What happens when you're responsible not just for transformation, but for making the numbers—every quarter, without excuse? In this episode, we sit down with operations leaders who carry the P&L and explore how they lead transformation without sacrificing performance.

Hear from:
🎙️ Courtney Andersen, Vice President of Supply Chain at General Mills
🎙️ Jim Beilstein, Vice President, Global Operations & Supply Chain at Owens Corning
🎙️ Audrey St.Onge, President & CEO of N.A Baking Business at Lallemand

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

In our first episode, we’re tackling one of the most critical factors for success: leadership—not just to set the vision, but to execute it effectively and sustain it over time. 

Hosted by Jeff Winter, Smart Manufacturing Advisor at CESMII, this episode features industry experts who have led real transformation, sharing their insights on what separates leaders who drive lasting change from those who struggle to move the needle.

Whether you’re a seasoned executive or an emerging leader, this episode will challenge your thinking and give you the strategies you need to lead with impact. 

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

Hear from local manufacturers who are taking ownership for building their digital capabilities and developing their own strategic Smart Manufacturing roadmap - with a little help from their friends.

Join leaders from two northeast Ohio manufacturers and the NxGen Group as they share insights on their journeys, working within the safe space provided by Manufacturing Works, leveraging invaluable guidance from their facilitators, and learning the roadmap tools provided by CESMII, the national institute on Smart Manufacturing.

Explore what they’ve learned in engaging their organization, addressing key barriers and desired outcomes, and building a successful plan everyone supports. Dig deeper into their stories as proof-points of the region’s commitment to educating the entire manufacturing ecosystem and scaling help to every manufacturer

Moderator: Sophia Long, Manager, Industry & Innovation, Team NEO (OH)
● Mark Dawson, President, Cleveland Steel Tool (OH)
● Doug Keehan, Plant Manager, Advanced Polymer Coatings (OH)
● Jim Wetzel, Founder, The NxGen Group (OH) See less

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 are driving the digital transformation of industrial processes. This digital transformation enables enhanced productivity, real-time data and analytics, flexibility and customization, optimized supply networks, energy efficiency and sustainability, and improved workforce development. Barriers to the realization of these goals include the legacy of lacking integration of automation operational technology (OT) and enterprise information technology (IT).
Academic organizations have a key role to play in realizing the SM vision. Not only in the research and development of technology but also in the education of the workforce in digital technologies and techniques for manufacturing. However, academic organizations are experiencing similar challenges for integrating OT and IT networks and systems that have traditionally been managed and operated separately.
In this podcast, we explore how academic organizations have tackled these challenges to teach SM skills and what similar organizations and manufacturers can learn from their experience.

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

Discover how the Smart Manufacturing Executive Council is setting a strategic course to rejuvenate U.S. manufacturing and regain global competitiveness. This council, comprised entirely of manufacturers, recently documented their point-of-view on the promises Smart Manufacturing holds for each manufacturer and their collective impact on the U.S. economy.

Our panelists will dive into the industry-wide playbook being developed by the Council, explore the critical need for an inclusive approach that makes Smart Manufacturing accessible to all, and discuss the role of AI, cybersecurity, and other advanced technologies in shaping a resilient and prosperous manufacturing future.

Join series host Mike Yost and our panelists as we explore the Council’s aims to drive the transformative potential of Smart Manufacturing across the nation and evolve U.S. manufacturing.

● Chris Micena, Senior Director, Digital Transformation, Nestlé Purina
● Rick Bullotta, Industry Advisor/Investor/Mentor
● John Dyck, CEO, CESMII

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

Join the team from Andersen Corporation as they share insights on building a strategic Smart Manufacturing Roadmap with the CESMII Acceleration Framework.

Discover how Andersen took ownership of the entire process from conception to execution and results-with tools provided by CESMII and invaluable guidance from the NxGen Group.

We'll explore Andersen's journey in engaging their organization, addressing key barriers and desired outcomes, and building a successful plan everyone supports. Equally as important, we'll dig deeper into this story as a proof-point of CESMII's commitment to educating the entire manufacturing ecosystem through the Acceleration Framework methodologies.

🎙️ Ben Adamson, Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing and Strategic Supply Chain Enablement at Andersen Corporation
🎙️ Chris Campbell, Vice President Information Technology at Andersen Corporation
🎙️ Garren Riemenschneider, Technical Leader at Andersen Corporation
🎙️ Mike Yost, Host

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

Twelve semiconductor fab operators are forging a new business model for AI-enabled smart manufacturing based on the sharing and aggregation of data across companies for mutual benefit.

Join us for this months CESMII Smart Manufacturing Mindset™ episode to hear from one of those operator-company leaders and a coordinating group from National Science Foundation (NSF)*, UCLA, and CESMII bringing perspectives on federal plans for advanced manufacturing, Smart Manufacturing, and CESMII’s data and modeling support capabilities.

Speakers include:
🎙️ Sthitie Bom, Vice President, Seagate Technology
🎙️ Jim Davis, UCLA Vice Provost Emeritus, CESMII Program Oversight & Principal Investigator
🎙️ Bruce Kramer, Senior Advisor, National Science Foundation (NSF)
🎙️ Haresh Malkani, Chief Technology Officer, CESMII
🎙️ Mike Yost, Host

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

In this digital transformation era, the manufacturing landscape is rapidly evolving, offering unprecedented opportunities for growth and innovation. However, many manufacturers are grappling with the challenge of where to begin their journey toward Smart Manufacturing, how to prioritize investments, and how to build a solid foundation for success.

Fortunately, CESMII, the Smart Manufacturing Institute, has teamed up with the team at Rensselaer at Work & NxGen Group to develop the SM Roadmap Professional Certification Course – a course that teaches CESMII’s strategic approach to developing SM Roadmaps with the necessary tools to guide manufacturers through their transformation journey.

Hear from:
🎙️ Mike Yost, Host
👨‍🏫 Jim Wetzel, Co-Founder of NxGen Group
🎓 Jeff Winter, Senior Director of Industry Strategy at Hitachi Solutions America
🎓 Mike Ungar, Business Executive & Coach, FocalPoint

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

This week, CESMII hosted our first (Virtual & FREE) Smart Manufacturing Architecture & Technologies Workshop – a deep dive into the fundamentals of interoperability, modern OT/IT-friendly platform architectures, open specifications, and interfaces enabled by information models, data standards/standardization, the importance of a graph database, the global standards landscape for Smart Manufacturing.
 
With an impressive turnout of over 425 registrants and over 300 attendees during the live event, we were truly overwhelmed by the level of interest, enthusiastic engagement, and the wealth of thought-provoking questions that surfaced throughout the 7-hour Workshop. 

As a result of this remarkable response, we have decided to adapt the format of this month's Smart Manufacturing Mindset™ series to further enhance the opportunity for interaction with our presenters.

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096

How do Industry 4.0 digital and physical technologies enhance lean manufacturing?

What are some of the benefits of digital lean - and common pitfalls that practitioners should avoid? How do you even get started on implementing these practices?

Join us on January 30th at 1:00PM EST to explore proven strategies and ways to accelerate your Digital Lean journey.

🎙️ Tim Stuart, President @ Visual Decisions Inc
🎙️ Anthony Kanoff, Process Excellence Manager @ Phoenix Contact
🎙️ Conrad Leiva, VP of WF & Ecosystem Development @ CESMII
🎙️ Mike Yost, Host

© 2025 CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute, A Program in UCLA, 520 Portola Plaza, MS 5308 – Box 95155, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557, USA, (888) 720-8096