In this episode, Chris sits down with Troy Ellison of Cloacina to talk about what it takes to build infrastructure that works in the real world, not just on paper. Troy explains what membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are in a way that you and I can understand, then pulls back the curtain on why so many systems fail the people who have to run them.

A big theme here is end-user experience. Troy makes the case that operators have been ignored for too long, and that designing systems around spreadsheets instead of humans is why so many projects struggle.

We also get into scaling a manufacturing business, what it’s really like growing from a handful of people to well over a hundred, and the highs and lows of being in business with your family.

If you’re building something meant to last, whether that’s equipment, a team, or a company, there’s a lot in here worth sitting with.

In this episode, find out:

• What an MBR (membrane bioreactor) is, and why it’s become Cloacina’s core focus.
• Why Troy compares wastewater systems to race cars, and what happens when operators are handed something poorly designed.
• How prioritizing the operator changes everything from layout to long-term performance.
• What scaling a manufacturing business looks like when you’re buying equipment, hiring people, and fixing problems nonstop.
• Why Cloacina stopped listening to voices that slowed progress and focused on building the right team.
• How taking on single-point responsibility removes friction instead of adding risk.
• Where Troy sees the future of MBRs heading.

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “The Cloacina difference is the end user experience. We're hyper focused on that. It's all we care about at the end of the day.”
• “We were essentially building the airplane as it was on fire and falling out of the sky for many, many years.”
• “We are on a relentless pursuit for the perfect MBR. But the reason it's relentless is we will never get there; we will never achieve perfection. Perfection is the process, it's not a destination.”

Links & mentions:

• Cloacina - Troy Ellison’s company, focused on membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment systems
• Cloacina Rentals - Rental MBRs for immediate wastewater treatment solutions
• Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) - The core wastewater technology discussed throughout the episode
• Extreme Ownership - Leadership principle referenced (popularized by Jocko Willink)
• Jocko’s - The local bar that Troy references

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Mentioned in this episode:

Industrial Marketing Summit 2026

Industrial robots on a factory floor can be difficult, to say the least. Industrial robots on a concert stage, in front of 20,000 people, on a two-minute setup clock are a whole different challenge.

In this episode, we talk with Andy Flesser - computer animator turned “robot animator,” whose work has helped bring robotics into live entertainment and film - about what that kind of pressure does to how you think about automation. Why preparation starts way earlier than most teams realize. And why some of the best lessons for manufacturing come from places that don’t look like factories at all.

We also get into where Andy thinks robotics actually makes sense, where it probably doesn’t, and why the future of robots might be less about machines walking around and more about environments doing work around us.

If you’ve ever operated an automated system and felt that knot in your stomach when something didn’t behave the way you expected, you’ll recognize a lot of what he’s talking about here.

In this episode, find out:

1. How Andy went from animation into robotics, and why early robot programming felt more like deciphering a code than writing software
2. What it was like putting robots on tour with Bon Jovi, and why live entertainment turned out to be one of the toughest automation environments imaginable
3. Why a robot failing on a concert stage creates a very different kind of pressure than a robot failing behind factory walls
4. What really happens on a movie set when robotics are involved (including Black Adam), and why even “small” changes still need serious testing
5. Why Andy sees huge potential for robotics in medical applications, especially in areas most people don’t talk about
6. A take on the future of robotics that skips the humanoids and focuses on buildings, rooms, and systems doing the work instead
7. How entertainment can be a surprisingly effective way to pull people into robotics and automation careers

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

1. “Every single show, every inch, every second of time is so expensive. When something goes wrong, it’s happening right in front of everybody.”
2. “All the research and development in the world doesn’t exist unless you actually have sales.”
3. “I think the future isn’t robots walking around your house. I think the house will be the robot and you’ll be inside of it.”

Links & mentions:

1. andyRobot / Robotic Arts – Andy’s website and studio, where industrial robots get repurposed for live shows, touring, and film
2. Robot Animator – The software Andy built to let...

In true Manufacturing Happy Hour style, we head back to Pittsburgh, PA to drink the region's most iconic beer - Iron City - in an iconic Pittsburgh manufacturing facility. We sit down with Alex Gonzalez, Plant Manager at Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Part of our Made Here Series with the Industrial Solutions Network.

Mentioned in this episode:

Industrial Marketing Summit 2026

The Industrial Marketing Summit is the go-to gathering for marketers working in the manufacturing, engineering and industrial sectors. Built by Gorilla 76 and TREW Marketing, IMS delivers strategic insight, hands-on learning and true community. Whether you’re a team of one, or leading a scaled marketing department, you’ll walk away ready to market smarter, lead stronger and impact your business. Make sure to use the code "happy hour" at checkout for $100 off registration.

Industrial Marketing Summit 2026

Reindustrialization isn’t going to be driven by a single mega factory or a headline-grabbing announcement on the coasts. It’s going to be built region by region, by places that already know how to make things and are willing to evolve how they do it.

This episode was recorded live at +Venture North in Milwaukee, bringing together investors, founders, and operators to talk candidly about what it really takes to scale manufacturing in the heartland. The conversations cut through the buzzwords and focus on fundamentals: affordable power, experienced talent, corporate customers, and ecosystems that actually support manufacturers beyond the pitch deck.

You’ll hear why innovation may start anywhere, but scale almost always moves to regions with space, infrastructure, and people who know how to run plants. We also dig into how legacy industries adopt new technology without putting uptime at risk, and why reindustrialization won’t happen if workforce strategies stop at new graduates instead of upskilling the people already on the floor.

In this episode, find out:

1. Why reindustrialization scale-up is likely to happen “between the coasts” (and what regions need to compete)
2. How places like Tulsa and Milwaukee can win by leaning into their industrial DNA instead of trying to copy Silicon Valley
3. Why the cost of power is quietly becoming one of the biggest deciding factors in where manufacturing expands
4. How Carmen Industries is electrifying thermal processes (and why process engineers hate watching usable heat go “out the roof”)
5. What it really takes to get legacy plants comfortable adopting new technology without risking uptime or performance metrics
6. Why reindustrialization requires upskilling today’s workforce, not just training new entrants
7. What healthy ecosystems measure (and what they don’t): founders getting funded, exits, corporate engagement, and a community that’s genuinely welcoming

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

1. “Once you start needing manufacturing facilities for making hundreds, thousands of products, that’s when companies really start looking elsewhere.” - Rosa Hathaway
2. “If we only look at giving new manufacturing skills to 18- to 22-year-olds, we will never meet the workforce needs fast enough to reindustrialize the country.” - Bill Berrien
3. “Fifty percent of all end energy use is for thermal management, heating things up or cooling things down, and we do it in very inefficient ways.” - David Tse

Links & mentions:

1. NVNG Investment Advisors, a venture capital fund-of-funds backed by local corporations, focused on strengthening industrial innovation ecosystems.

Manufacturing leadership is more than just charts, tools, and process maps. It requires people who understand the routines, pressures and drivers within a factory, and how to bring out the best in the people behind it.

In this episode, keynote speaker, certified leadership coach and business transformation advisor, Kathy Miller returns to the show to share some ideas from her latest book, MORE is Better, a framework built from years of leading operations and studying what drives excellence in manufacturing.

Rather than starting with strategy or systems, Kathy begins with the human elements: helping people find meaning in the work they do, creating a culture where problems feel solvable, and building the relationships that make teams stronger and more resilient. Her stories come straight from plant floors navigating Lean initiatives, new technology, talent turnover, and the day-to-day realities of production.

For leaders trying to build long-term capability in their teams, Kathy reminds us that the factories that thrive are the ones that invest in both performance and people.

In this episode, find out:

• Why meaningful work matters more than ever, and how to help people see their impact
• The difference between autonomy and agency and why agency is what drives pride, ownership, and problem-solving on the plant floor
• How optimism becomes a cultural engine, not a personality trait
• Where Lean manufacturing and positive psychology intersect
• How leaders at every level shape culture through micro-moments of connection that build trust, resilience, and collaboration
• What digital transformation and AI mean for manufacturing workers
• How to “do a little more today” with small, practical leadership actions that build stronger workplaces one conversation, one moment, one choice at a time

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “A key aspect of lean manufacturing is eliminating waste. We don’t want people creating scrap. Who wants to work on something that’s going to end up being waste? Don’t you want to work on the product itself?”
• “Small choices really build our culture, our performance, and our leadership legacy, and that happens one little shift at a time.”
• “Optimism is really about that ability to look at when things go wrong and know that you can solve the problem. It's temporary, it's specific, and it's not going to be the end of the world.”

Links & mentions:

• MORE is Better: Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships for Excellence, by Kathy Miller, a practical handbook for manufacturing leaders, grounded in psychology and real plant experience, focused on building strong cultures that drive performance.
• More 4 Leaders, Kathy’s website and the home of More Mentor, her AI-powered coaching tool designed to help leaders work through real-world challenges using the principles from MORE is Better.
• Episode 97 featuring Kathy Miller, our first conversation with Kathy, aired June 28, 2022, where she shares her journey from running global manufacturing operations to coaching leaders through culture, leadership, and transformation.

A century ago, two cookware companies were born 12 miles apart in Wisconsin. One was bought right after World War II by a door-to-door salesman who converted it back to cookware after it had been repurposed for munitions. Today, those two companies have merged into SynergyOps, a 115-year-old legacy manufacturer with first through fourth generation employees still walking the factory floor.

David Duecker, President of SynergyOps, joins the show from the factory floor in West Bend to discuss the company's evolution, their approach to automation, and what reshoring can look like for manufacturers. He explains how West Bend evolved with consumer demand over the decades, expanding into appliances like coffee makers and popcorn poppers, but when appliances started moving overseas in the 80s, they made a critical decision: divest and double down on their core strength, high-quality cookware.

David's vision for the factory of the future isn't lights-out automation, it's highly automated with the people they have today, just doing different jobs. He also shares why manufacturing sustainability isn't just about solar panels and water recycling; it's about corrugated boxes coming from five miles down the road instead of across an ocean.

In this episode, find out:

• How SynergyOps retains institutional knowledge across four generations of employees
• Why David looks for problem solvers who are intuitive and curious during hiring
• David's vision for the factory of the future: highly automated, but still powered by people
• How his background as a customer in the bike industry shapes his approach to contract manufacturing
• The chemistry problem the cookware industry is trying to solve around PFAS-free non-stick coatings
• Why tariffs and COVID got manufacturers seriously rethinking single-source supply chains
• How partnering with Moraine Park Technical College helps build the next generation of skilled craftspeople
• Why Synergy Ops brings retirees back to lead tours and train new hires

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “As organizations, we’re always looking to expand or go to our adjacencies to try and grow our market. Sometimes it’s important to focus on your core and what you’re really good at. Go all in on that and penetrate the market that way.”
• “The factory of the future for us is highly automated with the people we have today, who are able to solve problems and make an impact every day, but they may just be doing a different job.”
• “We never talk about the sustainability of manufacturing in the US. People often think about it in terms of water, air and gas, but sustainability can also mean cutting down on air, freight or ocean travel time too.”

Links & mentions:

• SynergyOps, a contract manufacturer and private label partner with over a century of manufacturing history in West Bend, Wisconsin, specializing in cladded stainless steel and cast aluminum cookware for established and emerging brands.
• Moxa, delivering the reliable and secure connectivity foundation that advanced analytics and AI depend on, with solutions in edge connectivity, industrial computing, and network infrastructure.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and

1 more event in 2025. Dozens of events ahead in 2026. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Forget the hyperscalers replacing tens of thousands of jobs. For manufacturers with 20 or 50 employees, AI isn’t about cutting headcount, it’s about finding ways to get ahead when you can’t necessarily afford to scale your team. As Dr Richard Barnhouse, President and CEO of Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) puts it: figure out the things you hate to do and apply AI to that.

This episode was recorded live at WCTC's Applied AI Lab, featuring a roundtable with Dr Barnhouse, Amanda Payne from the Waukesha County Business Alliance, Guido Mazza from ITER IDEA, and Caleb Bryant, a student pivoting into AI after 20 years in lending. The panel explores how small manufacturers are practically applying AI today, from eliminating scheduling headaches to streamlining quoting and contracts.

Guido shares how one plastic manufacturer eliminated internal conflict by letting an algorithm handle shift scheduling across dozens of constraints, while Amanda reveals that 50% of Waukesha County businesses are already adopting or strategizing around AI; and over 90% of them have 50 or fewer employees. Caleb delivers one of the episode’s sharpest lines: AI doesn’t steal jobs, it steals tasks.

In this episode, find out:

• Why even free ice cream for life won't get buy-in, but removing a universal pain point will
• How a plastic manufacturer used AI to manage dozens of scheduling constraints and avoid internal conflict
• The three common reactions people have to AI and why two of them stem from the same root cause
• What Dr. Barnhouse warns about AI early-adopters when vetting consultants and programs
• Why the real ROI on some AI projects isn't money saved, but conflict avoided
• Why manufacturers are mostly implementing AI on the office side (quoting, contracts, and legal documents) for now
• The intersection of robotics, humanoids, and quantum computing that's coming faster than most realize

Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Start with the basics. Think about your company’s most repetitive or boring tasks and see if there’s an AI solution that could be applicable. Then, you have to differentiate and decide what the benefits are between automation or an AI agent for those tasks.” - Guido Mazza
• “The easiest way to get started is identify a single pain point that everyone in the company can’t stand, something so far down that not even the boss understands how it contributes to the bottom line. If you can mitigate that pain point, your team will understand how AI can help them focus on more important tasks.” - Dr Richard Barnhouse
• “There are usually three reactions to AI. People either embrace it, underestimate it or are intimidated by it. What AI does is breed creativity. And once you understand it a little bit more, you start to see all the different things it can be used for both in industry and your personal life.” - Caleb Bryant

Links & mentions:

• Waukesha County Technical College, one of the region’s leaders in workforce development, offering 170+ programs and customized employer training, including Wisconsin’s first comprehensive AI training and a world-class Applied AI Lab.
• Waukesha County Business Alliance, a long-standing, member-driven organization advancing economic growth and strengthening the business environment in Waukesha County through advocacy, development, engagement, and growth.