Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank

On the 20th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, Jeremy speaks with Sherri McCleary. Sherri's career in Manufacturing has spanned over 30 years, during which she specialized in deploying new processes and products in the metals industry. Sherri tells how her experiences lead to becoming Executive Director for the Digital Foundry at New Kensington. In this role, she focuses her time on helping to connect manufacturers with the resources they need to reach Industry 4.0. Additionally, she shares stories from her time in the metals industry, including her work with a major automotive manufacturer as they explored something that had never been done before - using an aluminum body structure for the highest production vehicle in the world. 

On the 19th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, Jeremy speaks with Shannon Karels and Kathy Miller, co-authors of their book, "Steel Toes and Stilettos: A True Story of Women Manufacturing Leaders and Lean Transformation Success".  Since then, both Shannan and Kathy have left Corporate America and started their own business, OPSisters.  Their mission is to counsel and train individuals, teams, and businesses that want to improve results through lean processes, sound leadership principles, and the science of human flourishing.  They have deep knowledge in this field, followed by rich advice when undertaking large-scale, disruptive business transformations.

On the 18th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, Jeremy speaks with Meaghan Ziemba, creator of the live video broadcast series, "Mavens of Manufacturing".  Meaghan is a thought leader in attracting women and the younger generation into the manufacturing sector.  She combines women's empowerment with brand storytelling within the amazing world of manufacturing. During their conversation, they discuss how to fix the growing skills gap by prioritizing trade skills as much as other academic options, diversifying the workforce, and bringing back a sense of pride to the industry. 

On the 17th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, Jeremy speaks with Jake Hall, “The Manufacturing Millennial”.  Jake is an advocate for manufacturing, automation, digital transformation, and skilled trades through his career and influential social media platform.  As the manufacturing industry projects a significant decrease in the labor workforce in upcoming years, Jake is rallying and driving awareness to attract a younger and more diverse talent pool to fill this void.  During their conversation, they will discuss the need for manufacturers to adapt their technology to better serve these digital natives as well as shaking the negative stigmas that have historically followed manufacturing careers.

On the 16th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, we continue to dive into pump system efficiency and how we can use data to reduce waste. Jeremy talks with Michael Michaud, Executive Director of The Hydraulic Institute and Pump Systems Matter, about how industry-wide standards and training programs are chipping away at this problem. Michael shares about the research performed within the U.S. Department of Energy to continuously evaluate standards, and how new certifications and training programs will expand access to in-demand professionals who can assess and improve these systems. 

On the 15th episode of Industrial Transformation with Jeremy Frank, Jeremy speaks with international Pump Systems expert William Livoti about his extensive history with uncovering the root causes of pump failures in the industrial world. He shares how his deeply rooted values of teamwork and training with the Marines prepared him for navigating the challenging waters of technology adoption at enterprise scale.

On the 14th episode of Industrial Transformation, Jeremy Frank is joined by organizational change agent Thom Brotski. Thom's 35 years of experience in reliability and maintenance across multiple countries and industries has taught him a thing or two about what it takes to orchestrate a cultural shift within an organization. Listen in to find out what he thinks is the most critical component to industry's ability to shift into the age of digital transformation and Industry 4.0.

On the 13th episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the front lines of American Manufacturing, CEO of KCF Technologies’ Jeremy Frank discusses the importance of mindset, people, and culture to effectively transform operations with Brian Hronchek, Marine Corps veteran, master Reliability Engineer, and Industry 4.0 visionary. Listen to Brian’s story of perseverance and see what he feels is the one thing that will allow any of us to solve the industrial world’s toughest challenges.

On the twelfth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing. KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Buddy Petersen, COO of FTS International, about the “3 key ingredients” to making digital transformation in industry a reality. Buckle up for this supersized episode where Buddy describes the journey to automation and how there is more to the story than just having the right technology.

On the twelfth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Buddy Petersen, COO of FTS International, about the key ingredients to making Industrial Transformation a reality. Listen to learn more about how having the right people with the right attitude, combined with the right product, is what makes the difference in total business transformation.

On the 11th episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank speaks with Isao Yoshino about his experiences as a leader at Toyota. Listen as Katie Anderson and Mr. Yoshino recall insightful conversations from his days at Toyota, his first experiences with American manufacturing workers, and what Toyota’s culture of respect for people means to him.

On the tenth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with the CEO of Cascade Engineering, Christina Keller, about her family and woman-owned organization and how they are proactively addressing the workforce crisis facing the manufacturing sector. Hear the story of Cascade’s Triple Bottom Line and how they are striving for operational excellence not only now, but long into the future.

On the ninth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Jessica Menold, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University about inspiring the next generation of engineers to embrace failure in creative problem-solving. Listen in as Jessica and Jeremy discuss how it is possible to turn some of our most unsuccessful experiences into our best opportunities for learning and growth.

On the eighth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Justin Schwartz, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of the College of Engineering at Penn State University about growing the college, building a meaningful curriculum for future innovators, and the importance of equity and diversity in transforming the profession. Listen to learn more about how PSU is educating engineers to become leaders in problem solving to improve our communities and the world.

On the seventh episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with entrepreneur and author Paul Akers, who has written many books about lean including Two-Second Lean and is the owner of FastCap. Listen to learn more about the professional and personal lessons learned from lean, the transformative power of small continuous improvements, and how to successfully apply it yourself. 

On the sixth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with lean leadership coach and consultant Katie Anderson about the lessons she learned from Toyota leader Isao Yoshino as written about in her new book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn. Listen to learn more about the intersection of lean, leadership, and learning, and the pivotal role each play in building and sustaining a successful organization.  

On the fifth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Dr. Jeffrey Liker, author of The Toyota Way and President of Liker Lean Advisors. Listen to learn more about what lean looks like in present-day American manufacturing,  the respective roles of people and technology, and what it all means for problem-solving in industry.

On our fourth episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Mike Ruszkowski, Senior Program Manager at Electric Power Research Institute. Listen to learn more about about the role EPRI plays in the industry and Mike's perspective on technology and sustainability.

On our third episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Adam Dalo, Director of Timber Operations at KCF, about cross-industry insights related to safety, efficiency, and effective maintenance. Listen to learn more about how IIoT helps elevate workers and address the most pressing issues manufacturers face.

On the second episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Jason Babik, VP of Global Strategy at Westinghouse Electric Corporation, about the drivers of innovation in the energy sector, how they apply digitization, and the future of the market overall. Listen to learn more about how we can progress to a green, economical, and stable power grid.

On the first episode of Industrial Transformation: Stories of Failure and Success from the Frontlines of American Manufacturing, KCF Technologies’ CEO Jeremy Frank talks with Lorne Poindexter, Senior Manager, Nuclear & Fossil Innovation Ameren Services, about the benefits of nuclear power, challenges the industry is currently facing and how IoT can help, and insight into what power generation will look like in 2030. Listen to learn more about how IIoT and nuclear power are transforming the power generation industry.