Stop pretending to know it all if you want to be a great manufacturing leader, and AI tools could help you do that.

Those were a few of the insights from an experts panel discussion on the proper uses of kaizen, lean and other continuous improvement strategies in the modern factory. Responding to an audience question, AI took center stage and some of the brightest minds in operational excellence detailed how these tools could improve managers' abilities to empower workforces and drive improvements.

The panel for the livestream was:

Steve Strong of Concept Systems and Benjamin Kurth of Applied Manufacturing Technologies join the podcast and Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl to talk automation and why “easier” doesn’t always mean inexpensive and why plug-and-play isn’t always your answer.

The number one concern for US manufacturers continues to be the shortage of available labor – which has prompted their steady progress toward automation, and then to digitalization, and lately to Artificial Intelligence, to fill in the missing resources. All that progress is creating a significant volume of data that is vulnerable to attack. A cloud-based software developer assesses the problem and offers some tips for addressing the risk.

About the Article

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, chief editor Thomas Wilk talkes with Mike Holloway, president of 5th Order Industry, about the intersection of artificial intelligence and oil analysis. Mike has more than 40 years experience in industry and holds 16 professional certifications, a patent, an MS in polymer engineering, a BS in Chemistry, and a BA in philosophy. Mike is a subject matter expert in tribology, oil and failure analysis, reliability engineering, and designed experiments for science and engineering. He is currently publishing a blog series with Plant Services on AI and oil analysis, and previously published an article on tribology certifications with this magazine.

From their (R)Evolutionizing Manufacturing program, Smart Industry's Scott Achelpohl and Industry 4.0 enthusiast Jeff Winter get back into what's practical in your factory floor tech transformations. An intriguing discussion about mindset in manufacturing today and tomorrow.

America is hungry for electricity. Between the rising number of data centers that power AI chatbots and cloud computing systems to electric vehicles to new home construction to trends in manufacturing, we need more electricity going into the system and upgrades to the distribution grid to safely deliver that power to users.

Early Thursday, electronics manufacturing Flex announced plans to build a new facility near Dallas, Texas, to make switchgear and other components necessary to support data centers. The so-called power pods include all of the major components needed to add adequate power for electric-hungry data processing facilities. 

And the Flex news follows recent announcements from Eaton Corp. and Schneider Electric on similar investments in grid-supporting components. ArcelorMittal recently announced a $1.2 billion plant in Alabama to make speciality steel for electrical applications as well.

Major electrical equipment manufacturers are boosting production of transformers and switches to make that happen. Our editors roundtable from Endeavor Business Media (owner of IndustryWeek) include:

Benchmark Gensuite’s Natasha Porter explains creative applications for AI in the workplace and how AI-based tools can help move the needle on occupational health and safety.

Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. This episode offers insight into training the maintenance and reliability team and building credibility.

The scarcity of labor and the need to remain competitive means that producers of cast parts must embrace automated grinding. Jeff Antonic of Stratecasts explains why that decision leads to more choices.

Time-sensitive networking (TSN) has emerged in the industry, promising to change industrial communication networks for the better through guaranteed data delivery with minimal latency and jitter. In this episode of the Great Question: A Manufacturing podcast, New Equipment Digest editor-in-chief Laura Davis discusses the challenges that arise from implementing time-sensitive networking and how to overcome them for successful integration.

About the Article