U.S. Manufacturing Today

In this episode of U.S. Manufacturing Today (powered by Veryable), host Matt Horine talks with Ryan Arends and Brett Kronick, co-founders of Origin8 Advisory, about supply chain traceability, defensible documentation, and supply chain security as reshoring accelerates. Drawing on their US Army backgrounds, they connect military accountability practices to corporate needs to prove—not just claim—country of origin and compliance. They explain how Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements are tightening as the grace period ends, waivers decline, and enforcement expands, creating risks such as funding delays, clawbacks, and potential False Claims Act exposure that can cascade from primes to subcontractors. Origin8’s AI-powered platform automates document extraction, matching across multi-tier BOMs and records, and compliance scoring (red/yellow/green), reducing fire-drill audits. They recommend baseline readiness assessments, clear ownership of evidence, and validating traceability continuously.

Timestamps 

00:00 Podcast Introduction

01:19 Military Backgrounds

02:31 Accountability Mindset

05:16 Founding Origin8

08:30 Visible vs Defensible

12:56 BABA Rules Tighten

16:41 Cascading Audit Risk

21:23 Origin8 Platform Demo

25:50 Competitive Advantage

30:46 Getting Started Process

34:31 Closing Thanks

35:13 Podcast Outro

Links 

Origin8 Website

Ryan on linkedin 

Brett on linkedin

Origin8 on Linkedin 

Revitalizing US Manufacturing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In this episode of U.S. Manufacturing Today (powered by Veryable) host Matt Horine interviews Ethan Giffin, founder/CEO of The B2B e-commerce agency and author of Closing the Digital Revenue Gap, about revenue leakage and added costs caused by manual B2B ordering. Giffin explains that most buyers prefer self-service and B2C-like experiences, and argues digital commerce should be treated as a true revenue channel targeting 10–15% of revenue, not a “website project.” They discuss what a multimillion-dollar leak looks like (high order-processing costs, errors, lost customers, and requirements like punch-outs), why projects stall (misalignment across sales/marketing/ops/finance/IT, catalog and data issues, ERP access), and a three-year adoption path. They cover sales-team fears and incentives, how to pilot and activate portals, practical AI uses (catalog building) versus hype, and where to get Giffin’s book and consultation.

Timestamps 

00:00 Show Intro and Guest

03:09 Ethan’s Commerce Journey

04:49 Middle Market Reality Check

07:07 Defining the Revenue Gap

09:14 Where Money Leaks

12:55 Top Blind Spots

14:52 Why Digital Projects Stall

20:58 Diagnostics and 3 Year Plan

23:13 Sales Team Fears

25:27 Incentives and Adoption Wins

27:32 Success Story Shift

28:33 Early Portal Wins

29:23 Build It They Wont Come

31:22 Pilot Then Activate

33:39 AI Practical Vs Hype

35:10 Crawl Walk Run Maturity

37:15 Agents Relationships And ROI

40:46 Reindustrialization Digital Edge

43:13 Friction Kills Buying

47:21 30 Day Action Plan

48:34 DJ Lessons In Change

51:49 Book And Wrap Up

Links 

The B2B eCommerece Agency (https://b2becommerceagency.com/)

Ethan on linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethangiffin/)

B2B on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/company/b2becommerceagency/)

Closing the Digital Revenue Gap (https://b2becommerceagency.com/free-consultation/)

Revitalizing US Manufacturing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.veryableops.com/)

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In Today's episode, Matt Horine interviews Ben Hansen about “profititis,” where revenue grows but net profit stays flat or declines, creating stress and vulnerability to shocks. Hansen, a former Microsoft and Fortune 100 executive and five-time Inc. 5000 founder, explains how rapid growth in his staffing business tripled revenue while shrinking net margin from about 20% to 7%, and argues manufacturers can’t “sell their way out” of unprofitable pricing or work. He highlights common founder-led blind spots in P&L management, the importance of variable cost structures—especially labor—to handle demand swings, and links higher margins and faster invoicing/payment terms to improved cash flow. Hansen outlines his Profit 180 four-step prescription: profitability mindset, profit acceleration, “profit CFO” financial discipline, and profit growth by focusing on the most profitable customers/products, and recommends scheduling weekly “Money Mondays” to work on profit.

Timestamps

00:00 Profititis Warning Signs

01:33 Ben Hansen Background

04:38 Defining Profititis

09:02 Selling Unprofitable Work

11:57 Founder Blind Spots

14:51 Variable Costs and Labor

20:45 Cash Flow and Invoicing

31:24 Profit as Risk Buffer

36:56 Four Step Profit Plan

44:14 Money Mondays Action Step

47:03 Resources and Wrap Up

Links

Ben on LinkedIn

Profit Doctor

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Matt Horine discusses the roughly 10 million metric tons of US e-waste generated annually, only about 15% of which is formally recycled, and how exporting it sends valuable copper, gold, and silver offshore. Guest Matt Bedingfield, global president of Mint Innovation, argues the US minerals challenge is primarily a processing and infrastructure problem, not mining, and frames e-waste as a national asset or “urban mine.” He outlines his career across metals and recycling and explains Mint’s patented biometallurgical hydrometallurgy process for recovering metals from printed circuit boards with low temperatures, lower capital cost, and traceable output. The episode highlights Mint’s March 2026 closed-loop deal with HP and plans for a first US facility in Longview, Texas, emphasizing faster, lower-permitting expansion, data destruction needs, and manufacturer actions to track end-of-life materials and supplier metal sources.

Timestamps

00:00 E-Waste Wake Up Call

01:35 Matt’s Metals Journey

04:59 E-Waste as National Asset

06:59 How Mint Recovers Metals

08:57 Scaling Beyond Smelters

10:56 HP Closed Loop Copper

12:27 Copper Shortage Reality

14:18 Permitting Energy and Trust

16:02 OEM Demand and Data Destruction

20:04 Partnering and Collection Network

21:22 Longview Texas Plant Plans

22:09 Workforce and Metals Cluster

24:43 Power Infrastructure and Reshoring

26:23 One Action for Manufacturers

27:58 What’s Next for Mint

29:15 Wrap Up and Where to Follow

Links

Mint Innovation

Matt on LinkedIn

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Our Host Matt Horine interviews Mohud (“Mo”) Mahmood, founder of the nonprofit More Monuments, whose mission is to build 1,000 new monuments across America honoring American history, industry, and ingenuity. Mo explains his goal of creating a new “world wonder” in the U.S. and describes the group’s first completed project, a 54-foot Spindletop oil gusher replica in the Austin/Lockhart area at Proto Town, including its materials, fabrication steps, plaques, and crowdfunding from 125 supporters. He discusses the skills needed for large-scale monuments, the shortage of top sculptors in America, and the importance of welders and metal fabrication. Mo also shares progress on a 10-foot George Washington statue made in France and plans to scale it to a 500-foot stainless-steel monument using U.S.-made robot-formed metal panels, plus the organization’s funding model (product sales, donations, grants) and where to support the project online.

Timestamps

00:00 What Are We Building

01:50 Why World Wonders Matter

03:37 Spindletop Monument Origins

06:32 How It Was Fabricated

10:35 Skills for Monument Scale

14:38 George Washington Arrival

16:17 Colossus Plan and Robotics

20:13 Why Monuments Inspire

23:04 Funding the Mission

25:43 Reindustrialization and Beauty

28:13 Worlds Fair Revival

30:23 Bring Manufacturing Home

32:01 How to Support More Monuments

32:32 Closing and Subscribe

Links

More Monuments

Mo on LinkedIn

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In today's episode, Matt Horine speaks with Leo Rodriguez, VP of Los Angeles-based River Plate Inc., a family business founded in 1992 that evolved from freight coordination into an omni-channel 3PL providing warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment for DTC, Amazon, and wholesale retail. Rodriguez explains how e-commerce shifted operations from linear B2B shipping to multi-channel integration requiring WMS/OMS systems, business rules, and customer education. He defines “reliable” fulfillment through transparent KPIs, fast receiving (now 1–3 days for containers), ASNs, and brand-specific SOPs for QC, serialization, and lot/expiration tracking, plus proactive staging to clear backlogs. He outlines early warning signals for peak-season “fire drills,” emphasizing forecasting, labor planning, and system readiness, and describes strong 3PL relationships as an operating system with testing, portal visibility, and retail/EDI compliance. Rodriguez discusses client red flags, parcel optimization, Southern California port corridor improvements, AI-driven decision support and traceability, River Plate’s international expansion, and growing value-added kitting and bundling services.

Timestamps00:00 Show Intro and Guest01:47 River Plate Origin Story04:02 Ecommerce Changed Logistics06:00 What Reliable Means09:24 Preventing Fulfillment Backlogs11:32 3PL as Operating System14:57 Client Red Flags20:39 Scaling Omnichannel Fulfillment23:23 SoCal Corridor Supply Chain26:41 AI and Warehouse Tech28:50 30 Day Fulfillment Fix30:55 River Plate Next Steps32:56 Closing and Subscribe

Links

River Plate

Leo on LinkedIn

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US Manufacturing Today host Matt Horine interviews Nikki Barua, CEO and co-founder of Flipwork.ai, about the human side of AI transformation in manufacturing and why many initiatives stall. Barua argues companies often start by broadly deploying LLM licenses without clarity on job-specific value, structure, or new habits, creating an “exponential divide” as AI advances faster than people adapt. She emphasizes shifting from an industrial-age, hierarchical task model to fast human–machine learning loops, redesigning workflows with AI at the center, and implementing governance and guardrails for agentic systems. Barua discusses worker identity and self-worth concerns, urging leaders to clarify what AI takes from a role versus the higher-value judgment humans should retain. Flipwork uses a diagnostic (Flip Factor) and 90-day sprints to build real workflows and certify “agentic leaders,” and offers a free assessment at flipwork.ai.

Timestamps
00:00 AI Needs People First
01:51 Nikki Barua Origins
04:23 Why AI Adoption Stalls
07:33 Human Machine Learning Loops
10:24 People Squared Framework
12:11 Agentic Workflow Redesign
15:57 Identity Crisis at Work
20:03 Managing Hybrid Teams
23:18 Skills for AI Era Careers
25:59 Flipwork 90 Day Sprints
28:46 Assessment and Closing
29:17 Final Takeaways and Outro

Links

Nikki on LinkedIn

Flipwork.ai

Nikki's website

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Host Matt Horine discusses the “Battery Belt,” where eight states from Michigan to Georgia have attracted over $250B in announced EV and battery investments, and argues the key constraint isn’t permitting or supply chains but experienced people—engineers, operations leaders, and technical executives—to run new greenfield facilities. Guest Michael Chambers of the Chambers Group explains his APEX recruiting process using scientific job profiling and psychometric matching, including benchmarking hiring managers, candidate videos, a 99% one-year retention rate (96% to two years), and a two-year replacement guarantee. They describe intense regional competition for scarce roles (high-voltage, calibration, controls/automation, battery cell engineers, and greenfield plant managers), relocation resistance, and the need for internal academies and partnerships with community colleges. Chambers details how stale salary bands and delayed market data cause missed hires and plant-launch delays, urging early pipeline building and creative offers via clear career pathways and upskilling.
Timestamps00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:44 Battery Belt Boom
01:36 Meet Michael Chambers
03:47 APEX Hiring Process
05:55 What Is Battery Belt
08:10 Why It Matters
09:17 Talent Market Reality
12:12 Hardest Roles To Fill
15:08 Stale Salary Bands
19:33 Greenfield Leadership Gap
23:12 Hiring Timeline Playbook
26:13 Next 18 Months Signals
28:37 How To Connect
30:10 Wrap Up And Subscribe

Links

Michael on LinkedIn

Chambers Group

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The episode of US Manufacturing Today focuses on whether massive reindustrialization investments translate into real productive output, jobs, and supply chain resilience or become stranded, announcement-driven projects. Host Matt Horine interviews Patrick J. Wolf, executive director and chair of the Institute for American Manufacturing and Technology (IAMT), which conducts research through Aegis (AI/compute governance), Atlas (energy/power infrastructure), and Forge (manufacturing capacity, supply chains, and the defense industrial base), arguing these areas form a dependency chain. Wolf describes his path from industrial engineering and manufacturing to tech and AI, then back to manufacturing policy, emphasizing that small and medium-sized manufacturers lack a policy voice despite being the backbone of industry. Discussion covers community decline from globalization, skepticism of unsupported statistics, why short-term investment mindsets can block long-horizon industrial projects, permitting and bureaucratic barriers, workforce development and labor undercutting, and the grid challenge of meeting simultaneous energy-intensive buildouts, with IAMT positioned as an accessible outlet for practical, publishable solutions.

Timestamps
00:00 Reindustrialization Reality Check
00:56 Meet Patrick Wolf
02:12 From Factory to Tech
05:49 Connecting Compute Power Industry
07:49 SMBs Need a Voice
10:29 Community Hollowing Out
14:15 Rigor Over Talking Points
16:54 Why Investment Misses Output
21:20 Permitting Reform Roadblocks
26:14 California Fire Bureaucracy
27:29 Nonpartisan Truth Seeking
28:16 Permitting Leverage Points
29:37 Workforce And Labor Rules
32:08 Power Grid Bottlenecks
35:55 Monopolies Incentives Nuclear
38:56 Integrated Industrial Energy Policy
42:42 Mindset Culture And Networking
43:46 Ten Year Manufacturing Future
46:55 How To Engage The Institute
50:25 Closing Thanks And Takeaways

Institute for American Manufacturing & Technology

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In this episode, Matt Horine points out that manufacturing was central to American independence and remains vital as the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary. It traces how Britain’s mercantilist policies and acts like the Iron Act (1750) and Wool Act suppressed colonial manufacturing, leaving the Continental Army dangerously dependent on foreign supplies, including gunpowder and basic clothing at Valley Forge. It highlights Ben Franklin’s maker-centered economic philosophy, then explains how the founders enacted the Tariff Act of 1789 to support government, pay debts, and protect manufacturers. Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 Report on Manufactures framed industrial policy as national security and endorsed protective tariffs for “infant industries.” Henry Clay’s 1824 American System integrated tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements, later advanced by Lincoln; the episode contrasts this history with post-1913 shifts toward income tax and lower tariffs and links offshoring and supply-chain vulnerabilities to renewed reindustrialization debates in 2026.

Timestamps

00:00 America 250 Blueprint

01:17 Mercantilism and Suppression

01:57 Revolution Supply Crisis

03:15 Franklin Maker Ethos

05:02 Tariff Act 1789

05:43 Hamilton Infant Industry

07:50 Clay American System

10:10 Lincoln and Industrial Rise

10:44 Income Tax Tradeoff

11:45 Reindustrialization Lessons

12:39 Workforce Is the Engine

12:59 Closing and Resources

Links

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