emPOWERUP Podcast

In this episode of the emPOWERUP Podcast from GrayMatter, host Jeremy Boren speaks with Mickey Shaposhnik, co-CEO of smart manufacturing platform Next Plus, about the “Human Internet of Things” and how manufacturers can find real ROI from workflow optimization systems. Next Plus, a GrayMatter partner, helps manufacturers reduce training and engineering time, decrease friction across operations and make technology more intuitive for operators and engineers alike. GrayMatter, a leading industrial technology solutions provider, spotlights this partnership as an example of how human-centered innovation drives real results in modern manufacturing plants. Visit https://graymattersystems.com/current-events/ to stay up to date on upcoming and on-demand GrayMatter training classes and workshops.

GrayMatter Cyber Practice Director Scott Christensen aka "Scott," joins Brand Manager Jeremy Boren on the emPOWERUP Podcast for a chat about how industrial companies can quickly expand their OT cybersecurity capabilities by partnering with a managed services provider. Having trouble filling a cybersecurity role? So are hundreds of other companies in the U.S. It's a good time to look for a partner with the cyber expertise you need. Cybersecurity engineers with experience in operational technology are hard to find. Even rarer is finding one with experience building, or rebuilding, a secure OT network. It's probably best not to go it alone. Other topics we get into: New SEC rules & government regulations, protecting your systems from so-called hacktivists and understanding the difference between what we know as cybersecurity versus securing network infrastructure. Visit GrayMatter to start a project at: https://graymattersystems.com/cyber-security-for-operational-technology/

Ampcus Inc. VP of Technology Programs Barbara Wilson joins the emPOWERUP Podcast to discuss how water and wastewater utilities — and other public agencies — can adopt more agile budget practices through sole source providers and cooperatives. Utilities need to move quickly to modernize technology and strengthen cybersecurity, but budgeting procedures move at their own pace. Barbara shares lessons from her experience from working in senior IT and OT roles at Fort Worth Water in Texas and Metro Water Recovery in Denver, Colorado. Visit graymattersystems.com for more about GrayMatter's cybersecurity offerings for water/wastewater.

GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast hosts BlastWave CEO Tom Sego to discuss how a new partnership between GrayMatter and BlastWave enables industrial organizations to better protect their physical plant systems from cybersecurity threats. Sego said research shows malicious actors are, unfortunately, shifting their focus to manufacturing. "In 2022 manufacturing surpassed financial services to be the most-attacked industry," Sego said. "The average ransom payment in manufacturing is now exceeding an average of $2 million, versus the industry average, which is around $900,000." The GrayMatter-BlastWave partnership emerged from the realization that major manufacturers need to identify third-party cybersecurity vendors that demonstrate a deep background working with industrial technology systems and specialize in protecting operational technology.  OT cybersecurity tech and strategies discussed during the podcast episode include: • Phishing-resistant MFA (multi-factor authentication) • Micro-segmentation • Software-defined perimeter • Cybersecurity assessment Visit GrayMatter's Industrial Cybersecurity Offering to learn more: https://graymattersystems.com/cyber-security-for-operational-technology/

Del-Co Water Company's service area contains three of Ohio's five fastest-growing counties. That includes its namesake Delaware County, which led all of Ohio's 88 counties with a population increase of 27 percent between 2010 and 2022 to about 222,000 people. A rapidly growing customer base requires Del-Co, a GrayMatter customer, to invest in new technology and train agile teams to meet rising potable water service demands while maintaining its record of providing clean drinking water to customers. Among its most recent priorities is a cybersecurity strategy it built with GrayMatter to protect its operational technology environment by implementing network segmentation replacing an existing firewall provider. Learn more at https://graymattersystems.com/cyber-security-for-operational-technology/

GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast Host Jeremy Boren talks with Larry Saidman, Nordson Corp.'s Chief Technologist, R&D, about Nordson's work with GrayMatter to deploy an Advanced Industry Analytics solution designed to enhance customer service.  The analytics solution gives Nordson customers that use adhesive-dispensing machines more data about how the machines are performing and whether preventative maintenance is needed. Having ready access to granular data is benefit to both Nordson and their customers. Visit graymattersystems.com/advanced-industrial-data-analytics/

Cybersecurity is a team sport. GrayMatter customer Zekelman Industries builds a culture of security by earning buy-in from company leaders and plant-floor operators. It's important for everyone to understand not only why cybersecurity precautions are in place, but how they enable employees to perform their jobs better and protect the steel manufacturer's physical, revenue-generating assets. GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with Jerry Baum, Zekelman's Director of IT, Infrastructure, about how the company is working with GrayMatter to create a strong, long-term OT cybersecurity strategy. Visit graymattersystems.com

GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast hosts Steve Pavlosky, GE Digital's Principle Product Manager of Proficy Historian.  Proficy Historian "collects industrial time-series and A&E data at very high speed, stores it efficiently and securely, distributes it, and allows for fast retrieval and analysis — driving greater business value." emPOWERUP Podcast Host Jeremy Boren of GrayMatter talks with Steve about the latest Proficy Historian 2022 updates including Configuration Hub enhancements, Python collector scripts and support for Power BI visualizations. To learn more about Historian and schedule a SCADA Assessment briefing with GrayMatter, visit: graymattersystems.com/automation-controls-offering/

GrayMatter CMO Kerry McQuone hosts an executive women's panel on GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast with two successful leaders in industrial technology, Amy Sausen of Kimberly-Clark, and Laura Harshberger of PPG. GrayMatter works with both companies on industrial intelligence projects that require technical know-how to transform operations, and an open-minded, healthy workplace culture that empowers people.  Topics covered in the conversation: • Planning a career and advocating for oneself in manufacturing (and the larger industrial tech world) • Making the shift from being a manager to being a leader • Defining one's leadership style and driving change in IT • Overcoming career barriers or challenges: relocating for work, changing roles & work-life balance • Establishing a bold mindset and building a productive team

When a water pump failure shuts down production at a shale oil and gas site, workers might spend hours searching for and repairing the problem — a delay that can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. Remote drill sites are often tucked into hillsides that interrupt radio signals or are too far from populated areas to access cell phone communications. Those challenges have led many to believe it’s not feasible to use wireless technology to monitor and control water pipeline systems. That’s why GrayMatter and Keystone Clearwater Solutions worked together to create WaterForce, a smart-sensor, turnkey solution that’s flexible enough to adapt to any terrain. GrayMatter Brand Manager Jeremy Boren talks with Keystone Clearwater Senior VP Jeff Wehler and Director of Technology Luke Beachy.

GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with GE Digital's Richard Kenedi, General Manager - Manufacturing and Digital Plant, about GE Digital's latest updates to Proficy Historian, iFIX and Ops Hub, along with how GE Digital is investing in R&D and learning from customers.  The interview was recorded for GrayMatter's Transform.virtual Spring event in April 2021. Learn more at graymattersystems.com/transform-virtual-2021/ About Richard Kenedi: Richard Kenedi is the General Manager of the Manufacturing | Digital Plant business segment for GE Digital. In this role, Richard is responsible for driving profitable growth for the Automation and Manufacturing Execution System product and service portfolio, serving manufacturing verticals and digital plants across the globe. Prior to joining GE Digital, Richard served as the President Core Markets within NETSCOUT, a global supplier of network service assurance products. Prior to NETSCOUT, he held the position of President Tektronix Communications, an operating company within the Danaher corporation. Prior roles within Tektronix Communications included Vice President, Products and Portfolio Management, Vice President and General Manager for the Test & Optimization and Core Test Businesses. Additionally, prior to Tektronix Communications Richard held senior roles in SOMA Networks and Nortel Networks. Richard holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Dallas.

GrayMatter VP and Co-Founder Carson Drake joins host Jeremy Boren to walk industrial pros through how they can leverage "the wisdom of the fleet" by creating data Historians in the Cloud.  Carson focuses on bringing value to clients by enabling Continuous Improvement with predictive analytics (aka Advanced Industrial Analytics). Advanced Industrial Analytics allows companies to make valuable comparisons across their operations at the enterprise level. 

The expanding SolarWinds cybersecurity incursion is grabbing headlines and focusing attention on so-called supply-chain attacks.  Supply-chain attacks can infect industrial companies with malware either digitally, as in the case of SolarWinds via an update, or through a tainted piece of hardware, such as a USB flash drive. emPOWERUP Podcast hosts GrayMatter Cyber Practice Director Scott Christensen to discuss supply-chain attacks, why lateral movement attacks can be hard to detect, and how deception technology for OT cybersecurity is like creating a crash test dummy for your network.  We also delve into why many industrial clients erroneously think their systems are "air-gapped" from any Internet connectivity and how a cybersecurity assessment that's custom-built for industrial clients in some of the most-often targeted sectors (energy, manufacturing and water) can reveal network weaknesses before they're exploited. Rate and review emPOWERUP Podcast and visit graymattersystems.com to learn more or to schedule a briefing about our OT cybersecurity solutions. To register for an upcoming educational event, as mentioned in the podcast, visit our current events page to sign up.

Carnegie Mellon University cybersecurity researcher Palvi Aggarwal talks with GrayMatter emPOWERUP Podcast Host Jeremy Boren about how researchers at CMU are studying the behavior of cyber attackers and how deception technology can help companies prevent sensitive data from being compromised. For more about deceptionGUARD, GrayMatter's deception technology solution, visit graymattersystems.com.

GrayMatter Cyber Practice Director Scott Christensen previews GrayMatter's Transform Cyber Summit set for Nov. 5 and shares some insights into, deception technology, deceptionGUARD and the latest industrial cybersecurity threats. For more, visit graymattersystems.com.

GrayMatter introduces deceptionGUARD, a new offering for industrial cybersecurity. deceptionGUARD deceives attackers and harvests intelligence, empowering operators to be proactive and to control their industrial cyber strategy. emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren talks with GrayMatter Cybersecurity Practice Lead Scott Christensen about deception technology and how industrial organizations can leverage it to add another layer to their defense-in-depth cybersecurity strategy. To learn more, visit GrayMatter online.

Erik Udstuen, CEO of GrayMatter partner TwinThread, joins emPOWERUP Podcast host Jeremy Boren to talk about how Advanced Industrial Analytics can help companies reduce energy consumption, improve product quality and lessen equipment downtime.  Many companies are already collecting the data they need. The next step is applying it to artificial intelligence in the cloud to find performance insights and produce operational directives. To learn more about Advanced Industrial Analytics, visit GrayMatter online to download our analytics guide. If you work in manufacturing, energy production, water/wastewater, oil and gas, food and beverage production or a related industrial field, contact GrayMatter to schedule a customized, one-on-one briefing.  Theme Music: bensound.com

GrayMatter talks with Rick Bullotta, founder of IoT companies Lighthammer and ThingWorx, about how IoT has evolved during his career and how a new project he's working on with GrayMatter partner Erik Udstuen of TwinThread is solving downtime, quality and energy consumption problems at major manufacturing companies. 

In the first episode of Season 2 of GrayMatter's emPOWERUP Podcast, GrayMatter Brand Manager Jeremy Boren talks with cybersecurity experts Scott Christensen and Tom Walker, both of GrayMatter.  Scott and Tom discuss how a cyber risk assessment can help companies in manufacturing, and other OT-reliant industries, determine their level of security. GrayMatter's assessment examines the people, processes and technologies involved in cybersecurity — and it happens without interrupting production.  For more details about GrayMatter's cybersecurity practice, visit our OT cyber resource page where you can download our 2020 OT Cybersecurity Guide. 

GrayMatter Senior APM Consultant Ken Latino and his brother Bob Latino, CEO of The Reliability Center, talk about getting started with a reliability strategy that includes Root Cause Analysis and Asset Performance Management.  The Latinos also discuss the Fifth Edition of their co-authored book: Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom-Line Results. Additional Resources: For more about GrayMatter's work in APM/Intelligent Assets, visit: https://graymattersystems.com/intelligent-assets/ Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom-Line Results: https://www.amazon.com/Root-Cause-Analysis-Performance-Bottom-Line/dp/1138332453