Hexagon's Shop Floor Social Nashville | Nobody Notices Quality Until It Fails

About this episode

A live panel discussion on quality challenges in manufacturing, featuring insights from industry professionals.

This bonus episode was recorded live at Hexagon's Shop Floor Social in Nashville — and it did not go the way a typical panel discussion goes. Jim sat down with Kieth Bieger, Global Metrology Specialist and CMM Programmer at Destaco; Todd Prettyman, Director of Global Quality at Gibson; and Michelle Bangert, Managing Editor of Quality Magazine. The room was full of quality professionals, and that shaped everything. What started as a conversation about the challenges manufacturers face turned into something more honest than most panels allow. The group covered why quality always takes the blame, why the skills pipeline for quality engineering is broken, why standardization and craftsmanship are not opposites, and what it actually costs to hold the line when nobody's watching. By the end, the conversation moved into territory that doesn't usually make it onto a stage — psychological safety, the experience of women in manufacturing quality roles, and what the next generation is asking for that the industry hasn't figured out how to give them yet. This is Part 1 of a two-part live recording. Part 2 — the solutions conversation — releases on The MFG Connector Show. KEY TOPICS Why…

People in this episode

Host: Jim Mayer

Guests: Kieth Bieger, Todd Prettyman, Michelle Bangert

Topics covered

• quality in manufacturing
• challenges in quality engineering
• psychological safety
• women in manufacturing
• skills pipeline
• standardization vs craftsmanship

Keywords

• quality
• manufacturing
• engineering
• psychological safety
• standardization
• craftsmanship
• skills pipeline

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Destaco, Gibson, Quality Magazine

Places: Nashville

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