Based on his decades of experience, Jim Biehl of Clayton & McKervey reveals why some businesses thrive and others flame out. Plus, he discusses the No. 1 inhibitor to business growth. Hint: It's not what you think.

Pete Atkin, vice president and general manager of Samsara Industrial, reveals why he thinks the industrial automation market is on the cusp of a major change. Plus, he discusses how customer demand for connected operations has fueled Samara's growth to a 1,500-person company in just 4 years.

Ranbir Saini, Senior Director of Digital Product Management for GE Digital, where he is the business leader for automation software. Drawing on his 15 years of experience delivering industrial automation, operations management and media content creation software to OEM municipal and enterprise customers, Ranbir reveals his predictions for the digital transformation of the automation industry. Plus, he breaks down how broadcast media is more similar to the industrial space than you'd think.

Bruno Wilson is a regional sales manager and business development engineer for Encoder Products, a 50-year-old designer and worldwide manufacturer of motion sensing devices based in Sagle, Idaho. Bruno's experience includes business processes, human resources and administration, research and development, manufacturing engineering, market analysis, sales and business development. In this episode, Bruno shares his insights as an up-and-coming leader.

Tom Sulda is director of Latsa Learning Services, where he leads a national team of instructors in Australia. Latsa's instructors are also part-time consultants who help clients implement new best practice process methodologies, such as Prince2, Managing Successful Programs, AgilePM and AgileBA. Additionally Sulda's company IPX Check is a newly certified CSIA Best Practices and Benchmarks auditor where Tom is the lead auditor.

In this episode, Sulda offers a brief primer on agile project management vs the waterfall approach and the pros and cons of each. Plus he reveals who should give it a try and who should sit this one out.

Programming note: This episode was recorded during the 2019 CSIA Executive Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, in May 2019.

Credit Bensound and Wistia's Music Collection for the music in this episode.

Marc Taccolini is founder and CTO of Tatsoft, a platform developer for real-time factory-floor data monitoring, SCADA and HMI Systems, distributed data aggregation and advanced visualization tools.

In this episode, Taccolini recounts his journey as an innovator, including lessons learned, as well as his pivot to meet the demands of a disrupted industry. 

Enjoy getting to know Marc Taccolini of Tatsoft.

Programming note: This episode was recorded during the 2019 CSIA Executive Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, in May 2019.

Credit Bensound and Wistia's Music Collection for the music in this episode.

Jeff Burnstein is president of the Association of Advancing Automation, the umbrella organization for the Robotic Industries Association, Advancing Vision and Imaging, and Motion Control and Motor Association.

In this episode, Burnstein predicts the role of robotics in manufacturing, the impact they will have on businesses, as well as what the industry needs to do to prepare for the future.

Plus, he answers the grand-daddy of all questions: Will robots take our jobs?

Enjoy getting to know Jeff Burnstein of the Association of Advancing Automation.

Programming note: This episode was recorded during the 2019 CSIA Executive Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, in May 2019.

Credit Bensound and Wistia's Music Collection for the music in this episode.

Mike Howard is vice president, system integration for George T. Hall Co., which got its start in California but has since expanded into Nevada.

He shares his experiences with CSIA certification and how it helped GTH manage a recent growth spurt. Plus he reveals his lessons learned from scaling up quickly to meet customer demand and the challenges his clients are facing.

Mike also describes how he became involved with the manufacturing and integration fields, as well as how George T. Hall went from being in the airstream business in 1932 to today's system integration expertise in a variety of industries, including waste water, mining, aerospace and manufacturing to name a few.

Enjoy getting to know Mike Howard of George T. Hall Co.

Credit Bensound and Wistia's Music Collection for the music in this episode.

In this episode of Talking Industrial Automation, Zack Scriven, founder and lead content creator of Zack Scriven Media, shares his journey from industrial automation engineer to video marketing entrepreneur. 

Along the way, you'll hear his tips on how to work with millennials, attract and retain talent, the role of marketing in today's marketplace and the secret to getting started on using video to tell your story.

Production note: This episode was recorded on-site during the 2019 CSIA Executive Conference so the audio includes some background noises, though the main content is audible.

Credit Bensound and Wistia's Music Collection for the music in this episode.

In this episode of Talking Industrial Automation, Joe LaRussa, director of industrial engineering for the North American Seat Business at Brose Group, provides his take on the global war on talent, as well as reveal his successful strategy for priming the talent pipeline. Plus, you'll hear his advice on how system integrators can prepare for the future to meet customer demand.