Transcript 0:00 [upbeat music] Welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show, your voice for our connected world, with your host, Peggy Smedley. Hello, listeners, and welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show. 0:17 As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. Today we're taking a hard look at the reason manufacturers continue to stall. 0:24 It's not about the tools, it's not about the processes, and it's not even about the labor shortage, it's about the mindset that leaders carry into every decision, the beliefs that shape culture, drive resistance, and even quietly overload the workers that depend on them. 0:42 So we're going to dig into why fear of automation is often the fear of being unsupported, why chaos isn't inevitable, and why the next era of manufacturing will define this one critical shift in thinking. 0:57 We're also gonna look at this workforce pipeline, why K through 12 to the plant floor, and whether we're finally seeing this movement or kind of stick in one place, as we always talk, are they stuck? 1:10 So joining me today to break this all down is Kelly Ireland, CEO of CBT. Kelly, welcome to the show. Thank you, Peggy. So excited to be talking with you today. 1:23 Kelly, you and I have known each other for a long time, and we understand manufacturing really well, so I thought maybe the best way we could start this off is manufacturing loves to blame the tools, the processes, and, and even labor shortages. 1:36 I started out this conversation. But let's really talk about how much of the industry's stagnation is looking at the leadership level. What do you think about that? Um, I think it's a mixed bag. 1:50 From what we've seen, we work with all kinds of industries and a lot of manufacturers, and I think it's really a mixed bag, but you're right. There is definite stagnation. 2:00 I think some of it, Peggy, is about what they've seen as being unsuccessful in the past. When you look at IoT, we've had to be challenged with people trying to deliver it without really understanding it. 2:15 So you have, I, I remember, what, up to five, six years ago, POC purgatory. Everything went into stall. That... I mean, I heard that so many times. And I got a ton of feedback about, "Oh, well, it didn't really work. 2:29 That didn't really work." 2:31 So when you have a mixed bag of new technologies coming out, some successes and some not successful in what they can bring to the front line, and then you have projects that everybody said, "Oh, this is gonna be glorious and wonderful and bring all this ROI," and then it stagnates, and it dies. 2:51 And COVID caused some of that, but some of the manufacturers caused some of that, some of the companies caused that. I think it's really a mixed bag. 2:59 The thing is, is we're past that now, and some of that is still hanging out. Some of that is still sitting there. We're having to work through the, "Oh, that doesn't work. Oh, that doesn't bring value." 3:10 A- and that goes to the top level because from the CFO down, they want to see the value this brings. 3:16 If somebody can't lay that out with, "This is your ROI, this is very quantifiable," et cetera, there's not very many people in our industry that can do that right now. 3:26 So let's talk about that because I think at CBT you exposed these unproductive patterns. What's most deeply rooted in the belief that manufacturing culture is actively slowing transformation. 3:40 So let's talk about what you're doing there. Okay. I think the biggest challenge we are seeing across the board is adoption- Ugh. Yeah... because you have a mixed workforce. So you have a mixed workforce. 3:54 You have youngsters who love tech, want to bring it in, want to accept it. 3:59 You have, I mean, I'm speaking of myself, we have older workforce, not as much into adopting new tech, close to retirement, why do I have to learn new stuff? 4:09 So again, there, it's a mix, but you also have where it is without having this adoption, how do you get management to say, "No, you have to"? And a lot of that goes back to what does this bring to the corporation? 4:24 What is the value it brings? From what we're seeing in the research we're doing, what AI is gonna decimate on the white collar, quote, unquote, "white collar jobs," it's gonna do the exact opposite. 4:37 For manual labor, blue collar jobs, you know, industrial jobs, it's gonna do the opposite. It, it can just absolutely hockey stick that up. So we're all talking AI, AI. We're all hearing how great it is. 4:50 But when workers push back, let's say on automation or AI, is it really the fear of technology? Let's cut through the hype here. Or is it the fear that the organization won't support them through the change? 5:04 I think the organization... From what we're seeing, I believe organizations, um, forward-thinking organizations are stepping up, and they will support the change. I think you still get the workforce... 5:17 I, I think you get younger workforce that's gung ho, like I said, and then older workforce or others that don't want to adopt it or are afraid they'll be called out because they don't get the tech. 5:30 I think we have to look at the training of employees. We have to look at the front line. 5:35 We have to develop, and I'm seeing this happen in some companies, developing training programs that really helps meet them where they're at and help them understand because I can tell you there's...One other thing that we've noticed is you have workers who are afraid that tech is gonna take their job, or it's gonna take their friend's job that they work with. 5:57 Well, what we've seen is when it's approached correctly, when you bring them in to help have them help you develop work use cases and workflows and all of that, you bring them into the discussion, which we think is the first thing they should do, bring them in to be a piece of it, then they start adopting it. 6:16 And once they see what it does, we've had ones come back to us and say, "I thought it was gonna take my job. I thought it was gonna take my friend's job. Actually, it did the opposite. 6:26 It makes me feel like the company cares about me. They want me to advance in my education and, you know, advancement in my career. And oh, by the way, they want me to be safer as well." 6:38 So we got that feedback independently from, from one worker who initially thought, "Oh, there's my job. This tech's gonna take it." 6:47 So you're h- helping some of these leaders confront some of the chaos that can be avoided, so at least in that one leader. Is that helping others? Is that what you're describing? 6:58 We're sharing the information about how other corporations are approaching it, because you're gonna have ones that have no exposure. 7:05 We have some companies we work with right now, and these are all large blue chip companies. These are s- not, not small business. 7:13 These are large business, and I think a lot of them are net new to wearables, to IoT, no clue, and then you have ones that have tried on and off. 7:22 So again, mixed bag of some are honed in on the process and understand it but have not had successes. We have others that are new and, man, are on fire. Like, "Okay, we need this in six different divisions. 7:37 Here's use cases, aligning us with people in those groups." So I am seeing a complete mixed bag, and I'd say, Peggy, that's probably been over the last, started about nine months ago. 7:49 So we had stagnation for years, and now all of a sudden we have where the ones that get it are getting it, and they're lining up, they're doing the appropriate things, executive sponsor, champion, project manager approaching it the right way and looking at it. 8:06 And then you have the other ones that are dabbling. They're open to it, and then you have ones that are still fearful. So that is... 8:12 I hear you talk a little bit, I'm, uh, makes me think about what's the biggest blind spot that leaders have about the cognitive load? 8:20 We talk about the frontline workers are the ones who are gonna be let go, and then we see the, the top line leaders are, are the ones who are kinda managing all this. 8:28 But what's that cognitive load that they're placing on these frontline workers? And I guess that's what's happening. How are you exposing it then? 8:36 Because if that's what's happening, there's so much pressure, what's really getting done? Are they really looking and making the goals that they need? 8:44 It just seems to me that there's a missing part here, and that's where I think you can come in and help them understand what needs to be done effectively instead of in this chaotic, upsetting world that's occurring. 8:57 You're 100% right. 8:59 What I would say on that is if you look at really helping them understand the art of the possible, because in many cases they're not educated at all on what you can do with wearables, with additional software, with s- smart technologies, especially in manufacturing. 9:19 So when you look at what it can deliver to an inline worker, to a frontline worker, to somebody out in a service area, et cetera, just based on the wearable itself, when they see that... 9:32 We, we called it the art of the possible. Now we're starting to call it the art of the impossible, because the impossible is becoming possible. So you look at it both ways. 9:41 But when we're able to get to that level to educate them on what's possible, and not only that, is saying, how important is the data at the edge? 9:49 How important is what that frontline person is doing and gathering, uh, feeding that back into your back-end systems? 9:57 We've had now, you know, s- now we're getting conversations with some of the customers where can we tie this in to work orders and workflows, and can we tie it into SAP and Oracle systems? 10:08 Can we tie it in to ServiceNow, et cetera? Whatever they're using in the back end, and we're like, "Absolutely. Absolutely, and you want that data, and you want it to come back in there." 10:18 So there definitely are companies that are starting to understand how we are going to, uh, rather quickly see those frontline edge data 10:29 focuses get integrated into the back-end systems of companies, and all of it is going to converge. I love the art of the possible, and [laughs] I like that you're talking about the art of the impossible now. 10:40 The impossible. You're making it that way. I think that that just says to me now that we're seeing this workforce development change, this whole mindset change. 10:49 Is that what's happening now, that mind shift, shift, change with manufacturers so that they're not only surviving, that they're actually thriving? 10:59 Think the ones that we see right now, the ones we work with that are doing well, it's not just about their product. 11:07 It's about the full solution, because we had it back over the last five years or so, especially with COVID, where it was this single-focused sell my widget, sell my software, go. 11:19 You know, and you have to understand, it was early, I'm gonna say early in IoT, although it wasn't, but it really was, because it didn't launch like it should have. 11:28 And you had VCs and PEs and everything else, and people wanted to see, you know, "Oh, this is an event where lone workers, this should just thrive." Well, it was go out and sell it. 11:41 Our approach has always been, and my approach has always been solution. If you don't sell it as a solution, you're not solving a problem. You're selling a widget. 11:50 Well, I think that has finally come to fruition of that is the only way to approach this, because, y- you know, selling a device that doesn't solve a problem-Or increase production. 12:04 Doesn't e- either make a s- a worker safer or more productive or reduce expenses and costs, then why would you use it? So... And you're not gonna get that just off selling a wearable. 12:16 You're gonna get that off of selling what the wearable can do and achieve and stack. The thing is, is stacking. You have a wearable, you use it for, you know, priority one. Crawl, walk, run is how we approach it. 12:29 Crawl, walk, run. You start with one, and then you stack, just like you do on a tablet or a laptop or a iPhone. 12:35 You do the same thing on a wearable, in the wearables that we do, and then all of a sudden the ROI goes up, the adoption goes across. 12:45 Y- you know, we have right now, Peggy, it's so much fun to watch, we actually have ROIs in, like, two days. These items are paid for in two days, and then they have a shelf life of two to three years. 12:56 And you can just keep adding capabilities to them. Why would you not do that? And those are the ones that are gonna be successful. So I think that's what we need to really look at. 13:07 What we think about what happened a couple of decades ago when we talked about IoT, it's really thrived now in the sense that we're seeing this shift really happen. And, and it's not something that's stagnant. 13:20 You're really showing this opportunity to make really good decisions in these devices that are now systems that are changing the way manufacturers operate throughout the entire plant floor. 13:32 Throughout the entire plant floor. And the thing is, the plant floor... And the thing is, is what they're doing there resonates across 25 other industries. That's what's so significant. 13:45 What we're seeing is manufacturing's do it, but so is everybody else, and it's relative to all of them. That's what's kind of exciting to me. It's not just set for manufacturing. 13:55 But I think manufacturing is definitely one of the places where it can be extremely impactful. Let me give you a scenario. So manufacturing... And, and this is kind of a cross-breed. [laughs] Manufacturing, 14:10 let's say somebody is... We have a manufacturer of machines that manufacture, okay? So think of it that way. I have a manufacturer. He manufactured. That company manufactures something. They send it off. Well, it breaks. 14:26 What do they have to do? If it's a large device, they have to fly somebody down there. They have to have specialized... I mean, we've worked with companies where they're flying experts in from Germany, you know, 14:38 f- from some other foreign country. I see it already. They're having- I see the answer. Yeah. They're having to fly people in. Well, okay, let's not fly them in. Let's get a wearable device, put it on. 14:49 Let's get a capable technician, engineer to wear it. Let's have that expert walk that through. 14:56 We have companies right now that are saying, "Oh, every single one of our customers needs to have that, one of those on site, because that is going to, one, guess what? The cost of downtime." 15:07 You just did something on the cost of downtime. When we're hearing that, "Oh, we saved 10 minutes. We had it up and running 10 minutes quicker with the device," and we ask, "Well, how do you count downtime?" 15:19 And they go, "By the second." There's a value by the second, so 10 minutes, that is a massive savings. So when you consider the downtime, I mean, to me, I'm getting a lot of, "That's a no-brainer," 15:34 which is a great comment to- What I love about hearing you say this, and we're running out of time, this is transformation across the board and collaboration globally. Yeah. 15:42 That's what I hear here, to make real time decisions happen that we thought we wanted to do when we first talked about IoT that didn't happen, that you're making it happen now. I love this conversation. 15:52 Kelly Ireland, CEO of CBT, you have to come back, and we have to continue this conversation. I have so many more questions. 15:59 Where can our listeners go to get more information and to learn more about your products and what you're doing? Absolutely. You can hit us up at, uh, cbtechinc.com. That's our website, have a lot of information there. 16:13 Or just reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm CBT-Kelly. Happy to talk to anybody. Kelly, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. [upbeat music] Okay, listeners, this is all the time we have for this segment. 16:27 Make sure to share and subscribe to our episodes each week. Share your thoughts with me on X @connectedworld. Or follow me on LinkedIn and YouTube, and continue the conversation there. 16:35 Please check out our website at connectedworld.com, our show website at thepeggysmedley show.com. Remember, we broadcast live every Tuesday, 12:00 PM Central. 16:43 This is The Peggy Smedley Show, your voice for our connected world. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. [upbeat music]
