# Adaptive Over Aggressive: Redefining Lights-Out Manufacturing with Camoren Schley, Ep #25

- Show: [Lights Out](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out)
- Published: 2025-09-26
- Length: 54m
- Episode: 25
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley
- Listen: https://8819970d-2c51-481c-b08a-4d2a806885b2.libsyn.com/adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley-ep-25

## Summary

Camoren Schley, founder of Slytek, explains how adaptive control and process monitoring enable small to mid-size machine shops to run unattended 'lights-out' operations by mimicking expert machinists in real-time. He details a case study where Slytek’s Tool Optimization System (TOS) solved chronic tool breakage on aerospace parts by using high-fidelity spindle load sensors to trigger macro interrupts and swap tools automatically. Schley emphasizes that true lights-out manufacturing requires measuring peripheral factors like coolant concentration and chip management, not just spindle utilization, to avoid the 'automation trap' of vanity metrics.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=0) Introduction: Camoren Schley and Slytek's Philosophy
- [6:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=382) Schley's Manufacturing Legacy and Early High-Pressure Coolant Systems
- [11:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=682) Early Machine Monitoring Experiments and Operator Productivity
- [14:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=840) Adaptive Controls: How Slytek Mimics Expert Machinists
- [21:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=1270) Case Study: Solving Aerospace Tool Breakage with TOS
- [27:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=1620) Holistic Process Monitoring: Coolant and Chip Management
- [38:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley#t=2330) ROI, Coaching, and Avoiding the Automation Trap

## Topics

- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Slytek (company)
- ProShop ERP (tool)
- Hennick (company)
- ICS (company)
- Cloud NC (company)
- Fanuc (company)
- Riverside (tool)
- General Motors (company)
- Caterpillar (company)
- Smith and Wesson (company)
- Alfred Manufacturing (company)
- Ponderosa (company)
- CSU (other)
- Machine Shop Mastery (other)
- Making Chips (other)
- Lights Out (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [233: Manufacturing 101, On-The-Job Training, and Finding Fulfillment in Engineering Featuring Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2025-04-29-233-manufacturing-101-on-the-job-training-and-finding-fulfillment-in-engineering) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Manufacturing's Past, Present, and Future w/ Jim Carr](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2021-06-15-manufacturings-past-present-and-future-w-jim-carr) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [When Legacy Thinking Gets in the Way of Manufacturing Innovation w/ Annie Lu](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2026-06-16-when-legacy-thinking-gets-in-the-way-of-manufacturing-innovation-w-annie-lu) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [240: How AI Agents are Revolutionizing Safety and Operations in Manufacturing with Dunchadhn Lyons of Spot AI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2025-06-10-240-how-ai-agents-are-revolutionizing-safety-and-operations-in-manufacturing-wit) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Advancements in Monitoring, Beam Shaping, and Cutting-Edge AM Research from The Ohio State University](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/additive-snack/2024-01-30-advancements-in-monitoring-beam-shaping-and-cutting-edge-am-research-from-the-oh) (Additive Snack)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lights-out/2025-09-26-adaptive-over-aggressive-redefining-lights-out-manufacturing-with-camoren-schley. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Lights Out.