Episodes

“We do it with AI” is easy to say. Making robots work through contact, uncertainty, and variation on a real factory floor is the hard part. We sit down with Whitney Dills from Thought Forge AI to unpack an approach to industrial robotics control that flips a common assumption: more data does not automatically mean better performance. Whitney explains active inference, a neuroscience rooted framework that treats robot control as continuous prediction and correction using real time sensory feedba...

Paper schematics feel “reliable” until they are the reason a shutdown drags on, a cabinet print is wrong, or a tech makes a split-second mistake under pressure. We sit down with Dylan from Lightstream, a Belgian family-owned industrial automation company, to get brutally practical about what it takes to move maintenance from binders and drawers to a digital workflow that technicians will actually use. We unpack Cabinet Manager, which Dylan calls the digital Swiss pocket knife for technicians. T...

Your engineering degree taught you equations. Then your first job asks you to troubleshoot a VFD, commission a skid, and explain the problem to five different people without melting down. That jump is real, and it’s exactly what we dig into with Alice Ristoff and Cassie Gardner from eTech Group. We talk about the many on-ramps into controls engineering and industrial automation and why there isn’t one “correct” major. Chemical engineering, bioengineering, mechanical, electrical, and even biolog...

Most people in industrial automation agree we have a skills gap, but we keep aiming the message at ourselves. We sat down with Amanda Beaton from Siemens to talk about the side of Automate that deserves a bigger spotlight: Education Day, student tours, and the educators building the next wave of automation and robotics talent long before anyone applies for a job. Amanda runs Siemens Cooperates with Education in the US, bridging industry and academia by helping instructors get access to real Sie...

AI isn’t just a software story, it’s a power story, a controls story, and a “how do we actually build this stuff” story. After the EPC show in Houston, I sit down with Dennis Ganson from Schneider Electric to unpack what’s changing in industrial automation and energy, and how you can stay useful as the pace picks up. Dennis shares his career path from West Point and the US Army into GE Energy, field service, project leadership, and strategic sales, eventually landing in process automation. We t...

ROI math can be brutally simple, and that’s exactly why it often fails in industrial automation. If your spreadsheet only asks “how many heads are we replacing,” you might get a clean payback number, but you also risk approving the wrong projects and rejecting the right ones. We’re joined by Christine Busch, who leads Schneider Electric’s Robotic Center of Excellence, to talk about what return on investment should look like when you’re trying to make robotics deployments truly successful. We di...

“Manufacturing is still the place where you can start out sweeping the floor and end up running the company” is a bold claim, so we brought on someone who has lived the full arc. I’m joined by Matt Kirkner from the Tech Ed Podcast to unpack how advanced manufacturing, industrial automation, and technical education can still deliver real upward mobility and why the American dream is less about nostalgia and more about building better opportunities for the next generation. We get practical about ...

Most automation projects stall long before the first robot moves. Not because the technology isn’t ready, but because buying feels like a maze: vague budgets, endless “it depends” quotes, and months of back-and-forth just to learn what something costs. We sit down with Wes from FANUC to talk about a different path for manufacturers, especially in food and beverage packaging: standard, scalable robotic solutions you can pilot quickly and then replicate across lines or plants. We dig into what “a...

Most workforce development advice sounds good until you try to scale it. Today we get specific, practical, and a little disruptive with PJ McGrew, Senior Vice President of Talent Strategy and Programming at Conexus Indiana, on why the Swiss apprenticeship model works and what it takes to adapt it for modern manufacturing in the United States. We talk about the real bottleneck nobody wants to admit: education systems cannot sustainably deliver dozens of employer-specific training plans. PJ share...

Cloud-first AI sounds great until you remember what a factory actually is: proprietary recipes, fragile uptime, legacy controls that still run fine, and a small team expected to keep everything profitable. We sit down with Brian Thykin, Head of Revenue at Sorba AI, to talk about what industrial AI and machine learning should look like when it’s built for OT instead of for slide decks. The through-line is simple: the people closest to the process should be the ones shaping the models, and the tec...

Everyone’s talking about AI, humanoids, and the “factory of the future” but plenty of plants are still held together with undocumented panels, obsolete PLCs, and the same hard production constraints they’ve had for decades. Nikki sits down with Rylan Paishack from Cleveland Automation Systems to sort out what actually works when you’re responsible for keeping equipment running and delivering automation projects that survive real life. We get into Rylan’s path through manufacturing, Rockwell co-...

“Digital transformation” sounds exciting until you’re standing in front of a 30-year-old panel with missing drawings and a line that cannot go down. Nikki sits down with Carrie Brown and Krista Beyhaut from Wesco to get real about what modernization actually looks like across manufacturing, especially for plants that are stuck spending their entire budget on downtime instead of upgrades. We talk career journeys that don’t follow a straight line and why that’s normal in industrial automation. Ca...

Getting laid off can either shrink your world or force it open. When we sit down with Yogashri Pradhan, she walks us through how she’s navigated the reality of a cyclical oil and gas industry and why she chose entrepreneurship anyway, building Iron Lady Energy Advisors and taking on fractional leadership roles that keep her close to real operational problems and real outcomes. We talk about what it actually means to “choose your hard” and how discipline, grief, and career reinvention can exist ...

In this episode of Automation Ladies, we step away from the technology and talk about something just as important: the people behind it. From nonlinear career paths to the pressure of “doing everything right,” this conversation dives into what work really looks like in today’s world, especially in industrial automation and manufacturing. Our guest shares her journey from engineering to technical writing and media, proving that careers don’t have to follow a straight line to be meaningful. ...

Something shifted for us this year: the more we commit to doing less, the more we’re actually building. Nikki, Courtney, and Allie get together for a real catch-up on work, life, and what’s next for Automation Ladies, with stories that range from bigger robotics and better work-life balance to a brand-new view outside a bayou window in Louisiana. We also dig into OT SCADA CON and why it keeps feeling more like a community than a conference. OT SCADA CON runs July 22-24 at the Endress+Hauser Hou...

Humanoid robots are getting real, and the biggest question isn’t “Can they dance?” It’s “Who’s going to understand them well enough to build, program, and fix them?” We sit down with Dr. Elliot Hefling Jr., founder of Reality Tech Academy, to talk about why he brings full-scale humanoid robots into education and why waiting until college is too late for most students, especially in underserved communities. We get into what it looks like to teach robotics with Pepper and NAO using Python program...

You don’t need a perfectly planned career to become a manufacturing leader. Megan, Director of Manufacturing at Sentry Equipment, started in hospitality and landed in manufacturing because she wanted a more predictable schedule for family life. What happened next is the part most people miss: she fell in love with the shop floor, learned continuous improvement tools like QRM, Lean, and Six Sigma, and kept choosing roles that expanded her skills until she was leading manufacturing operations. We...

Automation media, trade shows, and digital content are reshaping how the industrial automation industry connects. In this episode, Sarah shares insights from covering manufacturing and packaging events, building relationships across OEMs and integrators, and how social media and content creation are influencing the future of automation, engineering, and industrial technology. Support the show __________________________________________________________________ 🎙 About Automation Ladies Automation Ladies is an industrial automation podcast spotlighting the engineers, integrators, innovators, and leaders shaping the future of manufacturing. __________________________________________________________________ 🎤 Want to be a guest on the show? https://www.automationladies.io/guests/intake/ __________________________________________________________________ 👩‍🏭 Connect with the Hosts Nikki Gonzales: https://linkedin.com/in/nikki-gonzales Courtney Fernandez: https://linked…

Season 7 of Automation Ladies opens with grit, ingenuity, and a candid look at what it takes to run a modern automation integration company. Hosts Nikki Gonzales and Courtney Fernandez sit down with Cathy “Conveyor Cougar” Rinne, President of FlexLine Automation, a 15-person, woman-owned systems integrator serving manufacturers with conveyor systems, robotics, and custom automation solutions. Cathy shares what leadership really looks like inside a family-run business—setting direction, building accountability, empowering the next generation, and balancing speed with service. She explains how FlexLine is applying AI in practical ways, automating drawings, quoting, and repetitive engineering workflows while navigating ERP fatigue and generational skepticism within the industry. The conversation also explores how Cathy’s agricultural background influences her approach to manufacturing. From autosteer tractors to robotic milking, her farm-country mindset shapes how she solves fac…

In this episode of Automation Ladies, Courtney steps in as co-host while Nikki recovers from pneumonia, and they welcome Maggie Rosenkranz from Inductive Automation as their guest. The conversation kicks off with a recap of OT SCADA CON, highlighting the event’s growth, strong sense of community, and the value of bringing technical professionals together to learn and share knowledge. Maggie shares her unconventional journey into industrial automation — from studying biology and dental hygiene to discovering computer science and eventually landing a support engineer role after attending an open house where she first saw the power of Ignition. She reflects on graduating during the 2020 hiring freeze, the challenges of breaking into a new industry, and how curiosity and persistence helped shape her career. The discussion dives into the realities of working in support, including troubleshooting complex issues, asking the right questions, and learning to understand what’s really happ…

Ever wondered what it takes to lead automation projects at trailblazing companies like Tesla and The Boring Company? Nikki chats with Riddhi Padariya about her journey from nerdy high schooler inspired by "How It's Made" to becoming a controls engineering leader in industries ranging from tissue manufacturing to carbon capture and underground tunneling. They dive into hands-on lessons, breakthrough technologies like virtual commissioning, the power of industry communities, and Riddhi’s passio...

Curious how someone ends up building a career around machine vision and industrial automation? Nikki sits down with Kerry Pierce, discussing the winding path that led her from computer engineering to becoming a machine vision integrator, the invaluable lessons learned along the way, and how she’s helping demystify the field for newcomers. ------- This episode is brought to you by SPS Atlanta. Smart Production Solutions is the world's premiere industrial automation trade show is coming t...

How do you build business skills as a chemical engineer? In this episode of the Automation Ladies podcast, Ali G chats with Brielle Reisman, who shares her experiences at Applied Control Engineering, and the importance of combining technical skills with business acumen. Brielle shares how she embraced the value of personal branding and content creation in the engineering industry, particularly for women. Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-gonzales/ C...

How will AI change Industrial automation? Ashlesha Anil Chaudhari and Alex Kaderi from Masked Owl Technologies join us this week to discuss how their team is building practical solutions to support engineers and rethink the use of AI and new technologies on the factory floor. Hear firsthand insights into what manufacturers are actually adopting, where they're finding real value, and why some initiatives stall out. Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-gonz...