Manufacturing Happy Hour · 10 May 2022 · 44m
Jerry Foster, CTO of Plex Systems (recently acquired by Rockwell Automation), explains the origins of Plex, which grew from internal software built at a forging company to become an early cloud-based MES and ERP provider. He discusses the acceleration of smart manufacturing adoption, driven by pandemic-exposed supply chain and labor challenges, and highlights the convergence of cloud computing and data as the catalyst for practical AI in manufacturing. Foster also addresses the role of emerging technologies like blockchain, the importance of building integrated teams with both action-oriented and analytical leaders, and the growing intersection of profitability and ESG sustainability.
Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.
Manufacturinganalyzes every single part
Machine learning analyzes every part coming off a forging press to reject only non-conforming items, replacing visual inspection of samples.
“But now we have vision systems, an intelligent camera, and machine learning that can analyze every single part coming off the press and reject only the ones that don't conform.”
Jerry Foster · Hear it at 3:53
ManufacturingAI serviceswithout having to hire a data scientists
Companies use smart, easy-to-use AI services to analyze large amounts of Industry 4.0 data without needing to hire data scientists.
“And the cool thing is with the AI services that are available now that are so smart and easy to use. Most companies can take advantage of that and do most of what they need without having to hire a data scientists.”
Jerry Foster · Hear it at 24:09
large enterprises
Other shows on the same ground, closest first.
Will Patrick, Managing Director of FermionX, explains how he transformed his family's electronics manufacturing business from flat revenue to scalable growth by replacing tribal knowledge with a data-first operation. He details the implementation of a fully traceable MES (Luminovo), Power BI dashboards, and quality tools like Koh Young's KSMART to create a single source of truth for customers. Patrick highlights that this infrastructure allows the company to grow from £10M to £25M without proportional overhead increases, while laying the groundwork for future AI-driven exception reporting and agentic systems.
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine, discusses the current landscape of Industry 4.0 and the evolution of smart factories. He explains how Plataine uses AI and IoT data from ERP, MES, and machine sensors to provide digital assistance for production scheduling, materials optimization, and tooling maintenance. Ben-Bassat highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated supply chain complexities, forcing manufacturers to move from reactive operations to predictive, self-optimizing systems. He emphasizes the shift from 'proof of concept' to 'proof of value' to demonstrate tangible ROI and throughput improvements to stakeholders.
Michael Ford, Senior Director of Emerging Industry Strategy at Aegis Software, outlines three key trends for 2022: smart, secure, and sustainable manufacturing. He argues that the industry is moving past the 'gold rush' of data collection toward using IPC-CFX standards and AI-driven MES platforms to create actual business value and adaptive control. Ford highlights the critical need for secure data exchange to prevent counterfeiting and IP theft, proposing verifiable credentials and blockchain to protect supply chain privacy. Finally, he discusses how sustainability is driving localization and recycling innovations, supported by energy management messages within CFX to reduce waste and costs.
Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, CEO and founder of Instrumental, discusses how the pandemic accelerated digital transformation in electronics manufacturing, validating her prediction of five years of innovation in 18 months. She explains Instrumental’s cloud-based platform that collects engineering data from across the supply chain to identify defects and improve first-pass yield, moving away from opaque, just-in-time models toward resilient, data-driven collaboration. Shedletsky highlights the shift from Capex to Opex for manufacturing technology and the critical need for transparency between brands and Contract Manufacturers (CMs) to solve problems faster.
Roby Lynn, founder and CEO of R2 Labs, explains how his company’s R2 Autonomy Controller bridges the gap between legacy OT systems (PLCs, robots) and modern IT tools (MES, ERP) in industrial manufacturing. He details the product's ability to orchestrate production assets, integrate AI-based vision inspection, and run models locally on GPU-accelerated hardware to avoid cloud dependencies. Lynn also shares lessons from building the company, emphasizing the importance of customer feedback, pragmatic design over 'cool' technology, and addressing the workforce talent crunch in legacy automation.
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.