The Manufacturers Network Podcast Por Lisa Ryan arte de portada

The Manufacturers Network

The Manufacturers Network

De: Lisa Ryan
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The Manufacturers’ Network is where manufacturing leaders, plant managers, and industry innovators come to talk straight about what’s working and what’s not, on the shop floor and beyond. Each week, host Lisa Ryan sits down with people who live and breathe this business: operations executives, HR directors, engineers, and founders who are building stronger teams and smarter systems in the face of nonstop change. Listeners gain real-world insights on: • Employee retention and workforce engagement • Automation, AI, and the future of skilled trades • Supply chain and operations leadership • Safety, sustainability, and company culture that lasts If you’re tired of generic “leadership talk” and want practical conversations from people who get it, this podcast is for you. New episodes drop every Monday and are short enough for your commute, sharp enough to shape your week. Subscribe and be part of the conversation that’s connecting manufacturers across industries, one story at a time.Copyright 2026 Lisa Ryan Desarrollo Personal Economía Gestión Gestión y Liderazgo Éxito Personal
Episodios
  • Stop Hiring the Wrong People: A Manufacturer's Guide to Getting It Right with Friddy Hoegner

    Stop Hiring the Wrong People: A Manufacturer's Guide to Getting It Right with Friddy Hoegner
    Apr 13 2026
    Lisa Ryan welcomes Friddy Hoegner, founder of Scope Recruiting and a former procurement and supply chain leader. Friddy helps manufacturing and supply chain companies build the teams that actually keep operations moving and he does it from a perspective most recruiters simply don't have: he's lived the job himself.From Global Supply Chain to the Recruiting DeskFriddy's career began in Germany with ABB in a global rotational supply chain program, where he eventually became a global commodity manager following ABB's acquisition of Thomas & Betts. He later moved into a supply chain manager role with a furniture manufacturer in North Carolina before co-founding Scope Recruiting in 2017 with his wife, who had already identified a critical gap in the market: recruiting firms that specialized in supply chain were staffed almost entirely by people with HR backgrounds, not supply chain experience.That insight became Scope's founding principle. Rather than teaching supply chain professionals how to recruit, Friddy and his wife hired people with supply chain backgrounds and taught them the recruiting side of the business. The result is a firm that clients and candidates alike describe as refreshingly different, because the recruiters actually understand what the job requires.The Hiring Mistake That's Killing RetentionFriddy's most consistent finding across years of working with manufacturers is that retention problems almost always start with the hiring process; specifically, with a failure to define who you're actually looking for before you start looking.The pattern is predictable: a hiring manager submits a generic job description, different stakeholders have entirely different ideas about what the role should accomplish, and the organization moves forward without alignment. The hiring manager wants procurement expertise. The director of operations wants logistics. No one compared notes. The wrong person gets hired. And months later, the company wonders why they have a turnover problem.Friddy's solution is to work with all stakeholders upfront to build an ideal candidate profile; a detailed picture of the skills, experience, and behaviors the role actually requires, along with a clear definition of what success looks like at 6 months and 12 months. From that profile comes a scorecard, submitted with every candidate, that creates a consistent and less biased basis for evaluation.Why ChatGPT Can't Save a Bad Interview ProcessCandidates today can walk into any interview with a ChatGPT-prepared answer to every standard question. Friddy argues this makes the ideal candidate profile and structured interview process more important than ever, not less. When you know the job deeply, you can ask follow-up questions that no AI can prepare someone for. The first answer is rehearsed. The second and third follow-up questions reveal whether someone actually knows what they're talking about.This is precisely where Scope's supply chain background pays off. Generic recruiters can be fooled by a polished surface. Recruiters who've done the job can dig into the weeds and expose the gap between what someone says and what they actually know how to do.Hiring for an AI-Disrupted FutureAs automation and AI reshape manufacturing operations, Friddy cautions against hiring for narrow, specific skill sets that may be obsolete in two to three years. The manufacturers best positioned for the future aren't hiring for what they need today; they're hiring for adaptability, mental aptitude, and a demonstrated willingness to embrace change.Friddy points to a striking example from his time at ABB: a football field-sized factory in Germany producing miniature circuit breakers at the same cost as factories in Indonesia and Argentina, because there were almost no people on the floor. A handful of engineers and maintenance staff. That future, he argues, is closer than most manufacturers realize, which means the people you hire now need to be able to pivot as the environment shifts around them.Competing for Talent When You Can't Win on SalaryThe majority of Scope's clients are mid-market and family-owned manufacturers who will never outspend a Fortune 500 company on compensation or benefits. Friddy's advice: stop trying to compete on salary and start competing on impact.The candidates most valuable to smaller manufacturers are often the ones who've grown frustrated with corporate bureaucracy: the pace, the layers of approval, the distance from real decision-making. Smaller companies can offer something larger ones genuinely cannot: the ability to talk directly to the owner, change something meaningful in a day, and actually see the results of your work. That's a powerful draw for the right candidates, and it costs nothing to offer.Why the Best Candidates Aren't on Job BoardsFriddy is direct about the limits of posting and praying. The top 10% of talent in any field are rarely browsing job boards. Many have never applied for a job in their lives; they ...
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    28 m
  • He Built an 8-Figure Business Sending Handwritten Notes with Rick Elmore

    He Built an 8-Figure Business Sending Handwritten Notes with Rick Elmore
    Mar 30 2026
    Lisa Ryan welcomes Rick Elmore, founder and CEO of Simply Noted, a 100% bootstrapped, handwritten mail automation company powered by patented robotics and AI-driven personalization. A former NFL athlete turned 9-patent tech founder, Rick scaled Simply Noted to $10 million-plus in revenue by combining manufacturing, automation, and disciplined sales systems, all without a single dollar of outside investment.From the NFL to the Factory FloorRick's path to building a robotics company is anything but conventional. Drafted to the Green Bay Packers in 2011, he played for six teams in three years before facing what he describes as an identity crisis at 25. He took the transferable skills of an elite athlete: grit, discipline, competitiveness, and the willingness to embrace a process, and applied them first to corporate sales, where he became a consistent top 1% performer, and then to entrepreneurship.The spark came during his MBA program when a marketing professor closed a three-hour lecture with a simple observation: handwritten notes get opened 99% of the time and the mailbox is empty. Rick tested the idea with a pen plotter, 500 targeted prospects, and sold $300,000 in six weeks on a $50,000 quota. The entrepreneurial seizure, as he calls it, had arrived.Building What Didn't ExistWhat followed was eight years of over-engineering everything. Because no off-the-shelf solution existed, Rick had to build it from scratch: robots, software, algorithms, and all. Key milestones include:Going through 14 engineering firms over more than a year, using each proposal to sharpen the next, before committing to a single partnerSpending three years building the technology in chunks, funded entirely by customer revenue, with Thursday-night engineering sessions running from 2 PM to 10 PMDeveloping intelligent handwriting algorithms that understand context — an "E" at the start of a word is drawn differently than an "E" in the middle or at the endBuilding 220 custom handwriting robots in a 10,000 square foot facility, holding real pens, replaced twice a day by human attendantsEarning 9 patents along the way — and openly sharing why he now thinks they may not have been worth itPersonalization at Scale: What Simply Noted Actually DoesSimply Noted has made handwritten mail as automatable and trackable as email. Clients can start simple: a spreadsheet with first name, last name, and address. or go deep with full CRM integration, LLM-powered personalized messaging, QR code tracking, delivery notifications, and trigger-based workflows. Examples include:A lead moving to "closed" in Salesforce automatically triggers a personalized handwritten thank-you noteA complaint in a ticketing system pulls the complaint data, drafts a custom apology via an LLM, and sends a pen-written note to keep bad reviews offlineE-commerce brands sending anniversary notes on the date of a customer's first purchase — completely automatedQR codes on notes that, when scanned, automatically alert a sales rep via text message to follow up in real timeWhy the Mailbox Is the Last Uncluttered ChannelAds are ignored. Inboxes are buried. Social feeds are sponsored noise. But the physical mailbox is nearly empty, and something that looks genuinely handwritten stops people cold. Rick shares how a single handwritten note from a window contractor led Lisa's family to refer over $100,000 in business. That story, he says, is exactly why relationship-based businesses: real estate, home services, financial services, nonprofits, e-commerce see the strongest results.The Athlete Mindset Applied to EntrepreneurshipRick draws a direct line between fifteen years of athletic training and his ability to build slowly, stay disciplined, and not quit when things got hard. He pushes back against the social media myth of overnight success, pointing out that most "overnight" stories hide decades of accumulated domain expertise. Compounding success over time, he argues, is as fundamental in business as it is in sport.Actionable Takeaways for ListenersStart with a crawl-walk-run approach. Request a sample kit, test a simple send, then integrate; don't try to fully automate on day one.Relationship building works best consistently over time. A one-time campaign won't move the needle. The businesses getting the most value from Simply Noted are using it month after month, year after year.The mailbox is your competitive advantage. If everyone you compete with is fighting for inbox and ad space, stepping into a nearly empty channel is an asymmetric opportunity.Personalization doesn't require complexity. Even a simple mail merge with first names on a templated message outperforms nearly any digital equivalent in open rates and memorability.Patents are lawsuit coupons. Protect your business by being so difficult to copy that competitors exhaust themselves trying — not by relying on legal protection alone.Connect with Rick Elmore: LinkedIn: Rick Elmore simplynoted.com to request a free ...
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    31 m
  • Beyond the Hype: Making AI Work in Manufacturing with Sebastian Chedal

    Beyond the Hype: Making AI Work in Manufacturing with Sebastian Chedal
    Feb 16 2026

    In this insightful and practical episode, Lisa Ryan welcomes Sebastian Chedal, founder of Fountain City and co-founder of TestFox.ai. Sebastian helps executives implement AI strategies that actually work, focusing on one critical question: How do you join the 20% of AI initiatives that succeed instead of the 80% that fail? With 60% of his work in manufacturing and industrial sectors, Sebastian brings a grounded, practical perspective where implementation matters more than hype.

    A Journey Through Digital Transformation

    Sebastian's journey began in 1998 when he started Fountain City in the Netherlands. Over more than two decades, his work has evolved through network security, website and app development, creative projects, and ultimately into digital transformation with a focus on AI implementation—predominantly in manufacturing.

    As a self-described generalist at heart with diverse interests, Sebastian has founded five businesses total (two non-profits that didn't make it), giving him an entrepreneurial track record that includes both successes and failures. This real-world experience informs his practical, results-oriented approach to AI implementation. Fountain City has been the anchor and core of his professional life, adapting and evolving as technology has transformed over the past 26 years.

    The Catalytic Moment: Why AI Is Different Now

    Sebastian draws a powerful parallel between today's AI landscape and the mid-1990s internet era, when people would ask, "What's a website? I don't need a website. Why would I need a website?" People didn't understand the benefits, how it worked, or how much effort it would take to implement.

    Like many technological innovations, AI has finally reached a threshold catalytic point where it becomes truly useful, effective, and mainstream. The real breakthrough with large language models (LLMs)—what most people refer to when discussing AI today—is the ability to create qualitative automations, not just deterministic ones.

    The Fundamental Difference

    Deterministic automation (traditional): If this number is above this number, do this thing—straightforward logic gates we've had for decades.

    Qualitative automation (AI-powered): Integration of nuanced, context-dependent decisions into automation processes, opening entirely new categories of automation.

    This capability works at multiple levels:

    1. Workflow automation: Eliminating time-consuming, mundane work like data transformation and entry that used to require hours or intern labor
    2. Strategic support: Brainstorming, strategic planning, code planning, and design patterns
    3. Knowledge work: Tasks requiring judgment, context, and understanding rather than simple calculations

    The last year in particular has brought proposals and curiosity from people wanting to understand what it actually takes to put these systems in place—but the hype also leads to overestimation of capabilities and underestimation of implementation effort.

    Becoming AI-Ready: The Foundation for Success

    Sebastian outlines several critical dimensions of AI readiness that organizations must address:

    1. Management and Strategic Vision

    The wrong approach: "We need to make sure 30% of our processes are run by AI by the end of the year."

    This mandate isn't inspiring and doesn't give teams something meaningful to rally behind, even if it's the directive from stakeholders or management.

    The right approach: Transform mandates into meaningful vision:
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    29 m
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