About the show

Augmented Ops is a podcast for industrial leaders, shop floor operators, citizen developers, and anyone else that cares about what the future of frontline operations will look like across industries. We equip our listeners with the knowledge to understand the latest advancements at the intersection of manufacturing and technology, as well as actionable insights that they can implement in their own operations. This show is presented by Tulip, the Frontline Operations Platform.

Episodes

  • Episode 163: AI in Operations: From Everyday Tools to Agentic Systems

    October 30th, 2025  |  Season 6  |  22 mins 10 secs
    4ir, agentic ai, ai, ai agents, automation, digital transformation, industry 4.0, management, manufacturing, operations, supply chains, technology, workforce

    Manufacturing is shifting from dashboards to decision-making AI. Tulip’s product leaders share how agentic systems are reshaping work and amplifying human expertise.

  •

    Operations Calling 2025 Recap: From AI Hype Into Real World Results

    October 16th, 2025  |  Season 6  |  31 mins 20 secs
    4ir, agentic ai, ai, automation, digital transformation, industry 4.0, management, manufacturing, manufacturing ai, operations, supply chains, technology, workforce

    Post-event reflections on Operations Calling 2025 — Tulip CMO Madilynn Castillo joins Natan to unpack the energy and community behind a turning point for operational AI and the next era of continuous transformation.

  •

    Reindustrializing in 2025 — AI, Scale, and the Future of U.S. Manufacturing with MIT’s Liz Reynolds

    August 14th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  22 mins 36 secs
    4ir, ai, automation, digital transformation, economy, industry, industry 4.0, management, manufacturing, operations, policy, politics, supply chains, technology, workforce

    Fresh from Detroit's Reindustrialize conference, Liz Reynolds, manufacturing and workforce expert at MIT, joins Natan to discuss America's reindustrialization momentum, AI adoption in operations, and the massive scale challenge facing US manufacturers globally.

  •

    AI, Agility, and Enterprise Architecture – Reflections on Season 5 of Augmented Ops

    June 18th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  18 mins 38 secs
    ai, citizen development, composability

    Natan Linder and Erik Mirandette close the season, separating AI hype from shop-floor value, spotlighting citizen developers, charting the fall of monolithic MES for composable tech stacks, and stressing adaptability as the edge amid constant volatility.

  •

    The Future of Quality and Validation with AstraZeneca’s Bob Buhlmann

    June 4th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  28 mins 59 secs
    pharma, quality, validation

    Bob Buhlmann, Head of Quality Digital and Computer Strategy at AstraZeneca explores the evolution of quality in the pharma industry, the role of validation in an era of rapid technological advancement, and why pharma can be so slow to adopt new tech.

  •

    The Rise of the Frontline Engineer: Driving Digital Transformation on the Shop Floor

    May 21st, 2025  |  Season 5  |  34 mins 49 secs
    citizen development, engineering, shop floor

    Three engineers from Stanley Black & Decker, VEKA, and Agility EMS, share their experiences on the shop floor, best practices and lessons learned from real digital transformation efforts, and their perspective on the pros and cons of citizen development.

  •

    Lighthouses, Lean, and the Human Factor in Digital Transformation with AstraZeneca’s Jim Fox

    May 7th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  24 mins 49 secs
    automation, change management, lean, pharma

    Jim Fox, SVP Americas Supply Operations at AstraZeneca, shares his perspective on humans vs. automation in pharma manufacturing, building trust in emerging tech, and how agility and lean principles drive innovation in an increasingly personalized industry.

  •

    Rethinking Governance, eBR, and the CIO Role from the Ground Up with NextPharma’s Joel Fidalgo

    April 23rd, 2025  |  Season 5  |  29 mins 4 secs
    ebr, governance, pharma, quality

    Joel Fidalgo, CIO of Next Pharma, shares a CDMO’s perspective on how to bridge IT and operations, taking a new approach to MES and eBR, and the challenges of agility, quality, and data integration in the pharma space.

  •

    Hannover Messe Unfiltered: The Real State of AI in Manufacturing

    April 9th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  23 mins 53 secs
    ai, hannover messe

    Live from Hannover Messe, Natan Linder and Madilynn Castillo unpack the AI hype in manufacturing—cutting through marketing noise, legacy tech in disguise, and why real transformation starts with empowering frontline workers, not just flashy tools.

  •

    Preview: Hannover Messe Special

    April 2nd, 2025  |  Season 5  |  1 min 24 secs
    hannover messe

    We're skipping our usual episode this week as we're at Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial trade show. Stay tuned for our annual on-site episode where we’ll cut through the hype and explore which new tech will truly impact the shop floor.

  •

    Operational Excellence at Enterprise Scale with Stanley Black & Decker’s Audrey Van de Castle

    March 19th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  42 mins 22 secs
    change management, citizen development, digital transformation, governance, operational technology

    Audrey Van de Castle, Senior Director of Operational Excellence Technology at Stanley Black & Decker breaks down the challenges of scaling citizen development across 100+ sites, the need to move past buzzwords and invest in the right technology, and more.

  •

    Digital Twins, Industrial AI, and the Future of Manufacturing with TwinThread's Erik Udstuen

    March 5th, 2025  |  Season 5  |  25 mins 20 secs
    digital twin, ecosystem, industrial ai, standards

    Erik Udstuen, Co-founder and CEO of TwinThread, explores how AI and digital twins are driving huge gains in manufacturing efficiency, the challenge of standardizing industrial data, and why actionable insights—not just data—are key to success.