Cathy Rinne

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…

Ali and Nikki sit down with Kathy Rinne, the Conveyor Cougar from Flex-Line Automation, and Ed Garstkiewicz, Sr. Industry Segment Manager of Automation and Robotics from HARTING. They touch on how in the ever-evolving landscape of industrial automation and marketing, collaborating with experts is more important than ever. And ever wondered how a 12-year-old can transform a Gen Xer's approach to B2B marketing? Kathy shares how their TikTok skyrocketed Flex-Line Automation's web traffic by a whopp...

This week's episode is a little different since Nikki was at an industry event: the A3 Business Forum hosted by the Association for Advancing Automation in Orlando Florida. She thought she found a quiet corner to have a conversation with Cathy Rinne (the infamous Conveyor Cougar on TikTok ) and Lauren Van De Mark - President and Sales and Marketing Manager respectively at Flex-Line Automation We apologize for the audio quality and noise in this one, turns out the spot was quiet for a while until...