The ReForge Podcast

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ talk with Brittain Ladd (Supply Chain, Logistics, and AI Strategic Consultant at Ladd Strategic Advisors) about why reindustrialization lives or dies on supply chain design, and why the trucking industry as we know it is about to disappear.

If you care about supply chain, logistics, automation, autonomous trucking, reshoring, or industrial AI, this one is for you.

What we cover

• Why the only purpose of a supply chain is to enable growth, and what it costs a company when the C-suite treats it as anything else
• The brutal reality of AI hype: trucks don't drive faster, warehouses don't fulfill faster, and most robots pick at the same speed they did five years ago
• What small and midsize manufacturers should do instead of hiring a large consulting firm
• The run of shocks from COVID to the longshoremen strike to tariffs, and how they exposed supply chains built for stability instead of unpredictability
• Why Brittain believes trucking companies and freight brokers go away entirely once autonomy arrives, and what replaces them
• The move from 15 distribution centers to 3,000 micro-fulfillment centers, and what that does to replenishment

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
 02:02 Why Supply Chains Matter
 06:26 AI Hype vs Logistics Reality
 08:44 SMB Supply Chain Playbook
 15:29 2020 to Now Supply Chain Shocks
 21:01 Future of Freight and Autonomy

Hosts: Matthew Chang and Colin Russ
 Guest: Brittain Ladd, Supply Chain, Logistics, and AI Strategic Consultant at Ladd Strategic Advisors

Find Brittain Ladd:
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittainladd/ | https://laddstrategicadvisors.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 Chang Robotics: https://changrobotics.ai

Resources mentioned

Brittain's newsletter, No Retreat No Surrender
 Ladd Strategic Advisors: https://laddstrategicadvisors.com/
Seven Steps to Reindustrialize America: https://www.thereforgepodcast.com/7steps

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 walk through what it actually takes to build a factory from scratch, from the debt that funds it to the steel that isn't available until December, and why a serious greenfield plant is a three year process no matter what the announcement says.

If you care about manufacturing, construction, permitting, supply chain, or capital access for industrial projects, this one is for you.

What we cover

• The gap between a factory announcement and the first production run, and why land development alone can run twelve months best case
• High interest rates, construction loan carry, and the valley of death between $10 million and $100 million where no suitable capital product exists
• Steel is out until December: fabricators still have capacity, the mills do not, and America needs roughly fifty percent more mill capacity
• Construction has doubled, from about $300 per square foot in the late twenty teens to a $600 starting point today
• Why the building makes no money, and the case for the smallest building possible with the maximum automation in it
• Brownfield first: twelve to fourteen months to new capacity versus three years minimum for greenfield
• Permitting strategy, from the DOT permit nobody expects to designing at FM Global standard so the site doesn't dictate the design

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Episode 20
 01:05 Factory Build Reality Check
 02:40 Funding and Interest Rates
 05:36 Supply Chain Bottlenecks
 14:18 Permitting and Code Strategy
 26:15 Seven Steps and Wrap Up

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 break down Matt's takeaways from the Reindustrialize Summit in Detroit, from the government's Pax Americana manufacturing strategy to why the RaaS model is a dealbreaker for serious manufacturers, and what's still missing in the funding stack for hardware founders.

If you care about manufacturing, robotics, venture capital, trade policy, or what the reindustrialization movement actually looks like in person, this one is for you.

What we cover

• Reindustrialize Summit recap: what Matt saw, who showed up, and why it scored a 10 out of 10
• The corporate creep problem and why too many sport coats could kill the magic
• Pax Americana and the Philippines industrial park model for allied manufacturing
• The government's message to trade partners: don't replicate the US tech stack, build the next thing on top of it
• RaaS versus CapEx and why no serious manufacturer wants a subscription robot that owns their data
• EBITDA positive founders versus the VC crowd, and why profitable companies scare off investors
• The SBA Supermax: why convicted hardware founders need $100 million debt instruments, not dilutive venture rounds
• Steel delays are already hitting Chang Robotics orders as mills get backed up from reshoring demand

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Banter
 01:04 Reindustrialize Overview
 01:57 Conference Highlights and Vibe
 09:41 Policy and Global Strategy
 16:47 Robotics Models Debate
 26:02 Funding Gaps and Closing

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 dig into the part of the silver tsunami nobody is solving: the decades of irreplaceable technical knowledge walking out the door with every retirement, and why AI-driven knowledge capture might be the only shot we have at saving it.

If you care about manufacturing, engineering, workforce development, AI, or the future of American industry, this one is for you.

What we cover

• Why it takes 15 years to make a good engineer and the country is an estimated 500,000 short
• Infrastructure report cards across bridges, levees, airports, and air traffic control, and why none of the reindustrialization push works without fixing the foundation
• Chang Robotics pulling retired experts and former Soviet Bloc engineers out of retirement to rebuild the US metals industry because no one left in America knows how
• Kaia Rhodes and the textile collapse: 90% of global production down to 2%, and the only people who remember how are in their 70s
• Why AI's real opportunity is knowledge capture, not AGI
• AI integrators, data privacy firewalls, and why small manufacturers can't just buy ChatGPT
• Factory floor monitoring: vision cameras, spaghetti diagrams, and the truck dock timer that changed a beverage distributor's entire operation
• US ports operating at roughly 50% capacity because of crane staging bottlenecks

Chapters

00:00 Episode 18 Kickoff
 01:02 The Great Replacement
 17:42 AI for Knowledge Capture
 21:01 Hunting Lost Knowhow
 25:10 AI Integrators and Guardrails
 36:30 Factory Visibility Wins

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.

Who Speaks for the Small Manufacturer? (with Patrick Wolf and Ethan Copple) | ReForge 017

In this episode, Colin Russ sits down with Patrick J. Wolf, PhD (Executive Director) and Ethan Copple, PhD (Director of Strategy) from the Institute for American Manufacturing to talk about why small and medium manufacturers have no voice in the policy conversations that determine their future, and what the Institute is doing to change that.

If you care about manufacturing policy, trade, reshoring, the defense industrial base, or what it actually takes for a small shop to survive and modernize in America right now, this one is for you.

What we cover

• What the Institute for American Manufacturing does and why it organized around three pillars: manufacturing, energy, and AI
• Why the defense industrial base is the strongest current driver of reindustrialization
• Tariffs, the 90-day pause, and why uncertainty is worse than the tariff itself for small manufacturers
• Reshoring versus friend-shoring and why full supply chain visibility still doesn't exist
• The capital crunch: why a $2 million shop can't justify another $2 million to modernize
• The demographic cliff is probably worse than projected, and why that might actually help factories that automate
• How the Institute captures field signals from small producers and gets them in front of policymakers

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Guests Intro
 01:44 Why Manufacturing Energy and AI Interlock
 08:53 Small Shop Policy Pain Points and Tariffs
 19:12 Tariffs Worth It
 25:05 Mining Automation Comeback
 30:58 Modernizing Small Shops

Guests:
Patrick J. Wolf, PhD, Executive Director at the Institute for American Manufacturing
Ethan Copple, PhD, Director of Strategy at the Institute for American Manufacturing

Find Patrick J. Wolf:
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/wolfjpatrick/

Find Ethan Copple:
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethancopple/

Find the Institute for American Manufacturing:
 https://iamtpolicy.org

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, Colin Russ, and Brian Keith break down why American factories are getting hit with dirty power, rolling brownouts, and rising energy costs, and what can actually be done about it right now. 

If you care about manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, reindustrialization, or what it takes to keep a factory running in America today, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• Why EV charging, AI data centers, and building electrification are all hitting the grid at the same time 
• Dirty power, phase issues, and what happens when bad utility power burns up factory motors and computers 
• Battery backup, power management systems, and how factories can get rebates on bad power 
• The concrete truck problem: why safe shutdown matters more than keeping the lights on 
• Small modular reactors are 10 years out at best, and the regulatory and logistics hurdles nobody wants to talk about 
• Space-based power and why you'll make in space for space, not for Earth 
• Microgrids, rooftop solar, and the policy changes that would take houses and offices off the grid tomorrow 
• Power sovereignty as national security 

Chapters 

00:00 Dirty Power Factory Damage 
01:56 Why Demand Is Surging 
04:39 Battery Backup And Safe Shutdowns 
10:53 Power Quality Filters And Rebates 
17:32 Future Power SMRs Space And Microgrids 
34:44 Energy Sovereignty And Wrap Up 

Guest: Brian Keith, CMO at Chang Robotics 

Find Brian Keith:
https://x.com/BrianKeithAI
https://www.linkedin.com/in/BrianKeithAI 

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

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/ 

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 dig into the humanoid robot hype and why it doesn't match what's actually happening on factory floors, in logistics centers, or anywhere else. 

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

What we cover 

• Why "robot" doesn't mean "humanoid" and the installed base is effectively zero 
• Breaking down the viral intern-vs-humanoid package sorting video 
• Battery life, thermal management, and why battery swap won't work for humanoids 
• What Boston Dynamics Atlas gets right that no one else has shown 
• Insurance, fire marshals, and the regulatory reality no one talks about 
• What real manufacturing customers said when asked about deploying humanoids 
• Why teleoperations is labor arbitrage disguised as autonomy 

Chapters 

00:00 Teleop Creeps and Robot Hype 
02:23 Humanoids vs Real Logistics Automation 
13:42 Battery Swaps and Atlas Reality Check 
25:20 EV Battery Thermal Management 
26:50 Humanoid Power and Charging 
29:38 Regulation Privacy and Teleop 

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 break down four major manufacturing and reindustrialization announcements, dig into the capacity crunch hitting every corner of the industry, and make the case that in the next five years, relationships are the only thing that will actually move the needle. 

If you care about manufacturing, energy, venture capital, reindustrialization, or what it's going to take to build in America right now, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• Innovative Refrigeration Systems expands in Virginia: why industrial cooling is a critical and overlooked piece of the reindustrialization supply chain 
• Ford repurposes its Kentucky battery facility for grid storage, and why every new factory being built today needs an onsite battery system 
• Toyota's $2 billion Project Orca expansion in San Antonio, what Texas keeps getting right on economic development, and why the grid is the next bottleneck 
• SendCutSend raises $110 million at a billion-dollar valuation from Sequoia, why bootstrapping with debt is the real vote of confidence, and what this means for the future of manufacturing venture 
• Chang Robotics capacity update: 30 engineers deployed in two weeks, AI vision stacks replacing sensor banks, and why the capacity crunch will be total by end of year 

Chapters 

00:00 Relationships Win the Crunch  

00:36 Podcast Intro and YouTube Ban  

03:28 Refrigeration Expansion in Virginia  

07:41 Ford Battery Storage and Power Quality  

13:57 Toyota Texas Expansion and Grid Talk  

17:36 SendCutSend Funding and Builder Playbook 

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, Colin Russ sits down with Brian Keith (CMO of Chang Robotics) to have an honest conversation about what LLMs actually do inside manufacturing businesses, why they lie constantly, and what the five levels of AI adoption mean for every factory owner and job shop in America. 

If you care about AI, manufacturing, operations, small business, or the future of the American workforce, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• Why every LLM lies, how often it happens, and why telling it to stop doesn't work 
• The difference between machine learning and large language models, and why conflating them is costing manufacturers money 
• How to use adversarial AI, citation requirements, and human layers to reduce hallucinations in production environments 
• Why local models aren't good enough yet and what the real opportunity cost is of trying to build your own 
• The five levels of AI adoption, and why the AI level five company that shows up over a weekend is the real threat no one is talking about 

Chapters 

00:00 LLMs Lie in Production 

00:25 AI Hype vs Manufacturing Reality 

05:46 Why AI Lies and What to Do About It 

16:21 Local Models and Human Layers 

25:19 The Five Levels of AI Adoption 

Guest: Brian Keith, CMO at Chang Robotics 

Find Brian Keith: 

https://x.com/BrianKeithAI

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

Find Chang Robotics: 

https://changrobotics.ai

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

Find Colin Russ: 

https://x.com/ThaaatColin

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

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 break down four major reindustrialization announcements from the past week and explain what they actually mean for American manufacturing, supply chains, and the bull run ahead. 

If you care about manufacturing, defense, pharmaceuticals, drones, AI, or the state of American reindustrialization, this one is for you. 

What we cover 

• Cleveland Cliffs partners with Palantir on AI-driven steel production across 32 sites, and what OEE, inventory, and working capital actually have to do with it 
• Skydio commits $3.5 billion to expand US drone manufacturing, and Matt and Colin place their bets on where the factory lands 
• AbbVie selects North Carolina for a $1.4 billion pharmaceutical campus, and why domestic drug precursor production is about 90 days away from becoming a national conversation 
• L3Harris announces a $1.265 billion expansion of solid rocket motor production in Virginia, and why the reshoring read matters 
• Where shipbuilding, grain oriented steel, lithium, and electrical infrastructure fit into the reindustrialization roadmap and what comes next 

Chapters 

00:00 Modular Shipbuilding Teaser  

00:21 AI Comes to American Steel  

09:02 Skydio Drone Factory Bet  

13:10 Pharma, Rockets, and the Reshoring Checklist  

22:22 Reindustrialization Roadmap Wrap 

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.