Maintenance & Manufacturing Insights

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, host Martin Engster welcomes Richard Kaczmarek, an experienced manufacturing professional and aviation enthusiast, for a conversation about preventive maintenance, workforce challenges, and the technologies changing modern manufacturing.

With experience at Briggs & Stratton, Gulfstream, and GE Aviation, Richard brings a unique perspective on equipment reliability, production efficiency, and the importance of keeping manufacturing operations running smoothly.

Richard believes maintenance should be a top priority in every manufacturing operation, not the first thing eliminated when budgets get tight.

He and Martin discuss how preventive...

What does it take to turn a maintenance team that is always fixing broken machines into a team that prevents problems before they happen?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, host Martin Engster talks with Jay Olivo, an engineering and reliability manager, leadership trainer, and author.

Jay shares how he helped change a reactive maintenance operation into a more proactive and organized team.

By using a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), reviewing maintenance data, and building trust with his team, Jay reduced reactive maintenance work to less than 20%.

His team...

What does it take to run a manufacturing plant producing around 50,000 parts every day? For Dan Walker, one of the biggest challenges isn’t production capacity. It’s finding and developing skilled people.

In this episode of Maintenance & Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster talks with Dan Walker, Plant Manager for Mako International in Shelby Township, Michigan.

Dan oversees a 331,000-square-foot facility with 46 molding machines, 112 pieces of secondary equipment, and approximately 340 employees. The facility produces injection-molded interior components, including parts used in the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator.

Dan explains how automation has changed the skil...

What makes a great manufacturing operator? For Miguel “Mike” Escobedo, it starts with knowing your machine.

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Mike Escobedo, Manufacturing Fabrication Manager at Jackrabbit Manufacturing, to talk about the connection between manufacturing, maintenance, leadership, and problem-solving on the shop floor.

Mike has worked in manufacturing since 1999, starting out sweeping floors and eventually moving into leadership. Along the way, he has worked with manufacturing operations including pipe processing, non-destructive testing, hydrostatic testing, chamfering, fabrication, and automated equipment.

Mike shares why he believes manufacturing and...

This month, the tables are turned on Maintenance and Manufacturing Insights.

Instead of interviewing someone else in the industry, Martin Engster takes the guest seat and gives us a look at what he is seeing in manufacturing and what is happening inside Centreline.

Martin shares what he heard while speaking with manufacturers, machine builders, and vendors at recent machine tool shows in Chicago. He also explains why changes in manufacturing do not always show up immediately for a spindle repair facility. New machines often come with warranties, so there can be a delay before repair...

What if your maintenance team knew what to do before a machine ever went down?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Kenneth Welch to talk about practical maintenance, manufacturing experience, and the value of preparing for problems before they happen.

Kenneth spent 23 years working at Michelin in Ardmore, Oklahoma, before moving into his current role at SendCutSend in Arlington, Texas. His years on the manufacturing floor have taught him that some of the biggest production problems can have surprisingly simple solutions.

One idea Kenneth shares is the “pr...

What does it take to keep a highly automated manufacturing plant running while working toward production of 21,000 solar panels a day?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster talks with Mathew Edwards, Plant Facilities Manager and Maintenance Manager for First Solar in Gaffney, South Carolina.

Mathew shares what goes into building and leading a maintenance operation at a new 1.2-million-square-foot manufacturing facility. With highly automated production lines, robots, drives, conveyors, and other equipment, keeping unplanned downtime under control is a major priority.

Mathew explains why his team focuses on predictive and...

What does it take to build a manufacturing operation from the ground up while also building the maintenance systems that keep it running?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster talks with Varadarajan “V” Balaraman, a site plant manager helping build a startup manufacturing operation within an established company.

V shares why starting with new equipment does not mean maintenance can wait. New machines may have fewer breakdowns, but that can also mean the team has fewer chances to learn how the equipment will fail. His approach starts with vendor-recommended preventive maintenance, spare part...

What happens when a company invests in predictive maintenance, AI, and new technology before fixing its basic maintenance processes?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster talks with Ivan Getov, Maintenance Excellence Manager at Eastman Chemical Company, about why strong maintenance starts with the fundamentals.

Ivan began his career as a chemical engineer and worked in operations before moving into maintenance management. Today, his focus is maintenance excellence and improving the systems that connect work identification, planning, scheduling, execution, and follow-up.

Ivan explains why many maintenance teams stay stuck in reactive...

What if you could know a machine was going to fail weeks before it actually happened? Instead of scrambling after a breakdown, your team could order the parts, plan the repair, and choose when to take the equipment offline.

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights with Martin Engster, Martin sits down with Reinhardt de Jager, a Reliability Area Maintenance Manager whose work includes predictive maintenance, reliability-centered maintenance, lubrication programs, shutdowns, and outages.

Reinhardt shares his approach to moving maintenance organizations away from reactive repairs and toward proactive reliability.

One of the first...

What does it take to keep a manufacturing plant running when some machines date back decades and others are brand new?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights with Martin Engster, Martin talks with Tony Ingram, Senior Maintenance Supervisor at Daikin Applied in Faribault, Minnesota.

Tony shares what maintenance really looks like inside a facility producing large air-conditioning systems for data centers, hospitals, factories, and schools. His team works with everything from large punch and shear systems to copper-processing equipment, foam presses, tooling, and machines dating back to the 1950s and earlier.

Martin...

What does it take to keep more than 280 manufacturing assets running with a small maintenance team?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster talks with Trevor Kennedy, Plant Manager for Parker Hannifin's HELAC hydraulic actuator operation.

Trevor shares what maintenance looks like inside a busy manufacturing plant producing hydraulic actuators for mining, agriculture, and industrial applications.

The conversation explores Trevor's team's transition toward predictive maintenance. Along with regular preventive maintenance, the team is learning from equipment failures and adding its own inspection points to help identify problems before they become major...

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights with Martin Engster, Martin talks with Sean Archer, a maintenance manager in the steel manufacturing industry. Sean leads a maintenance team responsible for keeping the equipment, systems, and facility operating safely and reliably.

Sean explains why good maintenance cannot simply be about waiting for something to break. Preventive and predictive maintenance help his team stay ahead of problems. He also shares why root cause analysis can be one of the most valuable tools available to maintenance professionals.

The conversation gets into the real-world challenges of maintaining a facility...

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights with Martin Engster, Martin sits down with Lucas Richards, Associate Manufacturing Supervisor at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, to explore a side of manufacturing that most people never get to see.

Lucas works in an environment where teams assemble the panels and systems used to help monitor, control, and protect critical power infrastructure. These builds can be highly customized, with different devices, wiring, and configurations from one project to the next. That makes skilled, hands-on work an important part of the manufacturing process.

Martin and Lucas discuss why relying on...

From Nuclear Submarines to Napa Valley: Maintenance Leadership, AI, and Continuous Improvement

What does it take to lead maintenance teams in one of the world's most demanding production environments?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Joshua Kroll, Facilities Maintenance Supervisor at Trinchero Family Estates, to discuss his journey from serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy's nuclear submarine program to leading maintenance operations in California's wine industry.

Joshua shares how preventive maintenance, structured troubleshooting, skill development, and data-driven decision making help keep thousands of pieces of equipment...

Building Reliable Maintenance Systems: Gabe Little on Asset Management and Automation

What does it take to keep a large distribution center running while preparing for the future of automation?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Gabe Little, a maintenance leader with experience at Jacobson Logistics, Amazon, ThredUP, and Ross Stores. Gabe shares how his career evolved from HVAC technician to leading maintenance teams and transitioning into equipment engineering focused on asset management and lifecycle planning.

The conversation explores the importance of preventive maintenance, CMMS systems, vendor management, documentation, spare...

Every minute of downtime matters in manufacturing. In this episode, Martin Engster sits down with Nathan Santiago, Facilities Engineer at C&H/New Holland, to discuss what it really takes to keep a large manufacturing campus operating efficiently.

Nathan shares how preventive maintenance goes far beyond simply following OEM schedules. He explains how maintenance teams adapt service intervals for equipment that runs around the clock, organize specialized tools and spare parts at critical machines, and work closely with production teams to minimize downtime.

The conversation also explores the growing role of predictive maintenance. Nathan discusses...

What does it really take to keep the lights on for thousands of people?

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Helmuth Lara, an experienced mechanical engineer and plant manager whose career has spanned nearly three decades in oil & gas, gas turbines, rotating equipment, and power generation. From his early days working in South American refineries to managing power generation for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Helmuth shares what it takes to maintain some of the world's largest and most complex machines.

The conversation explores the importance of preventive maintenance...

Most people never stop to think about where the medical tubing inside catheters, stents, and other life-saving devices actually comes from. In this episode, Martin Engster sits down with Cory James, Plant Manager at Zeus Industrial Products, to pull back the curtain on one of the most important—but least visible—parts of medical manufacturing.

Cory shares how Zeus Industrial Products manufactures precision medical-grade tubing used by many of the world's leading medical device companies. The conversation explores the challenges of balancing preventive maintenance with increasing production demands, the importance of investing in people, and why in-house engi...

Every building, office, and home depends on glass, but few people ever stop to think about the complex manufacturing process behind it.

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Josiah Peterson, Maintenance Manager at Oldcastle Building Envelope, to discuss what it takes to keep a modern glass manufacturing facility operating efficiently. Josiah shares his unique career journey—from growing up on a dairy farm and working in logging communities to maintaining high-speed manufacturing equipment in industries ranging from Amazon and food production to energy drinks and now architectural glass manufacturing.

Th...

Small problems often create the biggest losses. In this episode, James Harris shares how focusing on defects, root causes, and reliability transformed struggling operations and delivered major improvements.

Martin Engster sits down with James Harris, a U.S. Army Reserve officer and experienced maintenance and engineering professional. James discusses his journey through manufacturing, process improvement, and military leadership.

During the conversation, James explains how maintenance teams can move beyond reactive repairs and create lasting reliability. He shares stories from high-speed beverage production lines, discusses the importance of defect elimination, and explains why troubleshooting skills are...

What does it take to keep thousands of automotive glass components moving through production every day? In this episode, Martin Engster sits down with Todd Gibbs, Maintenance Manager at Carlex Glass, to discuss more than four decades of maintenance experience and the importance of building reliability into manufacturing operations.

Todd shares how his time serving in the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine program helped shape his approach to maintenance and reliability. From vibration analysis and thermography to root cause analysis and planned shutdowns, he explains why reliability-centered maintenance delivers greater value than simply completing preventive maintenance tasks.<...

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with Korey Mertz of Advanced Machine Engineering to discuss why preventive maintenance is often overlooked and how manufacturers can move from reactive repairs toward a more proactive approach. The show notes follow recommended practices for strong podcast descriptions and listener engagement.

Korey shares his journey from studying mechanical engineering to leading business development within the Tool Clamping Systems Division at Advanced Machine Engineering. Drawing on years of experience working with drawbar systems and spindle components, he explains why monitoring pull force and understanding wear trends are...

This week, Martin Engster sits down with Army veteran and maintenance leader Chris Skinner to discuss how AI, IoT sensors, and knowledge management are changing the future of maintenance and manufacturing.

Chris shares his journey from military aviation to Tesla and eventually to his current role as Facilities and Maintenance Manager at Technetics in South Carolina. Along the way, he developed a passion for reliability, predictive maintenance, and finding ways to preserve valuable knowledge before it disappears with retiring experts.

In this episode, Chris explains how his team moved beyond reactive maintenance and began implementing...

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with James Brett, Senior Facilities Manager at Carbon Aerospace, to discuss the challenges of maintaining more than 1,200 assets across a large aerospace manufacturing operation. James shares how his team supports the production of carbon fiber aerostructures used on commercial aircraft, including control surfaces and engine components found on Boeing platforms.

The conversation explores the importance of preventive maintenance, asset management systems, equipment reliability, spare parts strategies, and the growing role of technology in modern maintenance programs. James explains how his team uses CMMS data, uptime tracking...

In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights with Martin Engster, Martin sits down with Ian Long, Senior Manufacturing Supervisor at Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, to discuss the realities of high-speed manufacturing, maintenance coordination, leadership, and continuous improvement.

Ian shares his journey from starting as a floorhand order builder to leading multiple production lines and overseeing teams responsible for keeping some of the fastest beverage manufacturing equipment operating efficiently. He explains how maintenance and production teams work together to solve equipment failures, manage downtime events, and maintain quality standards while producing thousands of products every hour.

The...

Martin Engster runs Centerline Incorporated, a family-owned CNC spindle repair shop based in the middle of the United States. In this episode, Martin explains what a CNC spindle is, why it matters to manufacturers, and how his team helps companies get back up and running fast when a machine goes down.

Martin also shares how military structure shows up in the way they work: keeping things simple, staying disciplined, and paying close attention to detail. He talks about the standards they hold themselves to, including tight tolerances that demand careful, consistent work.

You’ll also he...

In this episode, host Dave Dubeau sits down with entrepreneur and Marine veteran Martin Angster from Centerline Inc. to talk about the fascinating world of spindle repair, CNC machine services, and industrial manufacturing solutions.

Martin shares the inspiring story of how his family immigrated from Germany to the United States in pursuit of the American dream. What started with his father’s passion for machinery and cowboy culture eventually became Centerline Inc., a trusted industrial service company supporting industries like aerospace, automotive, dental manufacturing, and electronics.

The conversation also dives into Martin’s experience in the...

Are you responsible for keeping machines running and production on track? If you’re a maintenance manager, tool crib manager, or shop leader at a manufacturing company, this show is for you.

Host Martin Engster sits down for conversations with people who actually work in the trenches of industry, for real talk about what’s working, what’s not, and what they're dealing with day-to-day.

From reducing unplanned downtime and managing MRO inventory to leading maintenance teams and optimizing tool crib workflows, Maintenance and Manufacturing Insights delivers practical, real-world stories you can learn from.

Whet...