Podcast profile
By Vlad Romanov & Dave Griffith
We bring you manufacturing news, insights, discuss opportunities, and cutting edge technologies. Our goal is to inform, educate, and inspire leaders and workers in manufacturing, automation, and related fields.
Latest episode
1 hr 7 min
Topics
Robot design, perception, control, manipulation, deployment, and robotics ecosystems.
Advanced manufacturing, production systems, factories, and industrial digitalization.
Modernization of business processes, platforms, services, and organizational capabilities.
Formats
Detailed technical, architectural, or research-oriented examination.
Host-led conversation where a guest supplies most of the subject matter.
Audience level
Assumes basic technology literacy and familiarity with common products, roles, and terminology.
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Episodes shown — 10 of 25
There is no pyramid anywhere in the ISA 95 standard. David Schultz explains what is actually inside it and how to turn it into a working data model. Most engineers meet ISA 95 as a layered triangle on LinkedIn and never get past it. David Schultz of Amárach StackWorks takes that image apart.
Most conversations about starting a systems integrator skip the parts that sink people. Dave and Vlad spend this one on insurance, licenses and procurement. After a month of founder interviews, Dave and Vlad close the series with their own experience.
Most people ask how to start a systems integrator. Rich Kuechenmeister has effectively built one five times, and the lesson is that the parent business decides what you become. Rich is owner and partner at Fishbone Technical Services.
Oil and gas automation runs on royalty accounting as much as process control. Dustin Symes explains how that shapes every SCADA decision JPI Solutions makes. Canadian oil and gas is structured differently than most assume.
Most people who start a systems integrator expect to keep doing the engineering. Dylan DuFresne explains why that stops being true inside two years.
Siemens says a small manufacturer can start production optimization for $2,000 a year. Martin Valkysers and Flemming Kongsberg explain what that buys you. Most digital transformation advice assumes a budget and an engineering bench most plants do not have.
David Nichols of Loupe explains what actually changed in automation engineering this year, and why control retrofits just got far cheaper.
Deglobalization is rewriting where factories get built, and Ujjwal Kumar of Siemens explains what has to change on the plant floor before reshoring actually works. For thirty years the manufacturing playbook was labor arbitrage.
After several weeks away from the podcast, Dave Griffith and Vladimir Romanov return to Manufacturing Hub to unpack their experiences at Automate 2026 and discuss what the event revealed about the current state of industrial automation.
Automate 2026 lands in Chicago next week, and Dave and Vlad break down how to work the show floor, where to network, and what to expect from their live booth demos. Automate is the largest automation trade show in North America, and a four day event rewards preparation.