Manufacturing Happy Hour · 9 Feb 2021 · 48m
Karen Kerr, Managing Director at Exposition Ventures and former Executive Managing Director at GE Ventures, discusses the state of venture capital in manufacturing and the early stages of Industry 4.0 adoption. She highlights specific investments in agile manufacturing and supply chain technologies, including companies like Azul 3D, Zometry, and GuardHat, while explaining why cross-industry value chain challenges are key investment criteria. Kerr also reflects on her career transition from physical chemistry to VC, the importance of executive sponsorship in corporate venture groups, and her personal interests in baseball and single malt scotch.
Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.
Engineering & simulationZometry
The company uses AI to determine pricing for manufacturing services, which helps manufacturers level their workload and find new business opportunities.
“one of the clever things that they're able to do is leverage AI to figure out pricing. Uh, and um, and really help manufacturers load level and and find new uh, new businesses.”
Speaker 1 · Hear it at 24:37
ManufacturingHigh Bite
The company builds data models to enable deep analysis of manufacturing operations, allowing for better analytics and efficiency improvements.
“I'm looking at, um, high bite, that's, uh, really helping you build out those data models, uh, uh, to be able to do, um, a lot of this deep analysis, uh, cause that's important, uh, how you, the data model is important to be able to get uh, your analytics, right?”
Speaker 1 · Hear it at 24:37
large enterprises and early-stage companies
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Eric Klein, partner at Lemnos Labs, discusses the state of hardware venture capital, explaining why VCs have shifted away from consumer electronics toward industrial and applied robotics due to lower risk and higher margins. He highlights specific investments like Dishcraft, which automates restaurant dishwashing, and Elroy Air, which develops autonomous air cargo delivery, illustrating how falling component costs enable new markets. Klein emphasizes that successful hardware founders must combine technical expertise with strong storytelling and business acumen, noting that investors prioritize the team's ability to navigate the 'fog of war' over perfect prototypes.
Scott Miller of Dragon Innovation, now a subsidiary of Avnet, discusses the company's evolution from a startup to an enterprise-level 'product as a service' provider. He details how Dragon helps non-traditional customers, such as avocado growers, navigate hardware development by leveraging Avnet's global resources and supply chain data. Miller emphasizes the importance of early BOM health assessments to mitigate risks like long lead times for components like multi-layer ceramic capacitors, and explains how the 'fish on the plate' model shifts financial responsibility for obsolescence to the provider.
Nikki Gonzales, Head of Partnerships at Quotebeam and co-host of the Automation Ladies podcast, discusses breaking out of the manufacturing industry's echo chamber. She explains the origins of her podcast to support women in industrial automation and analyzes why the sector remains male-dominated due to visibility and historical representation. Gonzales also details Quotebeam's mission to modernize the sourcing of industrial automation parts through a collaborative marketplace, addressing the severe supply chain and chip shortage crises by advocating for interoperability and diverse supplier relationships.
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