Hardware Podcasts

Adopting an Entrepreneurial Mindset in Manufacturing with Krisztina “Z” Holly

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 28 Oct 2019 · 21m

What this episode covers

Krisztina “Z” Holly, Founder of MAKE IT IN LA and creator of the Art of Manufacturing podcast, discusses the need for a stronger local manufacturing ecosystem and an entrepreneurial mindset in the industry. She highlights the importance of community connectivity, citing her work at MIT and USC, and uses Divergent 3D as a case study for sustainable, iterative design. Holly also reflects on the challenges of local sourcing and the growing mission-driven focus on sustainability among manufacturers.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
MAKE IT IN LA, Divergent 3D, Tesla, MIT, USC, SpaceX, Nike, Coca-Cola, Edwalla, California Farms

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • TRADEOFFS · 58m

    T-24-003 : Christina Perla - Industrial Designer to On Demand Manufacturing

    Christina Perla, co-founder and CEO of Makelab, discusses her transition from industrial design at Converse to running an on-demand 3D printing service. She details the company's hub-and-spoke expansion strategy, including a new San Francisco location and a planned Connecticut factory, while explaining why she rejected venture capital after a fund imploded. Perla emphasizes community building as a core growth strategy and shares insights on the 3D printing industry's current reckoning regarding reliability and marketing honesty.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringFundraising & investors
    9 chapters

  • Open Hardware Manufacturing Podcast · 1h 40m

    Ep. 8 - Ryan from V1 Engineering

    Ryan Zellers, founder of V1 Engineering, explains how his passion for making things led to the creation of the Mostly Printed CNC (MPCNC) and the growth of his company. He details his journey from working at Robo 3D and a medical device firm to bootstrapping V1 Engineering from a garage, leveraging the Thingiverse community for design feedback and sales. Zellers discusses his deliberate choice to remain a solo operator, using automation and contractors to handle logistics while he focuses on product design and community engagement.

    Industrial & consumer product designStarting a product company
    8 chapters

  • Product Startup · 22m

    140: Local Manufacturing for a New Hardware Invention Idea

    Nigel Southway, author of 'Take Back Manufacturing' and former chair of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, discusses the strategic shift from offshore to local manufacturing for hardware startups. He argues that when factoring in hidden costs like tariffs, inventory, and logistics, the unit cost difference between onshore and offshore production is often only about 10%, making local production increasingly viable. Southway emphasizes the importance of short-run manufacturing to build feedback loops and reduce risk, while advocating for policy, education, and technology integration to rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringPricing, margins & unit economics
    7 chapters

  • EMS@C-LEVEL · 35m

    EMS@C-LEVEL Season #2021 Episode #7 with Mariana Kobal and Shane Hassett, WAZP

    Mariana Kobal and Shane Hassett, co-founders of WAZP, explain their asset-light, distributed manufacturing model that uses 3D printing to produce volume goods closer to the point of need. They discuss overcoming early skepticism from the eyewear industry regarding quality and price, and detail a large-scale project with IKEA where they produced products for 50% of their global stores using 100% waste materials. The founders highlight how the pandemic accelerated the shift to direct-to-consumer (D2C) fulfillment and near-shore manufacturing, aiming to deploy automated 'print-and-fulfill' factories in locations like post offices.

    Design for manufacturing & NPISustainability & circular products
    8 chapters

  • Product Startup · 21m

    180: Hardware Startup Tips for Non-Technical Founders

    Graeme Whitehead, a corporate Vice President and non-technical founder, explains how he designed, manufactured, and sold the CNCT Cooler, an ultra-high-end cooler for Tesla storage spaces, as a side hustle. He details the importance of identifying knowledge gaps, collaborating with Mako Design + Invent to achieve specific industrial design and mechanical engineering goals, and navigating manufacturing pushback. Whitehead also discusses leveraging rotational molding for quality, sourcing US-based manufacturers, and gaining traction by shipping free units to influencers without contracts.

    Industrial & consumer product designManufacturing partners & offshoring
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Manufacturing Happy Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.