Automation cannot replace human labor. Rather, the key is to augment the workforce by equipping humans with the technology they need to be more effective, more efficient, and safer. Tracy Hansen, president of North America and global CMO for ProGlove, a German maker of wearable digital interfaces and operations analytics for industry, joined this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show. She talked about the ways manufacturers need to pivot with technology as they look at how to emerge from this pandemic in one piece. Here's what we discussed with Tracy: How wearable solutions can augment the human worker Examples of the ways wearable technology improves safety, efficiency, and productivity The wearable technology solutions executives should know about ...And what excessive automation looks like and how to avoid it. To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

Something's not going well, and it's your job to fix it. Where do you start?  You can't rely on your charm and good looks to make a change happen. Instead, you have to work through proven processes that alleviate distress at companies.  On this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show, Rob Tracy, consultant and author of How to Fix a Factory, talked about specific processes that can solve problems at distressed organizations.   Here's what we discussed with Rob: Why Rob wrote How to Fix a Factory and who he wrote it for How value-add reporting can give distinct insight into P&L The 10 core systems that must be operating with reasonable proficiency for the factory as a whole to have good outcomes Rob's new idea called The Business Forward Framework Additional Resource Mentioned in the Episode: Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

By 2022 online videos will make up more than 82% of consumer internet traffic. That's 15 times more than in 2017, according to a recent study by Cisco.  
Video is how your buyers want to consume information, so it's exactly how you need to deliver it to them. 
On this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show, Danny Gonzales, CEO of both Industrial Sage and Optimum Productions, talked about driving growth through video production in the industrial sector. 
Here's what we discussed with Danny:  

How some industrial companies are using video to their advantage already 
Shifting your message from traditional marketing to the way buyers buy now 
How salespeople can make one-to-one messaging videos using their webcams and distribute them via video cards 
The way to get started in video marketing right now (and now's the perfect time!)  

Resources Mentioned in the Episode: 
Industrialsage.com 
Monique Elliot of Schneider Electric 
Malika Waller of Landis+Gyr 
To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

I did something a little different in this episode. As opposed to bringing in an outside guest and interviewing them, I did a solocast. It's just you and me talking about things I've learned while serving the industrial sector for the last eight-plus years as a sales and marketing consultant. Today, I discuss how to stop giving away engineering and consulting services for free. Here are some of my thoughts from this episode: How to package your expertise so you don't go down these long time-suck paths where you give away free insight and engineering work Examples of how paid engagement can work, including a site audit, a second opinion service, a research report, and a product sample An idea I call "the spectrum of value creation" ...And how your buyer's mindset changes when you approach them this way (and why that's a great thing for your business!) To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

Are you really doing content marketing if you don't create white papers, write blog posts, and deliver long speeches about the benefits of your product? Can a CAD model help educate your prospective buyers just as effectively as a nice, fat e-book can? On this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show, Adam Beck, Director of Marketing at CADENAS PARTsolutions, talked about educating your audience using CAD models. Here's what we discussed with Adam: How to protect real manufacturing models while using a CAD model as a form of content marketing The day-long event he put on for content marketers in industrial manufacturing How to educate customers using models as a marketing tool To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

When a lot of industrial companies start out, they're lean. Nimble. Close to their customers. But as business scales and becomes more complex, they lose the opportunity to be in constant contact with the market. Often, when you go into an industrial company as a new marketing hire, you have to rebuild strategic marketing as a core competency. Know what your customers care about, how the industry is structured, and how you are positioned. Then, tell a story with that information. On this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show, MJ Peters, VP Marketing at Firetrace, a $35 million business with approximately a hundred employees, talked about creating sustainable growth for your manufacturing company. Here's what we discussed with MJ: Three key areas where marketing impacts the business Using tangible metrics to sort out what's working and what's not in marketing How to create sustainable growth when you sell in a cyclical market To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

Try describing a mechanical thing with a blog post. It's not easy. It's not the right format. But try taking a 3-D model, making it photorealistic, and then doing animations of how it works. Now, you're on to something. So when you think about content marketing, do you think blogs, social media, and podcasts? Or do you think, "What's going to help my audience?" On this episode of The Manufacturing Executive Show, Nick Goellner, sales and marketing leader for Advanced Machine & Engineering and managing director of Making Chips, talked about content marketing in the industrial sector. Here's what we discussed with Nick: The role content marketing should play inside a manufacturing organization Why content is your job even if you are not a marketer (it's all about the function of content) The reason you shouldn't be scared your competitors will rip off your content The books Nick's reading this summer To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

I like working with people who get dirty building stuff. That's why I'm committed to serving the industrial sector by producing resourceful, helpful, and objective content. In the past two years, I've written 50,000 words of content, or about a whole business book, to help manufacturers figure out how to grow their businesses. (That was just my writing; my team of 18 people in St. Louis produced a lot more.) So it's a natural transition to ask: What other media could we explore to publish these insights? That's how we came to launch The Manufacturing Executive, our podcast to help leaders of manufacturing companies grow their businesses. We bring in voices from outside our company to talk about their successes, their struggles, what they've learned, and what's working and what's not in industrial marketing and manufacturing sales..  Got an idea for the show? Go to gorilla76.com/learn and click "connect." To ensure that you never miss an episode of The Manufacturing Show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.