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…
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…
“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…
For decades, the expectation has been: 🎓 Go to school first. 💼 Find a job later. But what if work and education happened at the same time? In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Patrick McGrew explains how countries like Switzerland have built one of the world's strongest…
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…
For decades, the expectation has been: 🎓 Go to school first. 💼 Find a job later. But what if work and education happened at the same time? In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Patrick McGrew explains how countries like Switzerland have built one of the world's strongest…
That's exactly what PJ McGrew discusses in this clip from our latest episode. One of the biggest challenges in manufacturing isn't a lack of opportunity, it's making sure students are learning the skills employers actually need. Instead of leaving that responsibility solely to educators, Conexus Indiana is helping build a…
In manufacturing, automation, and engineering, we often talk about finding talent. But developing talent is just as important. 🎧 In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Rylan Pyciak of Cleveland Automation Systems® shares why great engineers aren't built by avoiding mistakes, they're built by learning from them. ⚙️…
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…
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…
In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Rylan Pyciak of Cleveland Automation Systems® shares a practical perspective on AI in manufacturing and industrial automation. ⚙️ AI can help troubleshoot problems faster ⚙️ AI can accelerate repetitive tasks ⚙️ AI can support engineers and technicians as they learn ⚙️…
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…
Not because you can’t do it. But because it’s easier to say, “maybe later.” In our latest episode with Rachael Pasini from WTWH Media LLC, we got into something that hits for a lot of us: “I’m not bad at this… I just haven’t learned how to be good at…
In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Carrie Brown and Krista Beyhaut from Wesco chat with Nikki Gonzales about one of the biggest disconnects happening in manufacturing right now: Companies are excited to invest in AI and digital transformation… but many facilities still struggle to access the PLC…
That pressure to have a plan. To know exactly where you’re going. To make the right decision. In our latest episode with Rachael Pasini from WTWH Media LLC, this really stood out: “There is no ‘correct’ path.” And honestly… that’s a hard pill to swallow, especially in technical fields where…
In this clip from our latest Automation Ladies episode, Carrie Brown and Krista Beyhaut from Wesco talk about one of the biggest shifts happening in industrial automation right now: AI moving beyond helping operators and engineers… and potentially becoming part of the decision-making process itself. The conversation touches on: ⚙️…
That part of our conversation with Yogashri Pradhan, MBA, P.E. will probably resonate with a lot of people. 👀 Not everyone is built to only do one thing. Some people are energized by creating, building, networking, learning, teaching, starting projects, sharing ideas, and constantly exploring what else is possible. And…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
In this clip, Dr. Elliott Heflin, Jr. explains why he prefers general-purpose, humanoid-style robots over purpose-built machines. For him, it’s not just about moving a box from A to B. It’s about creativity, programming flexibility, and imagining what else the robot could do. 💡 Sometimes the most exciting tech isn’t…
