Industry Next

Steve Ilmrud, Vice President of Operations for North America at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, joins Danny Gonzales to argue that connected manufacturing and integrated manufacturing are two different things, and that most plants have confused one for the other. Hexagon surveyed 511 people across American manufacturing and found 80% of executives saying their data is integrated while only 33% of the shop floor agreed. Steve's analogy for the gap: the executives are up on the deck driving the boat and everything looks fantastic from there, while the engine room works around supply shortages, technology that does not behave the way it is supposed to, and labor that is not available. With 36 years in measurement and a stint as a Hexagon customer before he ever ran the plants, Steve covers what a study on his own beams and rams revealed about the tolerances his team was actually holding, what the 1-10-100 rule says about the real cost of a defect caught late, why he spent a year and a half writing off AI as a glorified search bar before changing his mind, and why five generations under one factory roof is the problem he does not yet have a good answer for.

Jim Mayer, founder of The MFG Connector and host of the Manufacturing Culture podcast, joins Danny Gonzales to explain why culture is not something a manufacturer builds, it is something every shop already has whether leadership shaped it or not. Twenty-six years in, and one consulting practice he walked away from, Jim argues that manufacturers do not have a marketing problem, they have an identity problem, and no amount of spend fixes a story a company has not decided on. He covers the Shop Floor Shark Tank exercise that gives cross-departmental teams 30 days to see their winning idea implemented, why the shops holding onto people are rarely the ones paying the most, and what employees actually asked for when he surveyed them. He also shares the story behind Tradecraft, the shop restoration series built to change how the public sees manufacturing careers, and the daily habit he prescribes to any leader who thinks culture work requires a consultant.

Chris Luecke, founder and host of Manufacturing Happy Hour, joins Danny Gonzales to explain why the real saturation point for manufacturing content is not volume, it is the moment AI output becomes indistinguishable from human work. Ten years and more than 300 episodes after starting with an iPhone propped on a selfie stick, Chris argues that AI avatars are less a technology risk than an excuse, handing leaders one more reason to stay out of frame. He covers where he does and does not use AI in his own workflow, why the fear of going viral is backwards, and how marketing teams should respond when an employee finally starts posting on their own. He also shares the most under-reported workforce trend he has found from touring the country, that every region is losing talent to somewhere else, and the single weekend question that tells you whether your culture is actually working.

Kevin Bowers, Vice President of Research at AMT, the association behind IMTS, joins Danny Gonzales to explain how manufacturing buying decisions actually get made in 2026. Kevin owns the numbers this industry plans around, from the monthly orders report to the forecast everyone argues about. He covers why buyers now start with AI without ever fully trusting it, how the buying committee grew to include the operators, foremen, and programmers who run the machines, what the forecast missed when it called for flat growth and orders came in up almost 32 percent, and why the real cost of tariffs is the uncertainty rather than the rate. His case for showing up in person is simple: you would not buy an $80,000 car without a conversation, and capital equipment starts at a quarter million.

Joseph Lewin, Head of Podcast Strategy at Scrappy ABM, joins Danny Gonzales to argue that digital presence is no longer a marketing task, it is a leadership skill. Joseph explains why most content programs fail before they start, how choosing the wrong goal makes every decision after it wrong, and what happened when a podcast he launched on his own time and his own dime opened a deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. He covers the difference between a salesperson buyers treat as an order taker and one they treat as a strategic advisor, why getting leadership active on LinkedIn is the lowest-hanging fruit in industrial recruiting, and the 30-day plan for manufacturers ready to start.

Sanjay Brahmawar, CEO of QAD | Redzone, joins Danny Gonzales to make the case that manufacturing modernization isn't a technology problem. It's a leadership problem. With 500,000+ unfilled manufacturing jobs and most workers over 55, Sanjay argues that AI's real job isn't headcount reduction: it's making frontline workers 3 to 4x more productive. He breaks down why 95% of AI projects fail to drive real outcomes, what separates manufacturers who win with technology from those who stall, and why the genie is out of the bottle whether you're ready or not.

Craig Henry, Global Account Director for Amazon at Murrelektronik and author of Super Connected, joins Danny Gonzales to unpack why most factories are still flying blind in the age of AI. Craig makes the case for what he calls the forgotten middle of industrial connectivity, the overlooked layer between the shop floor and the systems meant to serve it. He covers why cybersecurity is now a non-negotiable component of any connectivity strategy, what separates real leadership from management, and why the path to staying competitive starts with being so good you are playing a different game entirely.

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