Billion Dollar Bets on American Manufacturing (with Matt and Colin) | ReForge 014

Billion Dollar Bets on American Manufacturing (with Matt and Colin) | ReForge 014

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ break down four major manufacturing and reindustrialization announcements, dig into the capacity crunch hitting every corner of the industry, and make the case that in the next five years, relationships are the only thing that will actually move the needle.  If you care about manufacturing, energy, venture capital, reindustrialization, or what it's going to take to build in America right now, this one is for you.    What we cover  * Innovative Refrigeration Systems expands in Virginia: why industrial cooling is a critical and overlooked piece of the reindustrialization supply chain  * Ford repurposes its Kentucky battery facility for grid storage, and why every new factory being built today needs an onsite battery system  * Toyota's $2 billion Project Orca expansion in San Antonio, what Texas keeps getting right on economic development, and why the grid is the next bottleneck  * SendCutSend raises $110 million at a billion-dollar valuation from Sequoia, why bootstrapping with debt is the real vote of confidence, and what this means for the future of manufacturing venture  * Chang Robotics capacity update: 30 engineers deployed in two weeks, AI vision stacks replacing sensor banks, and why the capacity crunch will be total by end of year    Chapters  00:00 Relationships Win the Crunch   00:36 Podcast Intro and YouTube Ban   03:28 Refrigeration Expansion in Virginia   07:41 Ford Battery Storage and Power Quality   13:57 Toyota Texas Expansion and Grid Talk   17:36 SendCutSend Funding and Builder Playbook    Find Matthew Chang:  https://x.com/MatthewChang [https://x.com/MatthewChang]   https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang [https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang]   https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/]   https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang [https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang]  Find Colin Russ:   https://x.com/ThaaatColin [https://x.com/ThaaatColin]   https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/]  Find Chang Robotics:   https://changrobotics.ai [https://changrobotics.ai/]   https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/]    Follow ReForge  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/]   X: https://x.com/thereforgepod [https://x.com/thereforgepod]   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/]   TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod [https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod]   Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ [https://thereforgepodcast.com/]    Want to be a guest or partner?  If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com [inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com]  About ReForge  ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ.  Produced by Chang Robotics.

Stop Trusting Your AI (with Brian Keith) | ReForge 013

In this episode, Colin Russ sits down with Brian Keith (CMO of Chang Robotics) to have an honest conversation about what LLMs actually do inside manufacturing businesses, why they lie constantly, and what the five levels of AI adoption mean for every factory owner and job shop in America.  If you care about AI, manufacturing, operations, small business, or the future of the American workforce, this one is for you.    What we cover  * Why every LLM lies, how often it happens, and why telling it to stop doesn't work  * The difference between machine learning and large language models, and why conflating them is costing manufacturers money  * How to use adversarial AI, citation requirements, and human layers to reduce hallucinations in production environments  * Why local models aren't good enough yet and what the real opportunity cost is of trying to build your own  * The five levels of AI adoption, and why the AI level five company that shows up over a weekend is the real threat no one is talking about    Chapters  00:00 LLMs Lie in Production  00:25 AI Hype vs Manufacturing Reality  05:46 Why AI Lies and What to Do About It  16:21 Local Models and Human Layers  25:19 The Five Levels of AI Adoption    Guest: Brian Keith, CMO at Chang Robotics  Find Brian Keith:  https://x.com/BrianKeithAI [https://x.com/BrianKeithAI] https://www.linkedin.com/in/BrianKeithAI [https://www.linkedin.com/in/BrianKeithAI]  Find Chang Robotics:  https://changrobotics.ai [https://changrobotics.ai/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/]  Find Colin Russ:  https://x.com/ThaaatColin [https://x.com/ThaaatColin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/]    Follow ReForge  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/]  X: https://x.com/thereforgepod [https://x.com/thereforgepod]  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/]  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod [https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod]  Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ [https://thereforgepodcast.com/]  Want to be a guest or partner?  If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com [inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com]    About ReForge  ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ.  Produced by Chang Robotics.

The Reshoring Checklist Is Getting Checked Off (with Matt and Colin) | ReForge 012

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ break down four major reindustrialization announcements from the past week and explain what they actually mean for American manufacturing, supply chains, and the bull run ahead.  If you care about manufacturing, defense, pharmaceuticals, drones, AI, or the state of American reindustrialization, this one is for you.  What we cover  * Cleveland Cliffs partners with Palantir on AI-driven steel production across 32 sites, and what OEE, inventory, and working capital actually have to do with it  * Skydio commits $3.5 billion to expand US drone manufacturing, and Matt and Colin place their bets on where the factory lands  * AbbVie selects North Carolina for a $1.4 billion pharmaceutical campus, and why domestic drug precursor production is about 90 days away from becoming a national conversation  * L3Harris announces a $1.265 billion expansion of solid rocket motor production in Virginia, and why the reshoring read matters  * Where shipbuilding, grain oriented steel, lithium, and electrical infrastructure fit into the reindustrialization roadmap and what comes next  Chapters  00:00 Modular Shipbuilding Teaser   00:21 AI Comes to American Steel   09:02 Skydio Drone Factory Bet   13:10 Pharma, Rockets, and the Reshoring Checklist   22:22 Reindustrialization Roadmap Wrap    Find Matthew Chang: https://x.com/MatthewChang [https://x.com/MatthewChang] https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang [https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang] https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/] https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang [https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang]  Find Colin Russ: https://x.com/ThaaatColin [https://x.com/ThaaatColin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/]  Find Chang Robotics: https://changrobotics.ai [https://changrobotics.ai/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/]  Follow ReForge  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/]   X: https://x.com/thereforgepod [https://x.com/thereforgepod]   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/]   TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod [https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod]   Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ [https://thereforgepodcast.com/]  Want to be a guest or partner?  If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com [inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com]  About ReForge  ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ.  Produced by Chang Robotics.

A Factory for Every Town (with Brian Keith) | ReForge 011

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ bring back Brian Keith (CMO of Chang Robotics) to talk about what an agentically augmented human can actually do, why every town of 10,000 people should have a factory, and what Chang Robotics is building to make that happen.  If you care about AI, manufacturing, workforce, community, or the future of American reindustrialization, this one is for you.  What we cover  * How Brian wrote a 41,000 word book in three days using AI while on a client site, and what that means for every knowledge worker  * Why the factories coming back to America will look nothing like the ones that left, and why that's a good thing for the American worker  * The case for a factory in every 10,000 person town: distributed production, local talent pipelines, and the return of single earner families  * How Chang Robotics is replacing overhead with AI agents so factory workers, not corporate layers, capture the economic upside  * Chang Factory School: the plan to launch a thousand factories per year, fully supported by Chang engineering and AI, at no cost to the founder  Chapters  00:00 Meet Brian Keith, CMO of Chang Robotics   02:32 Writing a 41,000 Word Book in Three Days   09:18 The Agentically Augmented Human   23:49 A Factory in Every Town   29:44 The Dignity of the American Worker   36:29 Chang Factory School and What's Next  Guest: Brian Keith, CMO at Chang Robotics    Find Brian Keith:   https://x.com/BrianKeithAI   [https://x.com/BrianKeithAI] https://www.linkedin.com/in/BrianKeithAI [https://www.linkedin.com/in/BrianKeithAI]  Find Chang Robotics:  https://changrobotics.ai [https://changrobotics.ai] https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/]  Find Matthew Chang:  https://x.com/MatthewChang [https://x.com/MatthewChang]  https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang   [https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang ] https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/]  Find Colin Russ:  https://x.com/ThaaatColin [https://x.com/ThaaatColin]   https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ ] Follow ReForge  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/]   X: https://x.com/thereforgepod [https://x.com/thereforgepod]   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/]   TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod [https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod]   Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ [https://thereforgepodcast.com/]  Want to be a guest or partner?  If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com [inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com]   About ReForge  ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ.  Produced by Chang Robotics.

Faith, Technology, and the American Worker (with Shawn Maxwell) | ReForge 010

In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Shawn Maxwell (Chief Operations Officer of Church of Eleven22) to talk about what it takes to scale a 35,000-person-per-week organization, and why the institutions doing the hardest community work may also be the key to solving America's workforce shortage.  If you care about community, workforce development, manufacturing, faith, or what it actually takes to build a city, this one is for you. What we cover * How Shawn went from pioneering broadband deployment at BellSouth and AT&T to running operations for one of the fastest-growing churches in America * How Church of Eleven22 scaled to 16 campuses, 35,000 weekly attendees, 60 to 70K live online viewers, and 95 million YouTube sermon views annually  * How AI is now converting Sunday sermons into Spanish content within days, and what that means for global reach * Why Jacksonville's military bases and prison ministry programs are two of the most underutilized talent pipelines in the country * Why strong community institutions are the missing ingredient in every reindustrialization conversation Chapters 00:00 Global Mission Snapshot  00:43 Meet Shawn Maxwell  03:04 From Broadband to Church Ops  07:11 Scaling Eleven22 With Tech  19:11 Two Talent Pipelines Nobody Is Using  28:06 What's Next for Church of Eleven22  Guest: Shawn Maxwell, Chief Operations Officer at Church of Eleven22  Find Shawn Maxwell:  https://x.com/ShawnMaxInJax ShawnMaxwell@coe22.com Find Church of Eleven22: https://coe22.com [https://coe22.com] Find Matthew Chang: https://x.com/MatthewChang https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang [https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang] https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang [https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang] Find Colin Russ: https://x.com/ThaaatColin https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/] Find Chang Robotics: https://www.changrobotics.ai/  https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/] Follow ReForge LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/]  X: https://x.com/thereforgepod [https://x.com/thereforgepod]  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ [https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/]  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod [https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod]  Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ [https://thereforgepodcast.com/] Want to be a guest or partner? If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com [inquiries@thereforgepodcast.com] About ReForge ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ. Produced by Chang Robotics.