On this week’s episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast, sponsored by Stoke RGA, Insight Associate Editor Kate Bruns and Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (NEWMA) Executive Director Ann Franz catch up with Kathryn Clouse, director of co-innovation for TitletownTech.
A mechanical engineer by training, Clouse has worked at TitletownTech for two years, but previously spent 15 in the manufacturing industry, including in positions with Pierce Manufacturing and Kohler. On this week’s episode of the podcast, she reflects on how rapidly those early conversations she and her coworkers had about automation have accelerated into the Industry 4.0 we know today, where manufacturers are leveraging everything from robotics to large language models to innovate inside their business.
Clouse tells the co-hosts that, even when she first started at TitletownTech, there was skepticism about the uses of LLMs in manufacturing: “What’s a bucket of words going to give me from an efficiency standpoint?” she says was the attitude at the time. “It wasn’t until I transitioned to TitletownTech that I really started understanding in a much deeper way.”
Today, through her ever-evolving work at TTT and with the Microsoft Co-Innovation Lab, Clouse says she is excited to continue to help businesses in Wisconsin, Microsoft’s investment in which she calls “a profound thing.”
Hear more, including what Clouse says she has learned about innovation and what she considers her best leadership insight, by listening to this week’s episode on Spreaker or anywhere you get audio podcasts — including Apple and Spotify.
NEW Manufacturing Insights is produced by Woodward Community Media and will be sponsored throughout 2026 by Stoke RGA. New episodes are released every Thursday.
