2025 Scorecard & 2026 Outlook | S2 E21 | Manufacturing Meet Up
Manufacturing Meet Up
Ed and Alvaro are back with their year-end crystal ball episode…and boy, they nailed some predictions while completely whiffing on others! In this episode, they score their 2025 predictions (spoiler: sustainability was a BIG RED failure ❌), breaking down the 20 episodes that shaped Season 2, and going out on a limb with their 2026 forecasts. Here's what they covered: Prediction scorecard - the good, the bad, and the ugly Why everyone's talking about AI, but still fighting fires in their plants The "silver tsunami" that's changing everything Why trades are suddenly sexier than tech...
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The Future of Factory Work: Skills-Based Flexible Scheduling
Manufacturing Meet Up
What if your maintenance tech could pick up shifts like an Uber driver, but with the right skills and certifications guaranteed? In this game-changing episode, Ed and Alvaro speak with Rahil Siddiqui (Founder of Wilya) and Arianna Flores (former Maintenance Manager, now at Augury) to tackle manufacturing's most pressing challenge: creating flexibility for frontline workers while maintaining safety and quality standards. Key takeaways: Why the "quantity equals quality" mindset is killing retention – and what actually works The 3-part flexibility framework: When, How Much, and What workers...
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Firefighting: The Reactive Maintenance Trap
Manufacturing Meet Up
You know that maintenance hero who gets the 2 AM call when the line goes down? The one who always saves the day? Ed and Alvaro have a hot take—that hero culture might be killing your plant's performance. In this episode, they break down why firefighting becomes an addiction that's hard to kick: The People Problem: When "Jerry" becomes your crutch, nobody else learns to walk The Process Trap: Chasing symptoms with water hoses instead of fixing root causes The Tech Solution: How predictive maintenance breaks the reactive cycle Bottom line? You can still reward the heroes who fix...
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Manufacturing Career Growth: Supervisor or Specialist?
Manufacturing Meet Up
Ever been that stellar mechanic who gets tapped for supervisor, only to realize your overtime-inflated paycheck is about to take a hit? Or maybe you're the technical wizard who wants absolutely nothing to do with managing people? Ed and Alvaro tackle manufacturing's biggest career crossroads – whether to climb the management ladder or become a technical master of your craft. With half a million open manufacturing jobs today (and 2.5 million projected), there's never been a better time to grow your career – title or no title. We cover: Going from buddy to boss: Managing the awkward...
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Machine Health Q&A: Prevention Beats Repair
Manufacturing Meet Up
With Halloween around the corner, Ed and Alvaro shine a light on the machine failures lurking in your plant. In this “ask me anything” episode, they tackle maintenance questions with real shop floor experiences—including a thermography inspection that prevented a million-dollar catastrophe. Tune in to hear more: Worst machine health experiences and how to avoid them Why reactive maintenance keeps you firefighting Executive KPIs that matter—and why R&M isn't "discretionary spending" Whether you're building a business case for your CFO or trying to escape the nightmare of...
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Manufacturing AI: From KPIs to 310% ROI
Manufacturing Meet Up
Ed and Alvaro tackle the million-dollar question everyone's asking: Is all this AI investment actually paying off? Spoiler alert: When done right, the numbers are mind-blowing. But here's the catch – you need the right KPIs first. From 310% ROI to sub-6-month paybacks, they break down what separates AI winners from those stuck in pilot purgatory, with real data from a Forrester study that measured everything from downtime reduction to energy savings. Plus, discover why measuring before implementing is critical, why your vibration analyst's retirement might be the best thing that ever...
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Stop Managing Tasks, Start Leading People
Manufacturing Meet Up
Ever wonder how someone successfully leads 17 plants across the Americas? Andres Oviedo joins Ed and Alvaro for a conversation that's part leadership masterclass, part coffee shop wisdom. Building on the “Innovation Mentality” from the previous episode, Andres shows what it looks like in action, speaking from his experiences with Mondelēz, Kraft-Heinz, and Barry Callebaut. The guys explore how Andres’ multicultural experience creates a competitive advantage: speaking multiple "languages" (corporate, shop floor, and everything in between) and building trust across every level. From Ed's...
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The Innovation Mentality for Manufacturing
Manufacturing Meet Up
Let’s get ready to rumba! With a nod to Hispanic Heritage month, Ed and Alvaro welcome Cuban-American author/leadership consultant Glenn Llopis to the show. The guys dig into Glenn's Innovation Mentality—six strategies that'll change how you see your plant floor. From Ed's hard-won insight that "80% of your plant's solutions are on the shop floor" to Glenn's powerful revelation that "respect reverberates and multiplies while recognition just explodes," this conversation gets real about unleashing entrepreneurial spirit in manufacturing. Mentioned in this episode: Download the...
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Manufacturing 201: Next-Level Skills
Manufacturing Meet Up
Welcome to graduate school, manufacturing style! Ed and Alvaro level up from last episode's basics to tackle the advanced skills that separate individual contributors from true business leaders.They dive into what it really takes to grow beyond being "too functional" – from mastering cross-functional collaboration to understanding how your decisions impact the entire enterprise, not just your corner of the operation. The duo shares hard-won wisdom about the three-to-five-year journey of implementing TPM or Lean Six Sigma ("there is no instant pudding"), why losing trust on the shop floor...
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Manufacturing 101: Essential Shop Floor Skills
Manufacturing Meet Up
Time to hit the books, manufacturing style! Ed and Alvaro are trading their signature hats for caps and gowns in this "Back to School" episode, where they break down the essential skills every manufacturing pro needs to master. Think of it as Manufacturing 101 – minus the detention and pop quizzes. From communication basics that can turn six-week delays into four-day solutions, to why your first guess at a root cause is wrong 95% of the time, the guys cover the fundamentals that actually matter on the shop floor. Let’s keep the conversation going—drop us a comment, leave a review, or...
info_outlineThe meet-up is getting a shake-up! In the season 2 premiere, Ed and Alvaro welcome Ellen Feldman Ornato and Jenny Drescher from the"Manufacturing Shake-up" podcast to explore how women are transforming the manufacturing landscape.
Highlights include:
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Smashing the "dark, dirty, dangerous" stereotype of factory work
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Why manufacturing offers lucrative career paths with work-life balance
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How technology is leveling the playing field for all workers
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Creating inclusive environments that boost innovation
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Practical strategies to attract and retain diverse talent
From apprenticeships to leadership roles, manufacturing needs women. Check out how they're reshaping the industry's future and improving things for everyone in manufacturing.
To keep the conversation going:
Email us: mmu@augury.com
Find us on The Endpoint: endpoint.augury.com
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