Episodes

  • Ep. 76 (5/15/25): Jen Fietz re-imagines Imaginasium as Stoke RGA

    Ep. 76 (5/15/25): Jen Fietz re-imagines Imaginasium as Stoke RGA
    May 15 2025
    Stoke RGA (Revenue Growth Accelerator), formerly known as Imaginasium, has officially launched its new brand with a sharp focus on helping manufacturers drive double-digit, scalable revenue growth. Built on years of hands-on experience with Midwest manufacturing companies, Stoke RGA partners with $75M+ manufacturers to align strategy, sales, marketing and operations and execute with precision.


    Jen Fietz, a Wisconsin-born manufacturing leader, leads Stoke RGA, and she joins co-hosts Kate Bruns of Insight on Manufacturing and Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance on today's new episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast to share more about Imaginasium's evolution to Stoke RGA, as well as her latest insights on the industry.

    Learn more at www.stokerga.com.
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    16 mins
  • Ep. 75 (5/8/25): Buckley Brinkman on the future of MEPs, Wisconsin's manufacturing landscape

    Ep. 75 (5/8/25): Buckley Brinkman on the future of MEPs, Wisconsin's manufacturing landscape
    May 8 2025
    Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing Productivity, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to help unpack the 2024-2025 Wisconsin Manufacturing Report, which WCMP has produced for the past four years in order to take the pulse of manufacturers across the state. He also notes how some of the results (including supply chain falling off respondents' list of top worries) may already need updating since the Trump administration has announced tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and other key trade partners.

    Buckley also gives his perspective on the federal government's recent defunding of 10 MEP programs in the U.S., and then reversal of the action -- what it means, what comes next, how worried we should be and how manufacturers from across the state have mobilized to help advocate for the preservation of WMEP, which WCMP oversees.

    Learn more about the latest WCMP Wisconsin Manufacturing Report online at https://www.wicmp.org/wisconsin-manufacturing-report/.
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    25 mins
  • Ep. 74 (5/1/25): Mel Butcher on building a female future

    Ep. 74 (5/1/25): Mel Butcher on building a female future
    May 1 2025
    On the eve of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance's "Future of Work" Summit on succession planning, featured speaker Mel Butcher of the organization Lead to Soar, which is working to close the leadership gender gap, joins Kate and Ann on the podcast to share more about the Madison-based organization, her personal background and passions and why closing the leadership gender gap is key to creating successful succession plans.

    She also helps identify and explain the "missing link" in women's career advice.

    Learn more about Lead to Soar at www.leadtosoar.com.
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    16 mins
  • Ep. 73 (4/24/25): Marion Body Works President Kevin Ignacio

    Ep. 73 (4/24/25): Marion Body Works President Kevin Ignacio
    Apr 24 2025
    President Kevin Ignacio of Marion Body Works joins this week's episode to talk about the 120-year-old manufacturing company that has been owned by his family since 1980. The company that started out making milk wagons now manufactures commercial van bodies, custom cabs for fire truck chassis manufacturers, all-aluminum fire apparatus and more.

    Kevin tells co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz about the career path that led him back to the family business he's been around with his whole life -- including following the family rule to work somewhere else first, the challenges of handing down a business through three generations, and the pros and cons of running a company in a small community like Marion, Wisconsin. (The company currently has locations in both Marion and Shawano.)

    This week's episode is sponsored by Werner Electric Supply. Learn more at wernerelectric.com.

    Learn more about Marion Body Works at marionbody.com.
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    18 mins
  • Ep. 72 (4/17/25): Plexus Corp. CEO Todd Kelsey

    Ep. 72 (4/17/25): Plexus Corp. CEO Todd Kelsey
    Apr 17 2025
    This year's Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year winner in the mega category, Neenah-based Plexus Corp., is looking to step away from its former identity as the Fox Cities' best-kept secret. This week Plexus CEO Todd Kelsey joins Kate and Ann on the podcast to talk more about the company, which makes no products under its own name but is focused on building a better world through partnerships and innovation; about why Plexus is committed to the Fox Cities; and about what's next for the global manufacturer that employs 20,000.

    To learn more about Plexus, visit www.plexus.com/en-us.

    To read about Plexus' win at the latest Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year awards, check out the Insight on Manufacturing article here: www.insightonbusiness.com/insightonmanufacturing/articles/plantnews/manufacturers-of-the-year/article_d9f531cc-fed3-11ef-9a3d-033aebd18558.html

    This week's episode is sponsored by Werner Electric Supply. Learn more at wernerelectric.com.
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    18 mins
  • Ep. 71 (4/10/25): STRYKER President Nicole Malson talks women in manufacturing

    Ep. 71 (4/10/25): STRYKER President Nicole Malson talks women in manufacturing
    Apr 10 2025
    Nicole Malson's grandfather Fred started the aluminum fabrication company in his Appleton basement 60 years ago, and today Nicole is proud to serve as the third-generation president of STRYKER, which produces a product called Metalphoto and has major clients in the New North region. On this week's episode, Nicole shares her insights about taking over the company from her grandfather, and then her mother; on the imposter syndrome women like she can face in the manufacturing leadership chair; and why she is passionate about the Women in Manufacturing Association, the subject of the latest Insight on Manufacturing cover story that recently launched a Northern Wisconsin chapter, as well as her board membership with the NEW Manufacturing Alliance.

    Read this month's IOM cover story on Women in Manufacturing, which features Nicole Malson, here: Women in Manufacturing | Cover Story | insightonbusiness.com

    To learn more about STRYKER, visit strykertough.com.

    This week's episode is sponsored by Werner Electric Supply. Learn more at wernerelectric.com.
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    22 mins
  • Ep. 70 (4/3/25): Skilling up with SkillsUSA Wisconsin

    Ep. 70 (4/3/25): Skilling up with SkillsUSA Wisconsin
    Apr 3 2025
    From construction to cosmetology, SkillsUSA is a student organization empowering students -- sixth grade through post-secondary -- to explore, and even master, skilled trades. Wisconsin state president Marli Novy, a 12th grader at Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School, joins Kate and Ann on this week's episode to share more about the organization and how it is helping fill the talent pipeline in a variety of industries, including manufacturing. Marli's mother, Quinn Novy, works as a coordinator for the program and also joins the podcast to share her insights on how the program provides opportunities for school districts and businesses to partner.

    To learn more about SkillsUSA Wisconsin, visit skillsusa-wi.org.

    This week's episode is sponsored by Werner Electric Supply. Learn more at wernerelectric.com.
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    21 mins
  • Ep. 69 (3/27/25): QComp Technologies President Katie Miner

    Ep. 69 (3/27/25): QComp Technologies President Katie Miner
    Mar 27 2025
    Katie Miner joins this week's episode to talk about OwnersEdge, the employee-owned holding company for which she has has been serving as vice president of integration, as well as QComp Technologies, the Greenville-based OwnersEdge child company of which she was recently named president. QComp creates integrated robotic systems for highly complex, end-of-line material handling in niche industries, including glass, consumer goods, non-wovens and food and beverage.

    Katie tells podcast co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz about her career journey that started in finance, her growing love and appreciation for the manufacturing industry, and the benefits of being part of an ESOP, as well as details the specific needs and technologies that are guiding QComp's development of robotics and improving process efficiencies for some of the country's most vital manufacturers.

    Learn more about QComp at www.qcomp.com.
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    22 mins