Go/No-Go

Lumafield on the calls that make or break a product — designing, manufacturing and shipping hardware, plus recall news and industrial CT scans of how things were really built.

22 episodes · 17 hours · since 2025

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Go/No-Go is filed under manufacturing, engineering, teardowns and interviews. Its most recent episode published on 8 Oct 2026, so it is still actively publishing. Listeners have left 16 ratings on Apple Podcasts, averaging 5 out of 5.

Latest episodes

The 10 newest episodes of Go/No-Go, each with a summary and chapters.

8 Oct 2026 · 45m
Live Recording: the Missing Data for Physical AI
Eduardo Torrealba of Lumafield, Vikram Pavate of Tacta Systems, and Pari Singh of Flow Engineering discuss how physical AI is bottlenecked by the lack of specific, non-public data. They argue that while software AI thrives on open internet data, physical products require proprietary datasets from CT scans, tactile sensor gloves, and engineering context to train effective models. The panel highlights the 'missing middle' of manufacturing—products costing $5 to $500—as the key area where automation and AI can enable reshoring to the US. Each founder shares a 'punched in the mouth' moment: Lumafield's scanner durability issues in unconditioned factories, Tacta's glove being rejected for being too soft, and Flow Engineering's decision to burn eight years of code to rebuild for an agentic future.
AI & machine learning Manufacturing partners & offshoring
5 chapters
4 Sept 2026 · 24m
Headlines | Robot Ban, AI-Designed Viruses, Perfect Pringles
Hosts John Brunner and Taylor Zanowski discuss recent regulatory and technological headlines, starting with the FCC's ban on foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters, specifically impacting Chinese manufacturer Unitree, and the revocation of approvals for Odyssey Robot, a front company for DJI drones. They then examine the biosecurity implications of AI-designed bacteriophages developed by Stanford and Arc Institute, comparing the regulatory landscape to the 2018 Farm Bill. Finally, they analyze Kellanova and Siemens' four-year, $5 million project to perfect Pringles manufacturing in Poland using digital twins and AI, which improved line performance and reduced waste.
Policy, trade & tariffs AI & machine learning
5 chapters
30 Jul 2026 · 41m
Headlines | OpenAI Devices, Data Centers, Brightline
Hosts John Brunner and Alex How discuss recent manufacturing and technology headlines, starting with a Bloomberg investigation into the failure of a $1 billion US federal initiative to produce medical gloves domestically. They then analyze the ransomware attack that halted production at Fairlife, the Coca-Cola-owned dairy brand, highlighting the security risks of legacy industrial systems. The conversation shifts to the AI hardware landscape, covering OpenAI's first consumer device, a screen-free AI companion, and its existing Codex Micro keypad, before examining the bottleneck of traditional power transformers in AI data centers and the safety and financial crises facing Brightline railroad.
Policy, trade & tariffs Security & privacy
7 chapters
21 Jul 2026 · 24m
StockX COO Stephen Winn on how the marketplace verifies products, catches counterfeit sneakers and AirPods, and why CT scanning is the hardest check to fake.
Stephen Winn, COO of StockX, explains the company's multi-layered verification process for authenticating sneakers, electronics, and collectibles at their Detroit facility. He details how machine learning risk scoring, RFID checks, and human inspection are augmented by Lumafield CT scanners to detect internal structural anomalies in high-value items like AirPods and limited-edition Nike Dunks. Winn also discusses StockX's evolution from a garage startup to a global enterprise serving 170 countries, highlighting the strategic 'go' decision to maintain a single global marketplace via their patented 'all-in ask' pricing algorithm.
Quality & yield Scaling production
8 chapters
1 Jul 2026 · 35m
Midjourney's medical scanner, a Patriot missile's two-year supply chain, and why Ford had to rehire 350 engineers it let automated systems replace
Hosts John Brunner and Alex Howe discuss Midjourney's entry into medical imaging with its ultrasound CT scanner, the complex supply chain challenges behind Patriot missile production, and Snap's launch of expensive Specs AR glasses. They also cover stalled subsea cable projects in the Middle East, the rise of humanoid robots in China, and Ford's strategic decision to rehire 350 engineers to fix quality issues caused by over-reliance on automation.
Sourcing & supply chain Industrial & consumer product design
8 chapters
26 Jun 2026 · 54m
Federico Faggin designed the first microprocessor and the capacitive touchscreen. He joins Go/No-Go to argue that AI cannot be conscious, however capable it becomes.
Federico Faggin, inventor of the Intel 4004 microprocessor and the capacitive touchscreen, recounts his journey from developing MOS silicon gate technology at Fairchild Semiconductor to founding Zilog and Synaptics. He details the physical realities of early chip design, such as hand-drawing transistors and using slide rules, and explains how he built the Z80 with only $400,000 and 11 people. Faggin argues in his book Irreducible that classical computers and AI cannot be conscious because they lack the quantum field interactions necessary for true feeling and free will.
Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors AI & machine learning
7 chapters
29 May 2026 · 48m
Iran war bitumen shortage stalls roads, Ford's $30K electric truck, Tesla Semi ships, BYD's private fleet, Amazon logistics, and the real cost of quality.
John Brunner and Alex Howe discuss how geopolitical disruptions, such as the Iran war, are causing bitumen shortages that stall road construction in India and Italy, while also increasing fuel costs for ships trapped in the Gulf. They analyze automotive industry shifts, including Ford's secret skunk works for a $30,000 electric truck, Tesla's shipping of the Semi, and BYD's vertical integration via its private car carrier fleet. The episode concludes with an analysis of Lumafield's Cost of Quality report, revealing that manufacturers spend 2-5% of revenue on quality, yet 58% fail to measure hidden costs, leading to significant inefficiencies in inspection and supplier management.
Quality & yield Sourcing & supply chain
10 chapters
12 May 2026 · 41m
Paradromics CEO Matt Angle on building the highest data rate brain-computer interface, hermetic sealing vs. Neuralink, and what makes BCIs last a decade in the body.
Matt Angle, CEO of Paradromics, explains the engineering behind the Connexus brain-computer interface, which achieves over 200 bits per second and is designed to last more than a decade in the body. He contrasts Paradromics' hermetic sealing and modular battery design with Neuralink's approach, emphasizing durability over planned obsolescence. The conversation details the manufacturing challenges of micro-scale assembly, the use of CT scanning for quality control, and the company's pivotal decision to win a DARPA contract against major university consortia.
Medical & health devices Materials & manufacturing processes
8 chapters
30 Apr 2026 · 29m
Allbirds collapses, SpaceX IPO targets $1 trillion, Iran buys a Chinese spy satellite, Sony Honda AFEELA canceled, Slate raises $650M, lab-grown chocolate.
The hosts analyze the collapse of D2C brand Allbirds, which sold its assets for $39 million after failing to sustain quality and relevance, and SpaceX's confidential IPO filing targeting a $1 trillion valuation driven by Starlink revenue. They discuss Iran's acquisition of a Chinese spy satellite via an in-orbit delivery model to bypass export controls, and the cancellation of the Sony Honda AFEELA EV joint venture due to market misalignment and Honda's financial struggles. The episode also covers Slate Auto's $650 million raise for a low-cost EV pickup, Stellantis's global recall of 700,000 vehicles for fire risks, and the emergence of lab-grown chocolate by Celeste Bio to stabilize cocoa prices.
Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce Fundraising & investors
6 chapters
23 Apr 2026 · 36m
The Takata airbag recall: how a propellant chemistry decision in the 1990s became the largest and costliest automotive recall in history, and why it still isn't over
Hosts John Brunner and Alex Howe reconstruct the Takata airbag recall, the largest in automotive history, focusing on the Monclova, Mexico plant's use of unstable ammonium nitrate propellant. They detail how heat and humidity cycles caused the chemical to degrade and crack, turning airbags into shrapnel, while Takata falsified test data and manipulated barcodes to hide failures. The episode highlights the regulatory revolving door, the whistleblower John Keller's efforts to classify recalled units as hazardous materials, and the current status where 98% of vehicles are repaired, yet over a million remain on the road with increasingly dangerous, aged units.
Debugging & failure analysis Manufacturing partners & offshoring
10 chapters

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