“New York City is where dreams come to audition”, and this goes for manufacturers too.
Recorded live at New Lab in Brooklyn, this episode is split into three segments and features seven guests. Chris explores what manufacturing means in a city best known for ‘wall street’.
Andrew, James, and Stacey open the show by digging into New York’s overlooked industrial past, including a 250-year stretch where the city was the largest manufacturing hub in the country. Jacob, Nikki, and Miquela then take the stage to talk about what’s being built in the city today, from robotics to a single Brooklyn facility housing 17 different manufacturing verticals.
Finally, Michelle of New York Embroidery Studio joins Chris one-on-one to share her insights after nearly 30 years of manufacturing experience, including how she pivoted her entire operation overnight to produce PPE during COVID.
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- Diversity is what makes an industrial base resilient. New York’s manufacturing history was never built around one dominant product or company, and while that made it harder to organize and advocate for as a group, it’s also what allowed the city to keep reinventing itself decade after decade.
- Manufacturing progress isn’t about replacing people, it’s about moving them up. When Michelle automated her production line, her sewers didn’t lose their jobs, they became engineers. That same principle shows up across the episode – new technology raising the ceiling for existing talent rather than replacing it.
- Good policy isn’t passive, it’s a series of active choices. From the decision to close the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, to how land gets zoned today, panelists made the point that a city’s industrial future comes down to deliberate choices, not inevitability.
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Tweetable Quotes
- “ All These inventions that came from here – the laser, the CCD, the ATM machine, the transistor, vulcanized rubber – all those things went somewhere else to build.” – James Williams, Chief Strategy Officer at Nanotronics
- “It’s not that somebody is getting rid of the hand tools, it’s that it’s merging with additional technology.” – Miquela Craytor, Founder & Principal, Craytor Strategies
- “Smart people that have problems need to have access to factories to create and build new things.” – Michelle Feinberg, Owner of New York Embroidery Studio and NYES Protect
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
Do you want to connect with other leaders that are moving the needle in manufacturing everyday? Then make sure to join us in the Manufacturing Happy Hour Industry Community on LinkedIn.
Apprentice has developed the first AI Agent designed specifically for manufacturing, not adapted from a general model. It connects across your full tech stack, keeps an eye on operations 24/7, and helps automate the mission-critical workflows your team is handling manually today. This isn’t “set it and forget it” AI. Your team stays in control of every critical decision, because that’s how real manufacturing works.
This episode is part of the MADE HERE City Series, created in partnership with ISN, the Industrial Solutions Network. In these episodes, we’re exploring what makes a city’s manufacturing community so special. This series not only features full podcast interviews with manufacturing leaders, but behind-the-scenes tours of some of the region’s most iconic and important industrial operations. Check out our latest mini-series in California’s Santa Maria Valley today.
MRPEasy is the AI-powered MRP software for small manufacturers, ideal for companies with 10 to 200 employees. It’s a seriously powerful yet easy-to-use manufacturing software that gives you everything you need to manage your manufacturing and distribution. For more than 35 years, Moxa has focused on simplifying IIoT connectivity to support modern manufacturing. With rugged, edge-to-cloud infrastructure that is secure by design, Moxa helps to combine dependable networking with edge computing capabilities to support AI applications such as real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and automated responses, right where the data is generated. By delivering the reliable and secure connectivity foundation that advanced analytics and AI depend on, Moxa is empowering manufacturing systems to be more resilient, proactive, and intelligent than ever before.
STÄUBLI is a leading manufacturer of quick connector systems, covering connection needs for all types of fluids, gases, and electrical power. Their standard and customized products – including quick and dry disconnect couplings, multiconnection solutions, safety break-away couplings, tool changers, and quick mold change systems – combine performance, quality, safety, dependability and durability.
MaintainX recognizes that 80% of the workforce – primarily technicians – aren’t sitting at a desk but out managing equipment and facilities. Their maintenance and asset management platform empowers these professionals by keeping equipment running through preventive maintenance, facilitating quick repair insights, and streamlining safety and compliance.
What We Discuss with Andrew, James, Stacey, Jacob, Nikki, Miquela & Michelle
- What the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s 300-acre footprint looks like today, decades after its WWII peak
- Why New York’s robotics ecosystem might never look like Detroit or Pittsburgh and how that could be an advantage
- What 17 different manufacturing verticals look like inside a single Brooklyn facility
- How one manufacturer pivoted from designing gowns for the Met Gala to producing 3 million isolation gowns a month
- Why New York’s built-in market of 8 million consumers gives local manufacturers an edge most cities can’t offer
- What it took to solve a 20-year-old medical design flaw by giving a doctor direct access to a factory floor
Recommended Resources
- CliftonLarsonAllen, presenting partner for the All-American Manufacturing Summer Tour, offering industry-focused wealth advisory, outsourcing, audit, tax, and consulting services.
- New Lab, an innovation hub based at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, hosting this episode and supporting startups working on advanced technology and manufacturing.
Connect with Andrew Gustafson | James Williams | Stacey Weismiller | Jacob Hennessey-Rubin | Nikki Evans | Miquela Craytor | Michelle Feinberg
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