“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. Carrie shares how a mechanical engineering background and years in telecom and analytics led her into distribution sales, while Krista breaks down how early sales leadership training and deep plant exposure shaped her approach to automation strategy. Along the way, we dig into what it’s like to find community as women in automation when you care more about how things work than fitting a mold.
From there, we zoom into the plant floor: varying stages of modernization, the hidden cost of “black box” legacy systems, and the uncomfortable truth that AI in manufacturing can’t deliver much if you can’t reliably access PLC data. Carrie and Krista explain why an assessment or modernization health check is often the best first step, how Wesco brings the right specialists into the room, and how vetted partners like AI integrators can turn the right data into real ROI with predictive models. We also hit labor shortages, cobots, AGVs, Spot, and the rising curiosity around humanoid robots and AI copilots.
If you enjoy grounded automation talk with practical takeaways, subscribe, share this with a friend in manufacturing, and leave a review so more people can find Automation Ladies.
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🎙 About Automation Ladies
Automation Ladies is an industrial automation podcast spotlighting the engineers, integrators, innovators, and leaders shaping the future of manufacturing.
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🎤 Want to be a guest on the show?
https://www.automationladies.io/guests/intake/
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👩🏭 Connect with the Hosts
Nikki Gonzales: https://linkedin.com/in/nikki-gonzales
Courtney Fernandez: https://linkedin.com/in/courtneydfernandez
Ali G: https://linkedin.com/in/alicia-gilpin-ali-g-process-controls-engineering
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🎟 The Automation Ladies Community Conference: https://otscada.com
Learn more about the hosts’ industrial automation conference OT SCADA CON attended by 100+ automation professionals, engineers, integrators, and technology leaders for hands-on learning, real-world case studies, and meaningful industry connections.
🎬 Credits
Produced by: Veronica Espinoza
Music by: Sam Janes
P.S. - Help our podcast grow with a 5-star podcast review (https://www.podpage.com/automation-ladies/reviews/new/) if you love us!
