We're a quarter of the way into this century, and a lot has happened. When we think about today's connected factories, in many cases controlled by tablets and smartphones, we should remember that virtually none of that was possible as recently as the turn of the century.

Throughout the past few weeks, editors at IndustryWeek have been publishing game changers stories, a look into the 25 events that have reshaped the manufacturing landscape. From terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to the 2008 economic collapse to COVID-19, it's been an eventful century so far.

In this podcast, our editors talk about what they learned from the giant look back -- which game changing events took them by surprise and which ones did they enjoy learning more about?

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, New Equipment Digest's Editor-in-Chief, Laura Davis, explores the differences between wireless bridges and access points, and why most facilities will need both to keep operations running smoothly. Listeners will learn how each technology works, when to deploy them, and the real-world benefits they deliver across industries from logistics to oil & gas. This episode is based on an article originally written by Henry Martel, a field applications engineer at Antaira Technologies.

Joe Kuhn, CMRP, former plant manager, engineer, and global reliability consultant, is now president of Lean Driven Reliability LLC. He is the author of the book “Zero to Hero: How to Jumpstart Your Reliability Journey Given Today’s Business Challenges” and the creator of the Joe Kuhn YouTube Channel, which offers content on starting your reliability journey and achieving financial independence. In our monthly podcast miniseries, Ask a Plant Manager, Joe considers a commonplace scenario facing the industry and offers his advice, as well as actions that you can take to get on track tomorrow. In this episode, Joe discusses the importance of planned work coordination.