Manufacturing Meet Up

Got a plant full of deferred maintenance and a boss who keeps saying no to the budget? Ed and Alvaro tackle a listener question straight from the YouTube comments. A newly assigned maintenance planning manager wants to push for OEM-recommended overhauls on their PET bottling lines, but budget approval keeps getting shot down. Ed breaks down why this happens, how to read an OEM audit without getting oversold, and how to pitch the spend as a business case instead of a maintenance ask.

Then the conversation shifts to people. A second listener question asks what separates a supervisor who communicates well from one who lets problems get buried. Ed and Alvaro share some hard-earned stories here, including:

• A $75,000 inventory gap that stayed hidden for years because one person couldn't bring himself to report it

• Ed's first maintenance coordinator, who spent three months needling him on purpose

• Why escalating the right way (and knowing what not to escalate) is a skill you build over time, not something you're born with

It's a practical episode for anyone trying to get maintenance dollars approved or trying to figure out how to speak up before small problems turn into big ones. Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Manufacturing is growing again in the U.S., but there aren't enough people to run the plants. Ed and Alvaro sit down with Jared Pfeiffer, a former plant reliability and maintenance leader now working with Augury, to talk about the hottest topic in manufacturing right now: AI agents.

Jared breaks down what an AI agent actually does on the shop floor, and why it's different from the alerts and dashboards most plants already have. They dig into:

• Why the real problem on most shop floors isn't a data gap; it's a capacity gap

• Why plants without a full-time reliability engineer stand to benefit the most from agents

• The real reason most tech rollouts fail after six months, and how to build trust with your team before you buy anything

This one gets honest about the elephant in the room too. Is AI coming for maintenance jobs? Jared's answer might surprise you. Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Ever had a VP show up and point at something you can't explain? Ed and Alvaro have both been on the receiving (and giving) end of tough plant reviews, and this week they're breaking down how to turn that often stressful visit into your biggest opportunity.

• Why the first 10 minutes of any tour set the tone for the entire day

• The "skill, will, access" framework for reading what leadership actually wants

• Why hiding bad news always backfires (no surprises, ever)

• How to use a plant visit to get resources, not just a rating

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Augury and IndustryWeek just dropped the State of Production Health 2026 report, and the findings are worth talking about. Ed and Alvaro dig into what 500+ manufacturing leaders said about their biggest challenges, where AI is actually being used, and the contradiction that sits at the heart of the whole study.

• For the first time, workforce constraints topped the list of manufacturing challenges in 2026.

• Unplanned downtime jumped 10 points to #2, putting machine reliability at the center of every pressure manufacturers face

• 57% of manufacturers are now using AI for predictive maintenance, up 22 points in a single year

• 42% have AI at scale across more than half their sites, up from 14% last year

• Poor data quality just became the #1 roadblock to AI adoption, and the most advanced adopters feel it most

The big question Ed and Alvaro tackle: if you believe in AI this much, why aren't you using it to solve the exact problems holding you back?

Mentioned in this episode: The State of Production Health 2026The State of Production Health 2025The State of Production Health 2024The State of Production Health 2023

Download the full podcast here:Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

P&G is projecting $1.5 billion in savings from Supply Chain 3.0. PepsiCo is piloting AI and digital twins. Hershey just announced $100 million in inventory reductions. So why does McKinsey report that not a single manufacturer has fully integrated AI into operational decision-making?

Ed and Alvaro get real about:

• Why good systems stall out even when the technology is right

• What P&G actually got right that most companies miss

• How to get started if you're not a Fortune 50 company

Spoiler: the barrier to entry is lower than you think.

Mentioned in this episode: P&G shifts Supply Chain 3.0, other platforms into large-scale rollout Transforming factories: The power of continuous, connected insights

Download the full podcast here:Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

When the pressure's on to cut costs, maintenance budgets are usually first on the chopping block. Ed and Alvaro have both been in that room, and they've got a lot to say about why that decision almost always costs more than it saves.

In this episode they break down how to actually win the budget conversation: 

• who you need in your corner before you walk in

• how to stop speaking maintenance and start speaking P&L

• why the data has never made it easier to prove your case

Mentioned in this episode: Putting off maintenance now could cost 4x more later

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Doc Palmer, author of McGraw-Hill's best-selling maintenance planning handbook, joins Ed and Alvaro to talk about why most plants are leaving enormous money on the table without knowing it.

If your team is stuck in reactive mode, this one will reframe how you think about planning, scheduling, and the metrics you're probably using wrong.

In this episode:

• Why "planner" is a bad word (and what to call it instead)

• The 35% wrench time problem that hits every plant on the planet

• What Parkinson's Law has to do with your maintenance schedule

• Why 95% schedule compliance might mean you're cheating yourself

• Real-world turnarounds from Dallas to Brunei

Mentioned in this episode: Palmer Planning

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Most plant managers think they're doing okay. Ricky Smith, CMRP, has walked enough plant floors to know better. Ed and Alvaro sit down with one of the most credentialed voices in maintenance and reliability to talk about what separates reactive plants from world-class ones.

Episode highlights:

• Reactive maintenance could be costing you 3x more than it should

• The case for scorecards, formal training, and a clear north star

• What "world-class maintenance" actually means on the plant floor

Mentioned in this episode: World Class Maintenance Learning GuidesSMRPProactive Maintenance Storeroom5 Whys Root Cause AnalysisMaintenance Planning and Scheduling Best Practices Session 1 (Video)

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Season 3 is here, and the "barbarians at the gate" brought company: $5.70 diesel, supply chain chaos, and labor gaps that won’t quit. When the pressure hits, the knee-jerk reaction is to slash the maintenance budget. But Ed and Alvaro are here to tell you why that's a trap that can lead to even costlier failures.

Episode Highlights:

• Machine Health as an Energy Lever: Why jumping from 50% to 60% efficiency is the "gift that keeps on giving" for your energy bill and your P&L.

• The 15% Fallacy: Why relying on traditional preventive maintenance misses the 85% of failure modes that aren't time-based.

• How to Speak CFO: Why pitching an 8x ROI and inventory reduction gets you the signature you need while technical talk just makes their eyes glaze over.

Mentioned in this episode: State of Production Health

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)

Ed and Alvaro are back with their year-end crystal ball episode…and boy, they nailed some predictions while completely whiffing on others!

In this episode, they score their 2025 predictions (spoiler: sustainability was a BIG RED failure ❌), breaking down the 20 episodes that shaped Season 2, and going out on a limb with their 2026 forecasts.

Here's what they covered:

• Prediction scorecard - the good, the bad, and the ugly

• Why everyone's talking about AI, but still fighting fires in their plants

• The "silver tsunami" that's changing everything

• Why trades are suddenly sexier than tech jobs

• Geopolitical chaos and what it means for your supply chain

• Bold (and possibly foolish) 2026 predictions

Got predictions of your own? Drop them in the comments!

Mentioned in this episode: AI and ROI: Translating Time Saved to Business GainsChain Reaction 2025: Chief Supply Chain Officer Insights

Download the full podcast here: Apple SpotifyAmazon MusiciHeart RadioYouTube Music (formerly Google Play)