The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek

Ian Tooke is the VP of Digital Transformation & AI at Grantek. Ian has a dual mandate at Grantek; overseeing Consulting & Digital Solutions while directing enterprise IT, AI strategy, and Marketing for a 230-person systems integrator serving regulated manufacturers.

With 30 years in manufacturing technology, Ian holds multiple patents and serves as a MESA International board member. His background spans strategy, marketing...

Chase Dorsey is a Sales Engineer at Inductive Automation. Since 2020 Chase has been helping manufacturers improve their operations with Ignition by Inductive Automation. Ignition brings affordable Digital Transformation to industrial operations. With just one server license, manufacturers can connect all their devices and collect more data. The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek delivers a look into the world of manufacturing, with...

Andrew Waycott is the President & Co-Founder of TwinThread. Andrew is passionate about the intersection of manufacturing, technology, and Industrial AI, and their impact on efficiencies for today’s manufacturers. For the past two decades, on a global scale, Andrew has nurtured this passion to the benefit of clients whose manufacturing processes have exhibited an untapped or business-critical growth opportunity. Working in...

Sam Russem is the Vice President of Business Development at Kanoa. Sam is passionate about the concepts of Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and Digital Transformation: studying, discussing, evaluating, developing, and planning how we can apply innovations in computing, networking, and data to the manufacturing space. Sam believes that Smart Manufacturing technologies can improve our everyday lives by delivering new and innovative...

Welcome to Season 5 of The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek. This season we welcome our new host, Matt Susi. Matt is a Technical Consultant in Grantek’s Consulting & Digital Solutions Group.

The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek delivers a look into the world of manufacturing, with a focus on stories and trends that lead to better solutions.

Our guests will share tips and outcomes that will help improve your productivit...

Leslie Galer is the Owner of Collaborative Quality Improvement LLC, A Quality and Food Safety Consulting company. She also subcontracts for Commercial Quality Assurance and Food Safety Solutions. Leslie is a highly efficient and results-driven professional with Black Belt and Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) certifications. Over 20 years experience in the Food and Dietary Supplements Industries, focusing on: R&D, factory food s...

Geoff Nelson is the Vice President of Technical Solutions at SafetyChain. SafetyChain is a digital plant management platform for process manufacturers trusted by more than 2,000 facilities to improve plant-wide performance. It unifies production and quality teams with data and insights, tools, and delivers real-time operational visibility and control by eliminating paper and point solutions. Geoff has been with SafetyChain for over...

Neha Sharma is a Product Manager at Grantek, she has 10+ years of experience in defining technology solutions to solve business/IT problems for manufacturers. Over the years, Neha has worked across various positions such as Software Developer, Module Lead, Techno-Functional Consultant and Manufacturing Engineer. Neha has worked for world class clients across the globe. Neha has experience in the automotive industry, packaging indus...

Nic Stachtchenko is the Sr. Manager of ID Products at Cognex. Cognex designs, develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of image-based products. Cognex products include machine vision systems, machine vision sensors, and barcode readers that are used in factories and distribution centers around the world. Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 4 million image-based products, repr...

Ian Wilson is the Safety & Logistics Practice Leader at Grantek. Ian is an experienced Project Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the industrial automation industry. Skilled in Process Control, Control Systems Design, SCADA, Engineering, and Process Automation. Ian is a proven and strong program and project management professional with a TUV focus in Machine Safety. The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek delivers...

William Barnette is a Senior Project Manager focused on Digital Manufacturing at Kraft Heinz. William is an Application Developer, Database Administrator, and Project Manager in a wide variety of business applications. He has created everything from full blown applications to thousands of scripts for end users. William is a Visual Basic, VBA and VB script specialist. William has worked at Kraft Heinz for over 34 years. The Indust...

Derek Kostelnik is Grantek’s Practice Leader of the Solution Support Group. Derek leads a team of Service & Support professionals located across North America. The Solution Support Group provides support to Grantek clients who value uptime and limited disruptions across their manufacturing operations Derek has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering, and he has worked at Grantek for almost 25 years. The In...

Kartik Sundar is the founder of TeamSlide. Launched in 2015, TeamSlide is a slide search solution for PowerPoint users in several fields including marketing, sales, and professional services. They enable customers to share knowledge, ensure consistent messaging, and drive productivity when building presentations. Kartik has a PhD in Bioengineering from Georgia Tech and later worked as a management consultant before launching TeamSl...

Welcome to Season 4 of The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek. This season we welcome back our host, David McKenna. David is Grantek’s Smart Packaging Practice Leader.

The Industry 4.0 Podcast with Grantek delivers a look into the world of manufacturing, with a focus on stories and trends that lead to better solutions.

Our guests will share tips and outcomes that will help improve your productivity. You will hear from leading...

Jim Toman is a Senior MES Advisor at Grantek. Jim has 30+ years of experience creating data driven systems for manufacturers.

In this bonus episode, the discussion centers around the upcoming Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Rule 204 enforcement. FSMA falls under the authority of the United Stated Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The changes coming with FSMA 204 will go into effect and become enforceable in January 2026, at...

Grant Daft is a Software Applications Specialist at Videojet. Based in UK, Grant has been with Videojet since 2004. During the almost 20-year tenure, Grant has served in leadership roles focused on solutions support, software application development and product management.

Since the 1960s, Videojet is a global leader in the development and manufacture of high-quality product identification equipment for coding and marking – ...

Robin Maurice is the District Leader of Grantek’s Montreal Office. In this role Robin oversees the work done by Grantek in New England, Quebec, Eastern Ontario, Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern United States. Robin lives in Montreal, QC. His primary language is French, with English being his second language. Don’t be surprised to hear some funny translated expressions from Robin on today’s episode, he is famou...

Doug Yerger is a Principal Engineer at Grantek. Doug’s 30-plus years of experience includes the architecting, design, implementation, commissioning, and support of PLC Control Systems, Robotic Applications, Vision Applications, Database Applications, MES Implementations, Warehouse Management Systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems, and HMIs. Doug serves as a leader within the organization, providing governan...

Angela Morris is the Head of Global IT Manufacturing Capabilities at The Kraft Heinz Company. Angela is a driver of strategy and vision, passionate promoter of operational excellence, classically trained musician, love of gardening, student of culture, and active in community engagement and service. Today, Angela is accountable for strategic planning and to drive digital automation and integration in her current role at Kraft Heinz...