In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Richard Schrade (President and Co-Founder of Automation Intelligence) to talk about digital twins, the gap between where industrial automation is and where it needs to be, and a new AI tool that could change how PLC engineers work. 

If you care about manufacturing, automation, robotics, industrial software, or the future of American production, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• What digital twins actually are, how they work, and why the biggest manufacturers in the country use them before touching the factory floor 
• Why Richard is disappointed with the pace of industrial innovation, and why he thinks we're still at 1% of what's possible 
• How narrowing the gap of uncertainty is the real value proposition for capital allocators looking at automation investments 
• The Auto Intel Cloud: making digital twins accessible without expensive hardware or license headaches 
• PLC Forge: the AI-powered tool for PLC engineers that Automation Intelligence is bringing to market now 

Chapters 

00:00 Why Manufacturing Innovation Can't Wait 

01:00 Meet Richard Schrade and Automation Intelligence 

02:54 How Digital Twins Work and Why They Matter 

12:14 Are We at 1% of What's Possible? 

21:14 The Auto Intel Cloud 

25:21 PLC Forge: AI for the Factory Floor 

Guest: Richard Schrade, President and Co-Founder at Automation Intelligence Find Richard Schrade: https://autointel.io [email protected] 

Find Matthew Chang: https://x.com/MatthewChang https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang 

Find Colin Russ: https://x.com/ThaaatColin https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ 

Find Chang Robotics: https://changrobotics.ai https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ 

Follow ReForge 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ 

X: https://x.com/thereforgepod 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod 

Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ 

Want to be a guest or partner? 

If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: [email protected] 

About ReForge 

ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ. 

Produced by Chang Robotics. 

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Dr. Nahshon Nicks (Founder and President of Team Nitro MMA) to talk about building the talent pipeline that American reindustrialization actually needs, starting with the kids everyone else overlooks. 

If you care about workforce development, community, manufacturing, or the next generation of American builders, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• How Dr. Nicks went from inner city youth who couldn't read in fifth grade to earning two PhDs, three black belts, and running an after-school program serving hundreds of kids across Jacksonville 
• Why Team Nitro uses martial arts, mentorship, and exposure to technology to build confidence, discipline, and real workforce skills 
• Students placed in the U.S. Marines, Merchant Marines, colleges, and trade programs, and what it actually took to get them there 
• Why "kids don't want to work" is the wrong diagnosis, and what's really missing in underserved communities 
• Matt's story coaching inner city robotics students at Matthew Gilbert Middle School, and what presence alone can do for kids who have none 

Chapters 

00:00 Exposure Broadens Perspective  

01:08 Meet Dr. Nahshon Nicks  

03:09 Team Nitro Mission and Method  

05:48 From Hardship to Mentorship  

11:12 Success Stories and Robotics Field Trips  

23:11 Civic Leadership and Closing Thoughts 

Guest: Dr. Nahshon Nicks, Founder and President at Team Nitro MMA 

Find Dr. Nahshon Nicks: 

https://teamnitromma.com 

https://www.instagram.com/nahshonnicks/  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-nahshon-nicks-6610702a/  

https://x.com/NahshonNicks  

https://www.facebook.com/nahshon.lamir.nicks

Find Matthew Chang: 

https://x.com/MatthewChang 

https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ 

https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang 

Find Colin Russ:  

https://x.com/ThaaatColin 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ 

Find Chang Robotics:  

https://changrobotics.ai 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ 

Follow ReForge 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/  

X: https://x.com/thereforgepod  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/  

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod  

Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ 

Want to be a guest or partner? 

If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: [email protected] 

About ReForge 

ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrial

In this episode, Matthew Chang sits down with co-host Colin Russ to trace his path from a Texas dairy farm to Erie, Pennsylvania, through presidential campaigns, SAP implementations at Boeing and beyond, and into his current mission: building a fully autonomous lights-out factory with Next Industries. 

If you care about manufacturing, ERPs, reindustrialization, workforce development, or small-town America, this one is for you. 

What we cover 
- How Erie represents the opportunity and challenge facing post-industrial American cities 
- Colin's winding path from dairy farming and the Romney campaign to consulting at Capgemini and PwC 
- The real cost of ERP implementations and why a single SAP rollout can run $50M+ in consulting alone 
- Why regulations are a solvable engineering problem, not an excuse 
- Next Industries and the case for fully autonomous, lights-out precision CNC production 

Chapters 
0:00 Meet Colin and Erie  
4:42 Community Impact and Reindustrialization  
8:38 From Dairy Farm to ERP Consulting  
24:26 Making Peace With Regulations  
32:14 Why ERP Projects Cost So Much  
38:14 Next Industries: Lights Out Factories  

Find Matthew Chang: 
https://x.com/MatthewChang 
https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang  
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ 
https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang 

Find Colin Russ:  
https://x.com/ThaaatColin 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ 

Find Chang Robotics: 
https://changrobotics.ai 

Follow ReForge 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/  
X: https://x.com/thereforgepod  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/  
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod  
Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ 

Want to be a guest or partner? 
If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: [email protected] 

About ReForge 
ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ. 

Produced by Chang Robotics.

In this episode, Colin Russ sits down with Matthew Chang (Founder & CEO of Chang Robotics) to trace the path from building factories across five continents to launching a Christian VC and betting everything on American reindustrialization.

If you care about manufacturing, robotics, automation, venture capital, or the future of American industry, this one is for you.

What we cover

• From ROTC to building factories on five continents before launching Chang Robotics
• AI adoption inside a real engineering firm, and why an internal AI policy is coming
• Why VC has a vintage problem and whether hyperscale data centers are already obsolete
• The Give to Give philosophy: Christian VC, tithing carry, and keeping founders in control
• Why Matt believes we're entering a 10-year manufacturing supercycle

Chapters

00:00 Reindustrialization Kickoff 

01:36 From ROTC to Factory Builder 

15:12 Chang Robotics and AI Tools 

27:25 AI Adoption and Policy 

31:26 Give to Give Venture 

47:57 Manufacturing Bull Run Ahead

Find Matthew Chang: https://x.com/MatthewChang | https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang | https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ | https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang

Find Colin Russ: https://x.com/ThaaatColin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/

Find Chang Robotics: https://changrobotics.ai | https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/

Follow ReForge

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ 

X: https://x.com/thereforgepod 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod 

Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/

Want to be a guest or partner?

If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: [email protected]

About ReForge

ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ.

Produced by Chang Robotics.

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ, joined by Brian Keith, CMO of Chang Robotics, introduce the ReForge Podcast and lay out the core problem: nearly everyone talking about reindustrializing America has never actually built a factory.

If you care about manufacturing, workforce, industrial policy, robotics, or the future of American communities, this one is for you.

---

What we cover

• Why the loudest voices on reindustrialization have zero factory experience — and why that matters
• Gen Z's surprising appetite for trades and hands-on work, and what it means for the labor pipeline
• The case for distributed, community-rooted manufacturing over a single American "Shenzhen"
• How modern factories (full of robotics, automation, and advanced software) are nothing like the assembly lines parents fear

---

Chapters

00:00 Why Reindustrialize Now
01:03 Builders vs Armchair Experts
09:01 Hope and Policy for Factory Towns
18:15 Outsourcing and IP Reality
19:52 Faith and Local Industry
28:40 Modern Factories and Next Steps

---

Hosts: Matthew Chang, Founder at Chang Robotics | Colin Russ, Co-Host
Featured: Brian Keith, Chief Marketing Officer at Chang Robotics
Find Chang Robotics: https://changrobotics.com

Find Matthew Chang

https://x.com/MatthewChang | https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang, https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ | https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang

Find Colin Russ

https://x.com/ThaaatColin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/

Find Brian Keith 

http://linkedin.com/in/briankeithal/ | https://x.com/briankeithai

---

Follow ReForge
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/
X: https://x.com/thereforgepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod
Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/

---

Want to be a guest or partner?
If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you.
Email: [email protected]

---

About ReForge
ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ. Produced by Chang Robotics.