Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered

In this Automation World podcast, we connect with John Perez, product manager with Fuchs Lubricant Company, to explore how industrial lubricants (and their uses) are changing in the industrial space as automation evolves and places new demands on assets. We discuss evolving expectations from OEMs for higher-performing, synthetic lubricants. And we touch on ways that artificial intelligence is empowering lubricant manufacturers to a...

In this Automation World podcast we connect with Ben Stewart, Rockwell Automation global digital strategy lead, to explore the ways that emerging automation tactics are affecting manufacturing execution systems and the strategies we use to optimize them. We dive into how industrial enterprises are moving beyond point solutions and custom setups for smarter MES. Ben details how his clients demand the ability to standardize MES acros...

Industrial elements are getting smaller, hardier and outgrowing the need to be housed within cabinets to protect them. This is a good thing; it means more available space within manufacturing environments and greater accessibility for those who work in them. This Automation World podcast focuses on smart new approaches with cabinet-free automation hardware systems. We'll define this approach, spot...

In this Automation World podcast, we’re joined by Vention's Brendan Sterne to explore how usability and accessibility are helping drive trends in industrial cobots and robotics. We dive into how manufacturers can create that environment where "anyone can program" and why that's important for realizing success in modern industrial spaces. We also touch on the common challenges manufacturers face in this space and how holistic ...

In this Automation World podcast, we’re joined by Hexagon’s Joel Martin to explore methods to make automation more practical, more accessible for manufacturers at every stage of their journey. In taking this mindset, Joel stresses, we make automation techniques more fully embraced and, thus, more successful. Our conversation touches on getting started with automation programs, the most common pitfalls at the beginning o...

In this episode of the Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered podcast, Chris McNamara, Automation Group market content director, interviews Steve Kaminski, product manager for condition monitoring sensors at Banner Engineering.

Kaminski explains that condition monitoring converts machine data into actionable maintenance insights, helping manufacturers keep assets operating efficiently and avoiding failures. He recommends beg...

During this Automation World podcast, we’re talking about something different… not automation in the traditional industrial spaces (process or discrete manufacturing which we often focus on), but rather we’re looking at automation in the metal fabrication and construction spaces, which are changing drastically as smart new tools and techniques empower teams in new ways.  We’re joined by Zach Boyd, CTO ...

In this Automation World podcast, recorded at the IMTS show in Chicago in late summer 2026, we connect with Sergei Altynbaev, founder and CEO of Aiolys, to explore the retrofit vs. replace debate when it comes to automation initiatives. We discuss how this decision is changing as automation matures and mainstreams, and if there are differences between European and American mindsets when it comes to updating or entirely swapping out...

In this episode of Automation World’s “Get Your Questions Answered” podcast we connect with Raj Rajendra, a Siemens portfolio sales specialist for automation products, who explains that “everyday automation” targets smaller applications—such as pumping stations, HVAC, water and wastewater systems, irrigation, building automation, energy monitoring, and OEM equipment—where users need capabil...

If you’ve read a newspaper over the past year—or purchased gasoline—you’re aware that our global supply chain is turbulent. And while we can’t control weather or war, manufacturers do have tools at our disposal to operate more efficiently within unsteady supply chains.

In this Automation World podcast we connect with Vincent Vasilevski of Supply Technologies, a leading global supply chain management co...

Now, 3D bin picking adds tremendous capability to industrial robots in manufacturing, but this technique requires advanced vision and expert setup. Today we’re going to spotlight the emerging 2D Flex feeding approach, empowered by more simple vision systems to enable quicker, more reliable implementations.

We’re connecting with Nicholas Kern, systems applications engineer with SICK, and Nick Barron, President of Feedall...

Join us for this podcast in which we take a deep dive into emerging benefits of the digital lockout/tagout approach. We connect with Devin Murray, safety manager with Schmersal, to explore the most common and beneficial applications of lockout/tagout, how network complexity is affecting this tactic, and how minor-servicing comes into play. Finally, we discuss how standards support lockout/tagout and what new capabilities are reveal...

Let’s face it...CAD systems are really just documentation systems for mechanical and electrical outputs from engineers’ minds. And oftentimes the greatest barrier to productiveness is the bandwidth of those engineers. But that bottleneck can be overcome with a smarter approach—the evolution of engineering intelligence—to make knowledge scalable across hundreds of projects.

In this podcast, we connect with Dr...

In this Automation World podcast, we chat with Rittal's Sarah Groden to explore modern manufacturers' challenges related to changing customer requirements, supply-chain disruptions, labor shortages, and accelerating production timelines. The key to staying competitive, Groden explains, is not simply reacting faster—it's designing agility into engineering and manufacturing processes from the very beginning.

We discuss how manu...

In this Automation World podcast, we chat with Infinite Uptime Founder and Managing Director Raunak Bhinge to explore the trust problem with artificial intelligence and how vertical AI can overcome that problem. Our conversation explores:

• What we mean by vertical AI
• Why mere alerts from AI are not enough
• Why industrial AI still needs humans in the loop

And we discuss how overcoming that gap enables industrial enterprises...

This episode is sponsored by Rockwell Automation.

We talk with Andy Stump, director of technical enablement at Rockwell Automation, about the latest findings from Rockwell Automation’s 11th annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report.

The discussion looks beyond the hype around AI to examine the broader industrial reality: Manufacturers are investing in connected systems, automation, robotics, digital twins and AI-enabled tool...

In this Automation World podcast episode, sponsored by DigiKey and Phoenix Contact, host Chris McNamara, head of content for Automation World, sits down with Chris Barber, product marketing manager for Phoenix Contact, to discuss the future of industrial automation.

The episode focuses on how industrial automation is shifting toward web-based HMIs, industrial PCs, edge computing, and software-defined control. Chris Barber describes...