Augmented Ops

Latest Episodes:

Reindustrializing in 2025 — AI, Scale, and the Future of U.S. Manufacturing with MIT’s Liz Reynolds Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

In this bonus episode, our guest is Liz Reynolds, manufacturing and workforce expert at MIT and strategic advisor to Tulip..

Fresh from Detroit's Reindustrialize conference, Liz and Natan share key insights on America's urgent push to bring manufacturing back home. They explore the "Spring of momentum" in reindustrialization efforts, from AI moving beyond hype to real implementation on the shop floor, and break down the massive scale challenges facing US manufacturers across critical sectors.

Drawing from major industry conferences including Reindustrialize, the Hill and Valley Forum, Industry Studies Association, and MIT's Initiative for New Manufacturing, she explains strategic workforce development approaches to address the 400,000 manufacturing worker shortage and the Department of Defense's $1 trillion budget impact on industrial capacity. Reynolds sheds light on how this Spring's discussions and strategic planning around technology adoption and workforce training are beginning to take concrete shape as the real work accelerates into Fall.

Augmented Ops is a podcast for industrial leaders, citizen developers, shop floor operators, and anyone else that cares about what the future of frontline operations will look like across industries. This show is presented by Tulip, the Frontline Operations Platform. You can find more from us at Tulip.co/podcast or by following the show on LinkedIn.

Special Guest: Elisabeth Reynolds.

AI, Agility, and Enterprise Architecture – Reflections on Season 5 of Augmented Ops Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

This week marks the final episode of Season 5 of Augmented Ops! Natan and Erik look back and share their biggest takeaways from conversations with CEOs, frontline engineers, and operations leaders.

They unpack marketing hype vs. the current state of AI on the shop floor, the rise of citizen developers, and why “digital transformation” needs a serious rebrand.

They also dive deep into the demise of traditional MES, explore the shift toward composable, platform-driven architectures, and offer predictions on how adaptability will define manufacturing success in the year of the “composable operations.”

The Future of Quality and Validation with AstraZeneca’s Bob Buhlmann Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

This week’s guest is Bob Buhlmann, Head of Quality Digital and Computer Strategy at AstraZeneca.

Bob shares how technology has evolved over the course of his 35+ years in the pharma industry, the hurdles pharma companies often face when adopting emerging technology, and the future of quality management.

He also takes a deep dive into validation, the challenges associated with validating software created by citizen developers, and AstraZeneca’s innovative solution for this pressing problem in the pharma industry.

Special Guest: Bob Buhlmann.

The Rise of the Frontline Engineer: Driving Digital Transformation on the Shop Floor May 21, 2025

Show notes

This week’s guests are Ryan Infantozi of VEKA, Esmeralda Gonzalez of Stanley Black & Decker, and Cuyler Monahan of Agility EMS.

The three represent a new generation of frontline engineers—dedicated shop floor problem solvers applying digital technology to tackle the diverse set of challenges each of their operations face on a daily basis.

The three share best practices and lessons learned on the shop floor, how manufacturers can attract the next generation of engineers and operators, and their take on the pros and cons of a citizen development approach to digital transformation.

Special Guests: Cuyler Monahan, Esmeralda Gonzalez, and Ryan Infantozzi.

Lighthouses, Lean, and the Human Factor in Digital Transformation with AstraZeneca’s Jim Fox May 07, 2025

Show notes

This week’s guest is Jim Fox, SVP of Americas Supply Operations at AstraZeneca.

Jim explains how digital manufacturing in pharma has evolved over his nearly 3 decades in the industry, from basic automation and data collection to advanced predictive modeling and integrated digital ecosystems—and why having humans in-the-loop continues to be critical despite these advancements in autonomy.

He also shares his perspective on building trust in emerging technology, the continued importance of lean principles, and the tension between regulation and speed to market.

Special Guest: Jim Fox.

Rethinking Governance, eBR, and the CIO Role from the Ground Up with NextPharma’s Joel Fidalgo Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

This week’s guest is Joel Fidalgo, CIO of NextPharma.

Joel shares how NextPharma is bridging IT and operations to lead digital transformation across a decentralized CDMO network, and taking a modular, app-based approach to MES and eBR.

He also explores the changing role of the CIO in driving innovation on the shop floor, the importance of cross-functional collaboration, and the challenges of scaling standardized solutions across diverse sites each of which have their own unique requirements.

Special Guest: Joel Fidalgo.

Hannover Messe Unfiltered: The Real State of AI in Manufacturing Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

This week, Natan Linder, Co-Founder and CEO of Tulip sits down with Madilynn Castillo, Tulip’s CMO for a recap of their experiences at this year’s Hannover Messe—the world’s largest industrial trade fair.

They explore the overwhelming AI hype at the fair, the confusion it creates for manufacturers, and the persistent gap between marketing and real operational impact when it comes to these shiny new tools. Plus, an overview of the latest developments from Tulip that debuted at the show.

Special Guest: Madilynn Castillo.

Preview: Hannover Messe Special Apr 02, 2025

Show notes

This week, we're at Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial trade show.

We’re foregoing our usual episode this week, but, we’ll be recording our annual on-site episode at the show later this week covering the state of the industry, analyzing the trends we’re seeing, and cutting through the hype to figure out which of the latest technologies on display here at Hannover will have real impact on the shop floor.

We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Operational Excellence at Enterprise Scale with Stanley Black & Decker’s Audrey Van de Castle Mar 19, 2025

Show notes

This week’s guest is Audrey Van de Castle, Senior Director of Operational Excellence Technology at Stanley Black & Decker.

Audrey breaks down the challenges of scaling digital initiatives across 100+ manufacturing sites, how to balance governance with citizen development, and the need to move past the buzzwords and invest in technology that can make a difference on the shop floor today.

She also shares insights into her unconventional career path from running a makerspace to becoming a digital transformation leader, best practices for working with IT, and her passion for building fighting robots.

Special Guest: Audrey Van de Castle.

Episode 66: Bridging the Physical-Digital Divide in Industrial Tech Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

In episode 66 of the podcast, the topic is: Bridging the Physical-Digital Divide in Industrial Tech. Our guest is Rony Kubat (@kubat), CTO and co-founder, Tulip

In this conversation, we talk about the complexity of the shop floor and programming a physical-digital environment. What does Digital Lean mean to you? What is augmentation? What's next in industrial tech?
Augmented is a podcast for industrial leaders, process engineers and shop floor operators, hosted by futurist Trond Arne Undheim (@trondau), presented by Tulip (@tulipinterfaces), the frontline operations platform.

Trond's takeaway:
The physical-digital environment is no joke. When you speak with a real technologist who not only has imagined what the future would look like, but who is involved in building it, integrating software and hardware on the factory floor, you realize how difficult it will be to transform industrial work. It is not just about industrial tech, it is about people. It is not just about neat software, or fancy hardware. It all has to work together. And, more importantly, it has to fit into the overall context of what people are already doing.

Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, subscribe at Augmentedpodcast.co or in your preferred podcast player, and rate us with five stars. If you liked this episode, you might also like episode 44, No-code for IoT in the Cloud, episode 47, Industrial Machine Learning or episode 29, The Automated Microfactory.

The Augmented podcast is created in association with Tulip, connected frontline operations platform that connects the people, machines, devices, and the systems used in a production or logistics process in a physical location. Tulip is democratizing technology and empowering those closest to operations to solve problems. Tulip is also hiring. You can find Tulip at Tulip.co.

Please share this show with colleagues who care about where industry and especially industrial tech is heading. To find us on social media is easy, we are Augmented Pod on LinkedIn and Twitter, and Augmented Podcast on Facebook and YouTube:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/augmentedpod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AugmentedPodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AugmentedPod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Y1gz66LxYvjJAMnN_f6PQ

Augmented--industrial conversations that matter. See you next time.

Special Guest: Rony Kubat.

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