emPOWERUP Podcast

GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast hosts Steve Pavlosky, GE Digital's Principle Product Manager of Proficy Historian. Proficy Historian "collects industrial time-series and A&E data at very high speed, stores it efficiently and securely, distributes it, and allows for fast retrieval and analysis — driving greater business value." emPOWERUP Podcast Host Jeremy Boren of GrayMatter talks with Steve about the latest Proficy Historian 2022 updates including Configuration Hub enhancements, Python collector scripts and support for Power BI visualizations. To learn more about Historian and schedule a SCADA Assessment briefing with GrayMatter, visit: graymattersystems.com/automation-controls-offering/

GrayMatter CMO Kerry McQuone hosts an executive women's panel on GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast with two successful leaders in industrial technology, Amy Sausen of Kimberly-Clark, and Laura Harshberger of PPG. GrayMatter works with both companies on industrial intelligence projects that require technical know-how to transform operations, and an open-minded, healthy workplace culture that empowers people. Topics covered in the conversation: • Planning a career and advocating for oneself in manufacturing (and the larger industrial tech world) • Making the shift from being a manager to being a leader • Defining one's leadership style and driving change in IT • Overcoming career barriers or challenges: relocating for work, changing roles & work-life balance • Establishing a bold mindset and building a productive team

When a water pump failure shuts down production at a shale oil and gas site, workers might spend hours searching for and repairing the problem — a delay that can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. Remote drill sites are often tucked into hillsides that interrupt radio signals or are too far from populated areas to access cell phone communications. Those challenges have led many to believe it's not feasible to use wireless technology to monitor and control water pipeline systems. That's why GrayMatter and Keystone Clearwater Solutions worked together to create WaterForce, a smart-sensor, turnkey solution that's flexible enough to adapt to any terrain. GrayMatter Brand Manager Jeremy Boren talks with Keystone Clearwater Senior VP Jeff Wehler and Director of Technology Luke Beachy.

GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with GE Digital's Richard Kenedi, General Manager - Manufacturing and Digital Plant, about GE Digital's latest updates to Proficy Historian, iFIX and Ops Hub, along with how GE Digital is investing in R&D and learning from customers. The interview was recorded for GrayMatter's Transform.virtual Spring event in April 2021. Learn more at graymattersystems.com/transform-virtual-2021/ About Richard Kenedi: Richard Kenedi is the General Manager of the Manufacturing | Digital Plant business segment for GE Digital. In this role, Richard is responsible for driving profitable growth for the Automation and Manufacturing Execution System product and service portfolio, serving manufacturing verticals and digital plants across the globe. Prior to joining GE Digital, Richard served as the President Core Markets within NETSCOUT, a global supplier of network service assurance products. Prior to NETSCOUT, he held the position of President Tektronix Communications, an operating company within the Danaher corporation. Prior roles within Tektronix Communications included Vice President, Products and Portfolio Management, Vice President and General Manager for the Test & Optimization and Core Test Businesses. Additionally, prior to Tektronix Communications Richard held senior roles in SOMA Networks and Nortel Networks. Richard holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Dallas.

GrayMatter VP and Co-Founder Carson Drake joins host Jeremy Boren to walk industrial pros through how they can leverage "the wisdom of the fleet" by creating data Historians in the Cloud. Carson focuses on bringing value to clients by enabling Continuous Improvement with predictive analytics (aka Advanced Industrial Analytics). Advanced Industrial Analytics allows companies to make valuable comparisons across their operations at the enterprise level.

The expanding SolarWinds cybersecurity incursion is grabbing headlines and focusing attention on so-called supply-chain attacks. Supply-chain attacks can infect industrial companies with malware either digitally, as in the case of SolarWinds via an update, or through a tainted piece of hardware, such as a USB flash drive. emPOWERUP Podcast hosts GrayMatter Cyber Practice Director Scott Christensen to discuss supply-chain attacks, why lateral movement attacks can be hard to detect, and how deception technology for OT cybersecurity is like creating a crash test dummy for your network. We also delve into why many industrial clients erroneously think their systems are "air-gapped" from any Internet connectivity and how a cybersecurity assessment that's custom-built for industrial clients in some of the most-often targeted sectors (energy, manufacturing and water) can reveal network weaknesses before they're exploited. Rate and review emPOWERUP Podcast and visit graymattersystems.com to learn more or to schedule a briefing about our OT cybersecurity solutions. To register for an upcoming educational event, as mentioned in the podcast, visit our current events page to sign up.

Carnegie Mellon University cybersecurity researcher Palvi Aggarwal talks with GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast Host Jeremy Boren about how researchers at CMU are studying the behavior of cyber attackers and how deception technology can help companies prevent sensitive data from being compromised. For more about deceptionGUARD, GrayMatter's deception technology solution, visit graymattersystems.com.

GrayMatter Cyber Practice Director Scott Christensen previews GrayMatter's Transform Cyber Summit set for Nov. 5 and shares some insights into, deception technology, deceptionGUARD and the latest industrial cybersecurity threats. For more, visit graymattersystems.com.

GrayMatter introduces deceptionGUARD, a new offering for industrial cybersecurity. deceptionGUARD deceives attackers and harvests intelligence, empowering operators to be proactive and to control their industrial cyber strategy. emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with GrayMatter Cybersecurity Practice Lead Scott Christensen about deception technology and how industrial organizations can leverage it to add another layer to their defense-in-depth cybersecurity strategy. To learn more, visit GrayMatter online.

Erik Udstuen, CEO of TwinThread, a partner of GrayMatter, joins emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren to talk about how Advanced Industrial Analytics can help companies reduce energy consumption, improve product quality and lessen equipment downtime. Many companies are already collecting the data they need. The next step is applying it to artificial intelligence in the cloud to find performance insights and produce operational directives. To learn more about Advanced Industrial Analytics, visit GrayMatter online to download our analytics guide. If you work in manufacturing, energy production, water/wastewater, oil and gas, food and beverage production or a related industrial field, contact GrayMatter to schedule a customized, one-on-one briefing. Theme Music: bensound.com

GrayMatter talks with Rick Bullotta, founder of IoT companies Lighthammer and ThingWorx, about how IoT has evolved during his career and how a new project he's working on with GrayMatter partner Erik Udstuen of TwinThread is solving downtime, quality and energy consumption problems at major manufacturing companies.

In the first episode of Season 2 of GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast, GrayMatter Brand Manager Jeremy Boren talks with cybersecurity experts Scott Christensen and Tom Walker, both of GrayMatter. Scott and Tom discuss how a cyber risk assessment can help companies in manufacturing, and other OT-reliant industries, determine their level of security. GrayMatter's assessment examines the people, processes and technologies involved in cybersecurity — and it happens without interrupting production. For more details about GrayMatter's cybersecurity practice, visit our OT cyber resource page where you can download our 2020 OT Cybersecurity Guide.

GrayMatter Senior APM Consultant Ken Latino and his brother Bob Latino, CEO of The Reliability Center, talk about getting started with a reliability strategy that includes Root Cause Analysis and Asset Performance Management. The Latinos also discuss the Fifth Edition of their co-authored book: Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom-Line Results. Additional Resources: For more about GrayMatter's work in APM/Intelligent Assets, visit: https://graymattersystems.com/intelligent-assets/ Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom-Line Results: https://www.amazon.com/Root-Cause-Analysis-Performance-Bottom-Line/dp/1138332453

GrayMatter Cybersecurity and Smart Building Consultant Tom Walker and emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren discuss Walker's work to build Penn State University's secure Building Automation Network. The network has allowed the university to make smart, cost-effective decisions about everything from building lighting to class scheduling. For more about GrayMatter's work with Penn State, check out our case study. View GrayMatter's smart building webinar with Tom Walker: "Are You Running a Smart Building or Just a Connected Building?"

Bell, a Textron Company, is an industry-leading manufacturer of commercial and military helicopters including the V-22 Osprey, AH-1 Cobra and SuperCobra; and the Huey. emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talked with Bell IT/OT Architects Craig Carpenelli and Steve Henson and GrayMatter Solutions Architect Salman Ijazi during Transform 2019, GrayMatter's annual Industrial Intelligence Conference. Craig, Steve and Sal collaborated on an innovative approach to micro-segmenting Bell's network to protect industrial equipment from persistent viruses and other cyber threats. 

Harvard Business School Professor Suraj Srinivasan studied the value that publicly traded, non-technology firms derive from "going digital," or adopting a digital transformation strategy. Professor Srinivasan used a novel approach to identify companies embarking on a new digital venture —he captured mentions of keywords such as big data, artificial intelligence, digital transformation and other terms in company 10K filings, earnings calls and investor call transcripts. Using this data set, he found positive relationships between companies that launch a digitization effort and their long-term value. He also learned that more companies than ever are investing in digital tools and that companies with tech-savvy executives tend to perform better than companies that place a lower priority on promoting technology managers. Professor Srinivasan's study is: "Going Digital: Implications for Firm Value and Performance." It's featured in the Harvard Business Review.

emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with GrayMatter's Cyber Security Lead Scott Christensen about why municipalities can be particularly vulnerable to a ransomware attack. Baltimore is one of the latest cities contending with a Robinhood ransomware attack. It has crippled numerous systems, including the city's ability to process home sales. Scott delves into how cities (and companies) can learn from these attacks and prepare to deal with them. We also also share the latest about keynote speakers at Transform 2019, GrayMatter's annual user-conference July 30 - Aug. 1 in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. For details or to sign up, visit: graymattersystems.com/transform-2019-graymatter-ot-conference

GrayMatter co-founder Carson Drake dives into the evolution of Industry 4.0 and the company he co-founded in the early 1990s; and Illinois Technology Association CEO Julia Kanouse discusses how Chicago is growing as a tech industry leader.

Jeremy talks to GrayMatter's VP of professional services and Sr. Member of the International Society of Automation (ISA) Committee, John Benitz as he explains the ISA 101 HMI Standard – a topic that garners a lot of interest from our audience.

Jeremy sits down with Jim Alampi, a highly-sought after CEO coach, leadership team consultant, and business strategy advisor who's worked with thousands of top executives.