In a factory, work in progress is a problem. In a warehouse, it’s the whole job.

Chris takes the show inside the warehouse with Josh Cloer, General Manager, North America at Nomagic, and Onur Uranli, Director, Enterprise Business Development & Strategic Growth at Intelligrated. It’s an adjacent topic, but every product a factory makes ends up in one.

Josh, back after first joining the show in 2022, explains what physical AI means for a robot that must work out what went wrong. Onur asks whether the pallets arriving at a warehouse are ready for the automation built to receive them. Together they look at why warehouses are playing catch-up with factories, and why the answer starts with Henry Ford.

In this episode, find out:

• Why most warehouses are still manual, and where automation investment has gone so far
• What the “forgotten middle” of warehouse automation looks like
• How physical AI helps a robot work out what went wrong and recover from downtime
• Why the same item can look different by the time it reaches the warehouse
• Where warehouse automation is catching up to the factory, and what each side can learn from the other
• How MHI’s Robotics Group helps automation vendors work together

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “It’s hard to build a company that can be all things to all people in a big market like warehouse automation.” - Josh Cloer, General Manager, North America at Nomagic
• “Doing that point solution business case is a really hard problem after the fact. And it should be something that you’re thinking from the beginning.” - Josh Cloer, General Manager, North America at Nomagic
• “This is not a really pallet problem. It’s a system problem.” - Onur Uranli, Director, Enterprise Business Development & Strategic Growth at Intelligrated

Links & mentions:

• Nomagic is a physical AI company that builds robotic item picking for end-to-end warehouse automation.
• Intelligrated is a warehouse automation provider that designs, builds, integrates and supports end-to-end systems for distribution centers, including conveyors, robotics and warehouse software.
• MHI is the material handling and supply chain association whose Robotics Group focuses on robotics and automation.
• PTC’s Industrial Newsletter is a quick hit of clarity on how design, manufacturing, and service data can work together for manufacturing leaders looking to modernize.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

How do you explain mHUB? Chris asks the people behind it, over coffee instead of beer.

Recorded in Chicago’s West Loop, Chris sits down with mHUB’s Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services, and Kim Blomquist, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, to explore how the company helps hardtech startups move from prototype to production.

Bill and Kim cover the labs and the accelerator, and how a startup gets its first 10 to 100 units built before it finds a manufacturing partner. They also discuss why investors are paying more attention to hardtech.

In this episode, find out:

• What a platform like mHUB gives hardtech startups beyond a building and a maker space
• Why having labs on site speeds up product development
• How the accelerator funds early-stage startups
• How startups find the right manufacturing partner as they scale
• Why hardware is harder to build than software
• How HAAS Alert brought production home after tariffs hit

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “In hardware, you’re manufacturing something that takes much longer and much more capital, and so it’s so important to get that first part right.” - Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services at mHUB
• “We’re in the business of building new businesses. But we also want to retain them, we want them to stay here.” - Kim Blomquist, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at mHUB
• “You need to be creative about how you can extend your runway, how you can raise enough money to cover not only the development, but the manufacturing.” - Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services at mHUB

Links & mentions:

• mHUB is a Chicago hardtech and manufacturing innovation center that gives startups a machine shop, mentors, a manufacturing network and capital.
• HAAS Alert is a Chicago safety technology company whose Safety Cloud platform sends real-time alerts to drivers when emergency vehicles approach.
• Zenblen is a Chicago food robotics company that builds fully automated smoothie kiosks.
• PTC’s Industrial Newsletter is a quick hit of clarity on how design, manufacturing, and service data can work together for manufacturing leaders looking to modernize.
• MaintainX is a maintenance and asset management platform for the technicians keeping equipment running.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Manufacturing has been collecting skills for centuries, and the list keeps growing.

Chris takes Manufacturing Happy Hour to Revere Electric’s Executive Forum at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) for a live conversation about what the factory of the future needs in the plant and in the workforce. Joining him are Michael Cvelbar and Phil Bush of Rockwell Automation, Joe Hamann of the Connected Systems Institute (CSI), and Ryan Schneeberger of Revere Electric Supply.

Joe and Phil look at how new people get job-ready through student hackathons and a veteran training program. Ryan and Michael cover the other side, keeping people on the floor and giving operators more to do once they’re there. Students learn where AI adds value, while manufacturers want to see the return before they invest. And a room full of manufacturers toasts every time they say “digital twin.”

In this episode, find out:

• Why Michael says manufacturers need backup plans when disruption hits
• How Rockwell is preparing operators to troubleshoot their own equipment
• Why manufacturers say new engineering graduates can take years to reach full productivity
• How Rockwell’s Academy of Advanced Manufacturing trains military veterans as controls technicians
• What flexible automation can do for a customer and why manufacturers stay cautious on AI until the ROI is clear
• How Phil, Joe, Ryan and Michael describe their factory of the future when the audience asks

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “We want to hire on attitude and aptitude and culture fit, and we want to train on skills and capabilities.” - Phil Bush, Global Competency Programs Manager at Rockwell Automation
• “Get started. Try something, right? Start small, learn from it. It’s probably not going to be perfect, but you’ll be better the next time.” - Joe Hamann, Executive Director at Connected Systems Institute
• “The digitization that’s required, it’s business critical. It’s mission critical now. It’s no longer, ‘Hey, we’re going to go pilot this and see if this works.’ You need it, and it needs to be scaled across the enterprise.” - Michael Cvelbar, Director of Operations at Rockwell Automation

Links & mentions:

• Rockwell Automation is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation, headquartered in Milwaukee.
• Revere Electric Supply is a fourth-generation, family-owned electrical distributor serving industrial and construction customers across Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and a presenting partner of this live event.
• Connected Systems Institute is a center of excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, hosting this episode and developing manufacturing specialists through education, lab facilities, and research with industry partners.
• Husco is a Waukesha, Wisconsin manufacturer of hydraulic and electro-hydraulic controls for off-highway and automotive equipment.
• Fathom Digital Manufacturing offers more than 25 advanced manufacturing technologies under one roof, from CNC machining to injection molding.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.