Automation Ladies
The podcast where girls talk industrial automation!
We interview people from all walks of life in the Industrial Automation industry. Through a personal narrative/conversational framework we talk about PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, IIoT, Machine Vision, Industrial Robots, Pneumatics, Control Systems, Process Automation, Factory Automation, Systems Integration, Entrepreneurship, Career Stories, Personal Journeys, Company Culture, and any other interesting and timely topic we want to discuss.
Co-Hosted by Nikki Gonzales, Ali G & Courtney Fernandez - find them on LinkedIn!
Episodes
129 episodes
Season 7 Finale: Bridging the IT & OT Divide with David Ariens and Willem van Lammeren
Your digital transformation plan is probably not failing because you picked the wrong protocol. It’s failing because IT and OT are solving different problems with different timelines, different risk tolerance, and zero shared language. We sit d...
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When Trust Matters More Than Your Spec Sheet with Zoie Rittling
Edge computing sounds clean on a slide deck, but the factory floor is where the definition gets real fast. We talk with Zoie Rittling, an edge computing specialist at TEGUAR, about what “compute close to the data” actually means when you’re dea...
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Automate mini series: Whitney Sales
“We do it with AI” is easy to say. Making robots work through contact, uncertainty, and variation on a real factory floor is the hard part. We sit down with Whitney Dills from Thought Forge AI to unpack an approach to industrial robotics contro...
Automate mini series: Dylan Caufrier
Paper schematics feel “reliable” until they are the reason a shutdown drags on, a cabinet print is wrong, or a tech makes a split-second mistake under pressure. We sit down with Dylan from Lightstream, a Belgian family-owned industrial automati...
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You Can Learn People Skills Like You Learn PLCs with Alice Rystov and Cassy Gardner
Your engineering degree taught you equations. Then your first job asks you to troubleshoot a VFD, commission a skid, and explain the problem to five different people without melting down. That jump is real, and it’s exactly what we dig into wit...
Automate mini series: Amanda Beaton
Most people in industrial automation agree we have a skills gap, but we keep aiming the message at ourselves. We sat down with Amanda Beaton from Siemens to talk about the side of Automate that deserves a bigger spotlight: Education Day, studen...
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The Future of Automation: Physical AI, Robotics, and What’s Next with Dennis Gansen
AI isn’t just a software story, it’s a power story, a controls story, and a “how do we actually build this stuff” story. After the EPC show in Houston, I sit down with Dennis Ganson from Schneider Electric to unpack what’s changing in industria...
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Automate mini series: Christine Bush
ROI math can be brutally simple, and that’s exactly why it often fails in industrial automation. If your spreadsheet only asks “how many heads are we replacing,” you might get a clean payback number, but you also risk approving the wrong projec...
The Skills Gap Is Your Fault with Matt Kirchner
“Manufacturing is still the place where you can start out sweeping the floor and end up running the company” is a bold claim, so we brought on someone who has lived the full arc. I’m joined by Matt Kirkner from the Tech Ed Podcast to unpack how...
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Automate mini series: Wesley Garrett
Most automation projects stall long before the first robot moves. Not because the technology isn’t ready, but because buying feels like a maze: vague budgets, endless “it depends” quotes, and months of back-and-forth just to learn what somethin...
The Apprenticeship Model That Could Transform Manufacturing with PJ McGrew
Most workforce development advice sounds good until you try to scale it. Today we get specific, practical, and a little disruptive with PJ McGrew, Senior Vice President of Talent Strategy and Programming at Conexus Indiana, on why the Swiss app...
From AI to OT SCADA CON: The Future of Industrial Innovation with Bryan Thyken
Cloud-first AI sounds great until you remember what a factory actually is: proprietary recipes, fragile uptime, legacy controls that still run fine, and a small team expected to keep everything profitable. We sit down with Brian Thykin, Head of...
AI Won't Replace Automation Engineers, but It Will Change Everything with Rylan Pyciak
Everyone’s talking about AI, humanoids, and the “factory of the future” but plenty of plants are still held together with undocumented panels, obsolete PLCs, and the same hard production constraints they’ve had for decades. Nikki sits down with...
Modernizing Manufacturing with AI, AMRs & Digital Transformation with Carrie Brown & Krista Beyhaut of Wesco
“Digital transformation” sounds exciting until you’re standing in front of a 30-year-old panel with missing drawings and a line that cannot go down. Nikki sits down with Carrie Brown and Krista Beyhaut from Wesco to get real about what moderniz...
From Petroleum Engineer to Entrepreneur: Career Growth in the Oil & Gas Industry with Yogashri Pradhan
Getting laid off can either shrink your world or force it open. When we sit down with Yogashri Pradhan, she walks us through how she’s navigated the reality of a cyclical oil and gas industry and why she chose entrepreneurship anyway, building ...
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Why Career Paths Aren’t Linear: Lessons from Engineering, Writing, and Everything In Between with Rachael Pasini
In this episode of Automation Ladies, we step away from the technology and talk about something just as important: the people behind it.From nonlinear career paths to the pressure of “doing everything right,” this conversation dives into...
AI, OT SCADA Con, and Big Updates: an Automation Ladies Catch-Up
Something shifted for us this year: the more we commit to doing less, the more we’re actually building. Nikki, Courtney, and Allie get together for a real catch-up on work, life, and what’s next for Automation Ladies, with stories that range fr...
How A Nonprofit Brings Humanoid Robotics To Underserved Students with Dr. Elliot Heflin. Jr
Humanoid robots are getting real, and the biggest question isn’t “Can they dance?” It’s “Who’s going to understand them well enough to build, program, and fix them?” We sit down with Dr. Elliot Hefling Jr., founder of Reality Tech Academy, to t...
How A Hospitality Manager Became A Manufacturing Leader with Megan Weber
You don’t need a perfectly planned career to become a manufacturing leader. Megan, Director of Manufacturing at Sentry Equipment, started in hospitality and landed in manufacturing because she wanted a more predictable schedule for family life....
From Newsroom To Packaging: Sarah Wynn On Building Digital Community
Automation media, trade shows, and digital content are reshaping how the industrial automation industry connects. In this episode, Sarah shares insights from covering manufacturing and packaging events, building relationships across OEMs and in...
Conveyor Cougar: Automate or Get Left Behind with Cathy Rinne
Season 7 kicks off with Cathy “Conveyor Cougar” Rinne, President of FlexLine Automation, a 15-person, woman-owned integrator known for moving fast, shipping when it counts, and adapting the playbook—from conveyors and robotics to a TikTok prese...
From Beer Bar to Buildathon: Margarita Rosenkrans’ Journey with Ignition
When a chance conversation at a beer bar introduced her to the word “SCADA,” Margarita Rosenkrans had no idea it would spark a career in industrial automation. In this episode, Courtney and Alicia chat with Margarita—Sales Engineer at Inductive...
From Tesla Batteries to Underground Tunnels with Riddhi Padariya
Ever wondered what it takes to lead automation projects at trailblazing companies like Tesla and The Boring Company?Nikki chats with Riddhi Padariya about her journey from nerdy high schooler inspired by "How It's Made" to becoming a con...
Machine Vision, Project Nightmares, and Automation Chaos with Kerry Pierce
Curious how someone ends up building a career around machine vision and industrial automation? Nikki sits down with Kerry Pierce, discussing the winding path that led her from computer engineering to becoming a machine vision integr...
Building Business Skills as an Engineer with Brielle Reisman
How do you build business skills as a chemical engineer?In this episode of the Automation Ladies podcast, Ali G chats with Brielle Reisman, who shares her experiences at Applied Control Engineering, and the importance of combining techni...
