Episode Notes:

When it comes to the future of Workforce 4.0, the connected worker tools are front and center of the intersection between people and technology. Join Ann Wyatt as she sits down with Tor-Inge, CTO of Clarify as we take a deep dive into how data is creating a vital link between preserving tribal knowledge and driving engagement across your internal workforce.

In This Episode:

-Learn how Tor's company, Clarify, is helping to design connected worker tools that use technology to better understand people analytics and how he envisions the future of how technology will intersect in the frontline workforce (~time stamp 4:28)

-Hear about how Tor's team made the decision to incorporate emojis into their software design to bridge the technology gap between the tools that we use at work and the platforms that we use every day in our personal lives (~time stamp 9:18)

-Listen to how Clarify is actively capturing real time tribal knowledge, even within busy and fast paced manufacturing environments (~time stamp 12:47)

More Information About Clarify:

Clarify is the operational intelligence cloud. Take control of your OT-data, engage your team, and build better operations. Do it together with Clarify. Learn more here.

More About Tor-Inge Johannessen Eriksen:

Tor has always been interested in the intersection between people, software and the physical world, and starting out as a consultant. It was this passion that drove Tor and the other founding members of Clarify to build a SaaS product that combines human context and industrial data for daily decisions- Clarify. Connect with Tor-Inge here.

More About Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Connect with your host, Ann Wyatt | Watch video recordings on YouTube | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Podcasts

Episode Notes:

While anyone in the manufacturing industry will tell you that there’s not a “secret sauce” to recruiting and retaining the next generation of talent, there are a couple of factors that really stand out to MIT Researcher, Ben Armstrong. On this final season 1 episode of Workforce 4.0, Ann sits down to talk to Ben about the numerous case studies that he’s conducted with mostly Small and Medium Size businesses. Spoiler alert, most of his finding support that wages and skills are equal contributing factors to the success of the future manufacturing workforce and that robots really aren’t taking our jobs.

In This Episode:

-Ben shares his own experiences in working with medium sized manufacturing companies on why they prefer to "hire for will over skill." (~time stamp 10:03)

-Ben shares his hot takes on the four categories of manufacturing businesses in the U.S. and how good ideas and good practices help manufacturing companies scale quickly (~time stamp 12:59)

-Hear how this MIT Researcher perceives creative skills in the manufacturing workforce and how organizations that offer room for upward mobility and increased wages are winning the war on talent. (~time stamp 30:37)

More About Ben Armstrong: Ben Armstrong is the Executive Director and a Research Scientist at MIT’s Industrial Performance Center. His research and teaching examine how workers, firms, and regions adapt to technological change. In his work, Ben has collaborated with governments, non-profit organizations, and firms to understand how scholarship and education can be useful to practitioners and policymakers. To learn more about Ben and read some of his recent publications, visit his MIT page here.

More About Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Connect with your host, Ann Wyatt | Watch video recordings on YouTube | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Podcasts

Episode notes

The future of work will require more opportunities for people to work remotely, even within the manufacturing environment. With the rise of remote work, we must be prepared and equipped to not only develop functional systems that our teams can rely on, but also to create more opportunities for our remote teams to interact and be human. When it comes to successfully creating both of those aspects for our future workforce, Chris Luecke is ahead of the game. Join Ann Wyatt as she sits down with Chris to talk about how he is strengthening the manufacturing community through events, his day job and his popular podcast, "Manufacturing Happy Hour." In this episode:

• Learn how Chris uses his brand and his social media platforms to escalate diverse voices within the manufacturing industry and how he views the importance of being an ally. (~time stamp 7:30)
• Chris shares his thoughts on the implementation of technology and highlights the importance of company culture, process and habit building that goes behind the scenes of buidling a remote workforce. (~time stamp 9:35)
• Chris shares his personal passion for rollercoasters and tells us more about his own journey that ultimately led him down the Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing path. (~time stamp 18:31)

More About Manufacturing Happy Hour: Hosted by industry veteran Chris Luecke, each week, we interview makers, founders, and other manufacturing leaders that are at the top of their game and give you the tools, tactics, and strategies you need to take your career and your business to the next level. We go beyond the buzzwords and dissect real-life applications and success stories so that you can tackle your biggest manufacturing challenges and turn them into profitable opportunities. Connect with Chris Luecke on LinkedIn.

More About Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Connect with your host, Ann Wyatt | Watch video recordings on YouTube | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Podcasts

There's a lot of talk about the "Great Resignation" when it comes to the manufacturing workforce, but our guest this week on Workforce 4.0 certainly has some insight on how leadership matters. Join Ann as she sits down with the Owner of Elite Automation, Malachi Greb to learn more on his take of being a business owner during the Covid 19 pandemic and how a strong leadership culture matters. Learn more about the creation of Elite Automation and how Malachi has grown his company from a single person to over one dozen employees into over a dozen employees and how culture is the center of his companies growth- regardless of great resignation or not. In this episode:

• Malachi gives us the meaning behind Elite Automation's slogan "robots are freeing one human at a time" and how that truth is leading to increasing the potential of the manufacturing workforce through Elite's own use case of deploying AMRs. (~time stamp 12:02)

• Malachi explores how system integrators have to practice meeting their manufacturing clients where they are in their digital transformation process and be ready to provide diverse solutions to accommodate both larger and smaller companies (~time stamp 13:45)

• How companies can leverage the career goals of multiple generations in order to attract, recruit and retain their manufacturing workforce for the long term (~time stamp 21:16)

More About Elite Automation: Elite's mission is not only to increase the profitability and efficiencies of your processes and business, but also to free humans along the way. Life has so many exciting and interesting things to offer. With today's technology why should a human spend their time putting things in a box all day every day? This is a small step towards our goals. However, how can we truly buy back time so that we can spend our time more meaningfully with our families and friends? Connect with Malachi Greb on LinkedIn. More About Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Connect with your host, Ann Wyatt | Watch video recordings on YouTube | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Podcasts

When Universal Robots isn't busy giving people more meaningful work with their variety of multi-use cobots, they are on a mission to provide education and training to the next generation of Workforce 4.0. In this week's episode, Ann sits down with Corey Adams to discuss how UR not only believes in providing solutions to empower the manufacturing workforce, but also how they are heading up the charge in partnering with educational providers to strengthen local communities.

In this episode:

• Corey shares his personal perspective on how co-bots are being utilized by manufacturing companies to drive workforce engagement between people and automation (~time stamp 6:43)
• We learn more about the educational resources that Universal Robots is delivering through partnering with community technical partners and what role their involvement is playing in developing soft skills such as critical thinking for our future workforce generations (~time stamp 11:03)
• Corey gives us a practical road map for other automation and manufacturing companies interested in expediting their own workforce initiatives through joining forces with their own local nonprofits and technical education systems (~time stamp 24:39)

More about Universal Robots: Universal Robots is an innovative robotics company of over 1,000 employees united behind a common vision – to create a world where people work with robots, not like robots. Since the sale of their first collaborative robot in 2008 their technology, along with that of their partners, has been changing the way work is done across the world. To learn more, connect with Corey Adams on LinkedIn.

More about Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Video Recordings can be found on YouTube. | Your Host, Ann Wyatt | Workforce 4.0 on Spotify | Workforce 4.0 on Apple Podcasts

Ever since meeting with a company called Augmentir for an online event last fall, Ann Wyatt has been all in on connected worker technology. On this episode of Workforce 4.0, join Ann as she talks directly with Augmentir's VP of Marketing, Chris Kuntz, on why the future of work will not only be connected but empowered. Learn more about how manufacturing is transforming from an industry of specialists to generalists, how connected worker technology is giving manufacturing operations quick (and big) wins and what exactly we can do to preserve tribal knowledge. In this episode:

• Chris shares his thoughts on the relationship between empowering your workforce and how connected worker tools are creating a more collaborative environment for the future of work (~time stamp 11:11).
• Ann and Chris discuss the importance of digitally capturing tribal knowledge and how connected worker tools are the future of work in an Industry 4.0 centric workplace ( ~time stamp 19:58).
• Chris explains how connected worker technology is giving manufacturing companies a competitive edge on training their incumbent workforce to better prepare them for advancing into higher skilled roles within their careers (~time stamp 25:00).

More About Augmentir: Augmentir™ is the world’s only provider of AI-based connected worker software. Augmentir’s software platform is a suite of AI-powered connected worker tools that helps industrial companies optimize the safety, quality, and productivity of today’s rapidly changing industrial frontline workforce. Companies in manufacturing, service, energy, and construction leverage Augmentir’s AI in conjunction with the platform’s digital workflow and remote collaboration capabilities to optimize their frontline operations and deliver significant growth and continuous improvement in the areas of performance support, training, and workforce development. Chris Kuntz on LinkedIn

More About Workforce 4.0: Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Video Recordings on YouTube | Your Host: Ann Wyatt | Workforce 4.0 on Spotify | Workforce 4.0 on iTunes

When it comes to women taking the manufacturing industry by storm, Meaghan Ziemba is certainly paving the way. Through her LinkedIn Live show, "Mavens of Manufacturing," Meaghan sits down with women leaders of manufacturing from the "shop floor to the C Suite." In this episode of Workforce 4.0, Meaghan explains why women have a critical role in growing the future workforce of the manufacturing industry and shares some of the unique challenges that face women when it comes to growing in this male dominated space. In This Episode:

• Hear from the #ogvoiceofwomeninmanufacturing herself as she talks about the importance of how we have to engage the future generations of the manufacturing workforce and how she's inspiring her own kiddos to tune in (~ the 5:28 time stamp).
• How technology is bound to impact all career paths in manufacturing and adjacent industries for the future of work (~the 28:00 time stamp).
• How flexibility in manufacturing is critical to work/life balance and also how flexibility is crucial for recruiting more women into manufacturing (~the 30:51 time stamp).

More About Maven's of Manufacturing: Meaghan's podcast, "Maven's of Manufacturing," is a LIVE video broadcast series that combines women empowerment, brand storytelling, and the amazing world of manufacturing. Its main goals include: • Bringing awareness to U.S. Manufacturing to help increase our competitive edge from the rest of the world. • Recruiting younger generations to the engineering and manufacturing industries and helping to close the skills gap. • Attracting more women to the industries to increase our presence and fill more of the vacancies that are expected over the next 5 to 10 years. • Providing a platform for different brands so they can share their stories and get connected with potential customers and future employees.Connect with Meaghan and her show, Maven's of Manufacturing to learn more: Mavens of Manufacturing | Meaghan Ziemba on LinkedIn

More About Workforce 4.0:Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Video Recordings on YouTube | Your Host, Ann Wyatt | Workforce 4.0 on Spotify | Workforce 4.0 on iTunes

If you're a part of the manufacturing community on LinkedIn, you undoubtedly follow Jake Hall, the Manufacturing Millennial. Jake not only creates videos showcasing automation being deployed by manufacturing companies to create the products that you buy everyday, but he also openly advocates for the adoption of automation to give people more meaningful work. Join the conversation to learn more about how he is doing his part to change the narrative of the role that automation will play in the future of the manufacturing workforce and how companies are already successfully making that transition happen today. In This Episode:

• Jake shares his thoughts on how the industry is progressing into a STEM based industry and how we can attract and recruit incoming generations of the workforce to manufacturing (~the 4:58 time mark).
• Ann and Jake explore how technology is going to be a critical part of supplementing labor over the next 5-10 years as we continue to face a growing workforce deficit of 2M manufacturing jobs by 2030 (~the 12:36 time mark).
• Jake addresses the longstanding myth of robotics and automation and how companies can strategically lead conversations with their existing workforce in proactive way in order to guide them into new career paths that are emerging from this technology (~the 22:00 time stamp).

More About The Manufacturing Millennial: Jake Hall, The Manufacturing Millennial, talks about the latest technology in the automation and manufacturing while making it engaging for all audiences. He is an experienced sales professional with extensive knowledge building lasting business relationships across multiple accounts, designing sales strategies, and creating and accomplishing project goals. Proficiency in creating new business opportunities with existing and new accounts by leveraging key strengths and maintain customer relationships. Connect with him to learn more and follow him on his social channels: :The Manufacturing Millennial LinkedIn | Jake Hall's LinkedIn | Jake Hall on Tik Tok | Jake Hall on YouTube

More About Workforce 4.0:Workforce 4.0 is an industry centric podcast featuring Manufacturing Executives from all industries coming together to emphasize how companies are partnering with technology to give people more meaningful work. As a passion project created by Ann Wyatt, Workforce 4.0 highlights crucial topics such as the increasing talent gap, success stories of real people engaged with the latest manufacturing technology and how the manufacturing workforce can transition into these exciting new roles. Workforce 4.0 on YouTube | Your Host: Ann Wyatt | Workforce 4.0 on Spotify | Workforce 4.0 on iTunes

The year was 2013. Content creators were barely a thing. Blake Shelton and Adam Levine were still pranking each other on "The Voice" and the rest of us were still trying to figure out how to incorporate the power of social media into our branding strategies. That's when the Manufacturing Resource Center in Allentown, PA decided that the status quo of how we reached middle school kids as an industry had to change. This led to a now state-wide movement called "What's So Cool About Manufacturing."If the manufacturing industry had an Emmy's, this is would surely be it.

Join Ann Wyatt as she sits down with CEO, Richard Hobbs and Director of Workforce Initiatives, to learn how manufacturing companies are partnering with local area middle school students to create their own content showcasing the future of manufacturing jobs, networking opportunities between companies and the future workforce and bringing a flavor of an entire awards show all at once.

In This Episode:

-Richard explains to us what is so cool about manufacturing and why this program (tailored for middle school students) is making a larger impact by being unique (~timestamp 10:30)

-Richard shares how this program was designed to leverage these student's creativity and how that is shaping this sought after "future of work" skillset (~timestamp 15:43)

-Richard explains how What's So Cool is leveraging industry diversity by partnering the students with different niches of manufacturing industries year after year- exposing them to a wide variety of processes (~timestamp 25:14)

More About What's So Cool About Manufacturing:

Created by the Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) in Allentown, PA in 2013, the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing® contests draw entries from teams across Pennsylvania. The teams of students and teacher coaches receive camera equipment, software, and professional guidance as they learn to script, record, and edit their video stories. The contest’s objective is to change students’ perceptions about manufacturing careers.