The Future of Food and Beverage Manufacturing, LIVE from Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, OH

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 2 May 2023 · 1h 00m

What this episode covers

In a live panel discussion at Rhinegeist Brewery, host Chris Luecke interviews Cole Hackbarth of Rhinegeist, Jeremy Saunders of SugarCreek, and Larry Hecker of CBT Company about the future of food and beverage manufacturing. The group discusses the critical shift from reactive to predictive maintenance, emphasizing the need for technician buy-in and cross-departmental communication. They also address severe talent retention challenges, highlighting SugarCreek’s innovative onboarding programs and Rhinegeist’s pivot to work-life balance, while Larry Hecker explains how automation fills labor gaps rather than eliminating jobs. The conversation concludes with insights on making manufacturing more accessible to women and advice for young professionals navigating the industry.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 32m

    Perspectives on Finding and Keeping Manufacturing Talent w/ Jon Franko

    Jon Franko, host of The Manufacturing EMPLOYER podcast and business partner at Gorilla 76, discusses common themes from his inaugural year of interviewing manufacturing leaders regarding talent acquisition and retention. He highlights the critical skills gap, the need to rebrand manufacturing careers to youth, and the importance of employer branding, including transparent careers pages and servant leadership. Franko also details Gorilla 76's 'Hiring and Retention Roadmap,' a productized service that applies marketing principles to HR, offering workshops and implementation plans to help manufacturers build strong cultures and attract frontline workers.

  • Being an Engineer · 57m

    S7E7 Mike Romance | Industry 4.0, Production Transfers, & People-Centric Leadership

    Mike Romance, an operations and quality leader with experience at Quantum-Si, Illumina, and Dexcom, discusses scaling life sciences manufacturing from early development to high-volume production. He emphasizes the importance of proactive Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Quality by Design (QbD) to avoid costly reactive fixes, using a modular-to-fixed architecture trade-off at Quantum-Si as a key example. Romance also advocates for 'Industry X.0' (Industry 4.0) focused on actionable data for predictive maintenance and decision-making, rather than just dashboards. Finally, he highlights 'people-centric leadership' and emotional intelligence as critical for retaining tribal knowledge and building resilient teams during scaling.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 58m

    Diversity in the Manufacturing Sector w/ Andrew Crowe and Justin Sherman

    Andrew Crowe, founder of the Elevate Institute of Advanced Manufacturing, and Justin Sherman, founder of Equity Machine Works, discuss how manufacturing companies can address the skilled labor gap by prioritizing diversity and inclusion. They argue that the industry's traditional, 'old school' culture and lack of representation are driving away younger and diverse talent, while also highlighting the financial benefits of diverse teams. The guests provide actionable advice for shop owners, such as offering housing assistance, modernizing digital presence, and adopting servant leadership to attract and retain workers.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 37m

    Smarter Manufacturing in an Evolving Ecosystem w/ Chris Lupfer

    Chris Lupfer, Director of Indirect Channels at Bosch Rexroth, discusses the critical shifts in manufacturing for 2025, emphasizing the move toward reshoring and the integration of automation to address labor shortages. He highlights the importance of flexible workflows, digital twins for process optimization, and upskilling the workforce to handle collaborative robotics. Lupfer also explains how digital configuration tools and e-commerce platforms are streamlining the B2B buying process for complex industrial solutions.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 24m

    Amplifiers of the workforce: The future of robots in manufacturing w/ Ryan Lillibridge

    Ryan Lillibridge, Director of Business Development at Mission Design & Automation, discusses the evolution of robotics in manufacturing, emphasizing that robots act as 'amplifiers' for the workforce rather than job replacements. He explains how advancements in cobots, vision systems, and soft robotics are addressing labor shortages and allowing for flexible, high-mix production. Lillibridge highlights the shift from traditional high-volume industrial robots to adaptable collaborative robots that can be redeployed across different applications and shifts.

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.