Pashi presents the Means of Production, a podcast about what it really takes to build, maintain, and scale the processes that produce the physical products that power our world. Every episode, we ask a manufacturing expert to walk us through the nuts and bolts of how they do their job. We explore how and why they got into manufacturing, dive deep into the hardest problems they've solved on production lines, and discuss their thoughts on what's broken in manufacturing today and how those things can be fixed.
This podcast is hosted by Siddhit Sanghavi, Pashi's US Operations Lead, and former assembly engineer at Ford Motor Company. If you are part of the manufacturing world and you're interested in being a guest on the Means of Production, get in touch below.
Episode 15: Eliminating coolant in machining, tech institutionalization, and why we should get rid of legacy data systems.
Season 1 Episode 15, Aug 04, 2021.
Rich Furness, Data Scientist with the Global Data Insights and Analytics Group at Ford Motor Company, talks about how he and his team pioneered dry machining, the challenges involved in getting teams to adapt to new tools and systems, and why a data revolution in manufacturing would need legacy data systems to be jettisoned.
Episode 14: Driving operational performance excellence across diverse fields, analyzing changeover downtime the right way, and dissolving departmental silos.
Season 1 Episode 14, Jul 28, 2021.
Prashant Dhillon, Performance Excellence Manager at Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research, talks about applying performance excellence strategies across diverse fields such as manufacturing, construction and healthcare, how we should be looking at changeover management, and how companies can encourage cross-department communication.
Episode 13: Designing Intelligent Range, powering manufacturing innovation with analytics, and how rotating employees across disciplines can build cooperation in companies
Season 1 Episode 13, Jul 21, 2021.
Adam Kowalski, Data Scientist for the Advanced Connected Vehicles Group at Ford Motor Company, talks about how he got into a role that deals with the intersection of data analytics and manufacturing, the volume/quality tradeoff in data, and how test stands are the unsung heroes of product quality.
Episode 12: A very difficult production line to balance, how to correctly measure operator productivity and difficulties in communicating in a plant environment.
Season 1 Episode 12, Jul 14, 2021.
Christine Cardenas, Battery Manufacturing Engineer at Ford Motor Company, talks about building a knowledge base by working hands-on on the plant floor, the intricacies in kitting lines, and navigating relationships with various stakeholders in a manufacturing environment.
Episode 11: Troubleshooting a hot-started jet engine over the phone, adapting US Navy training techniques to maximise efficiency in manufacturing, and what diversity brings to the workplace.
Season 1 Episode 11, Jul 07, 2021.
Ted Bohl, Program Analyst at Ford Motor Company and US Navy Veteran talks about how his time as a Navy pilot helped him solve engineering problems, what Naval training can bring to the factory floor, and how diversity can empower workplaces.
Episode 10: Launching a machining line straight out of college, the incredible fragility of tool setup tolerances, and managing bottlenecks effectively.
Season 1 Episode 10, Jun 30, 2021.
Joey Screnci, Lead Engineer for Case Machining at Ford Motor Company talks about his love for engines and ATVs, how he led a launch at Ford as a fresh college graduate, and what one pothole can do to machining tool equipment in a truck.
Episode 9: Building spider cobots with machine vision, signal vs noise,and going from tinkering with bacteria to engineering powertrains.
Season 1 Episode 9, Jun 23, 2021.
Matt Byrn, Lead Engineer for e-Motor Stator for Powertain Engineering at Ford Motor Company talks about how he went from studying bacteria models in a lab to hypoid gear manufacturing at Ford, his dogged belief in a complex machining solution and how it eventually saved the company a million dollars.
Episode 8: Kaizen improvements in warehouse operations, exponential gains through operator enablement, and an elegant solution involving AR glasses.
Season 1 Episode 8, Jun 16, 2021.
Abhishek Patel, Program Manager for Ryder, talks about how he leaped from manufacturing to supply chain, how employee morale became a key metric in a warehouse efficiency problem, and how AR technology helped create a win-win situation.
Episode 7: Material flow design, learning from manufacturing senseis, and the elimination of muda with Ed Hollingsworth from Ford Motor Company
Season 1 Episode 7, Jun 09, 2021.
Ed Hollingsworth, Manufacturing Engineer for Powertrain Engineering at Ford Motor Company talks about how an affinity for drawing and repairing things at home led him to a manufacturing career, what he learned from Japanese senseis, and material flow design and ergonomics for manual workstations.
Episode 6: F-150 Hybrid powertrain complexity, problem-solving as an essential life skill, and the “magic formula” for tire design.
Season 1 Episode 6, Jun 02, 2021.
Zach Westhoff, Lead Manufacturing Engineer for Powertrain Engineering at Ford Motor Company talks about problem-solving as a life skill, the mysterious formula that is used to design race car tires, his time mentoring New Mexico college racing teams, and his contribution to the F-150 Hybrid truck.
Episode 5: Changeover downtime, recontextualizing problems, and simplifying leadership through the 5-Whys method with Kamal Kalsaria from GKN Driveline.
Season 1 Episode 5, May 25, 2021.
We speak to Kamal Kalsaria, Value Stream Manager at GKN Driveline about his unique approach to “problems”, changeover downtime challenges, and inculcating a culture of asking questions in teams using the 5-Whys method.
Episode 4: Virtual assembly, centralizing data, and death by a thousand non-cyclic seconds with Clara Goldberg from Ford Motor Company.
Season 1 Episode 4, May 19, 2021.
We speak to Clara Goldberg, Lead Process Engineer for e-Motors (Rotor), about how her love for puzzles led her to manufacturing, virtually assembling units, and how she tackled the crucial problem of non-cyclic tasks on the factory floor.
Episode 3: Dimensional data drill-downs, body construction, and the human element in manufacturing communication with Dan O'Lear from Ford Motor Company.
Season 1 Episode 3, May 13, 2021.
Dan O'Lear, Vehicle Operations Manufacturing engineer at Ford Motor Company talks about resource management in launches, the intricacies of dimensional data, communication and software.
Episode 2: Re-manufacturing, global quality standards and reincarnating diesel engines with Rumeet Mehta from Cummins.
Season 1 Episode 2, May 11, 2021.
We speak to Rumeet Mehta, Global Quality Transformation Leader at Cummins about turbo engines, the incredible multiple life of engines in the re-manufacturing world and maintaining high quality standards across a global network of facilities.
Episode 1: Chip fabrication, plasma, and nanometer-wide wrenches with Parth Shah from Intel.
Season 1 Episode 1, Mar 30, 2021.
In our inaugural episode, we speak to Parth Shah, PhD, a software engineer and former process engineer at Intel about the incredible processes behind microprocessor manufacturing, his love of all things aerospace, research in plasma technology and how his seemingly disconnected experiences weaved into a crucial breakthrough during the design of a new fab line for the next-gen microprocessors for Intel.
