray is joined by Miguel Pinilla, CTO of Arda Systems and a veteran in supply chain and manufacturing systems, for a nerd-level exploration of what truly drives productivity in modern shops.

Together, they unpack:

• Why maximizing spindle utilization (or OEE) is a trap—and how it leads to instability.

• The surprising connection between queue theory, control systems, and your mental bandwidth as a CTO.

• How to identify your shop’s true bottlenecks and optimize by managing work-in-progress (WIP), not chasing 100% machine usage.

• What robots really change: from increasing capacity to shifting accounting models and workforce dynamics.

• How to avoid the “Model 3 mistake” of over-automation by understanding the trade-off between smart systems and controlled environments.

• Why Kanban isn’t just a lean buzzword, but a feedback loop that keeps your operations sane.

• The concept of “stupid things, on purpose”—and how deliberate choices beat accidental chaos every time.

Whether you’re a job shop owner, manufacturing engineer, or just trying to make sense of lead times, automation, and capacity planning, this conversation is packed with hard-earned insights, practical metaphors, and just the right amount of systems theory.