RVs are homes that go 60 miles an hour. That changes everything about what goes inside them.
Chris sits down with Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede, a company combining recycling and manufacturing in an unexpected way – turning recycled plastic into structural building materials. Supersede started with boats, where wood has an obvious problem – boats get wet!
From there, the company moved into RVs, where the materials face constant movement and thermal cycling, on a production line that can build an entire RV in a couple of hours.
Sean also explains the thinking behind Supersede’s manufacturing model, including why he’d rather build 10 smaller plants than one big one.
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- A new material can start with a simple problem. Supersede began with boats, where the logic was straightforward – wood rots, boats get wet – so why not build with recycled plastic instead?
- Smaller factories can change the economics of manufacturing. Supersede is building plants closer to its raw materials and customers, using less capital and a smaller footprint than traditional lumber production.
- Starting from scratch can be a manufacturing advantage. Without decades of legacy systems to work around, Supersede is building its own ERP from scratch, and using AI throughout product development.
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Tweetable Quotes
- “If you hadn’t gotten on the AI bus 12 months ago, you’re a decade behind.” – Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede
- “A big contributor to those inefficiencies is, frankly, just legacy that gets embedded.” – Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede
- “In manufacturing, things can move slow, and we just have the unique benefit of making sure that we’re investing effectively, but very efficiently.” – Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
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What We Discuss with Sean
- How running production lines in mirrored pairs cuts the distance operators walk across the floor
- Why an RV, built to go 60 miles an hour, is a harder test for a material than a house that never moves
- How Supersede built its own ERP with zero software developers, piecing it together through Slack, Jira, and GitHub instead
- How a pre-sold capacity threshold – already dropping fast – decides when Supersede builds its next plant
- How embedding machine vision and LiDAR on the line replaces a QA machine that would otherwise cost far more
- Why Sean thinks manufacturers who didn’t start using AI a year ago are already a decade behind
Recommended Resources
- Supersede is a manufacturing company turning recycled plastic into structural building materials, starting with its Marine Board product for the marine and RV industries.
- Harmoni is a factory orchestration platform that connects what’s happening on your shop floor with the systems you already use, from your machines and operators to your ERP, giving your team one real-time view of production.
- PTC’s Industrial Newsletter – a quick hit of clarity on how design, manufacturing, and service data can work together for manufacturing leaders looking to modernize.
Connect with Sean Petterson and Supersede
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