# Inside Conexus Indiana: The Industry Network Driving Manufacturing Tech and Talent | Ep. 46

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lights-out-technology-and-automation-podcast-by-makingchips-7058706/inside-conexus-indiana-the-industry-network-driving-manufacturing-tech-and-talent-ep-46
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lights-out-technology-and-automation-podcast-by-makingchips-7058706/inside-conexus-indiana-the-industry-network-driving-manufacturing-tech-and-talent-ep-46.md
Podcast: [Lights Out: Technology and Automation Podcast by MakingChips](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lights-out-technology-and-automation-podcast-by-makingchips-7058706)
Published: 2026-07-31T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://8819970d-2c51-481c-b08a-4d2a806885b2.libsyn.com/inside-conexus-indiana-the-industry-network-driving-manufacturing-tech-and-talent-ep-46
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/8819970d-2c51-481c-b08a-4d2a806885b2/LO46_.mp3?dest-id=4707502
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Duration seconds: 3173

## Resource

Conexus Indiana is an industry-led nonprofit that pulls the state's manufacturers, logistics companies, colleges, and public sector into the same room to tackle the problems they all share: building a workforce pipeline, speeding up tech adoption, and getting shops to actually help each other. Every state is scrambling for exactly that, and Indiana seems to have cracked it. This week we sat down with Bryce Carpenter, EVP and Chief Operating and Strategy Officer at Conexus Indiana, to ask a blunt question. Is this a model the rest of us should be stealing? At its core, Conexus runs on a simple idea, that industry knows what industry needs. Its Advanced Industries Council pulls 126 manufacturing, logistics, academic, and public sector partners into the same rooms all year long to name problems, share what's working, and go on offense together. In a state where advanced manufacturing and logistics is one in five jobs and a third of the economy, that kind of organization isn't a nice to have. We got into the shift Bryce has watched over a decade, from automation is the enemy to automation being a foregone conclusion, and now the same cycle repeating with AI. He makes a case we come back to a lot on this show. The winning move isn't automating people out, it's automating the jobs nobody wants. His palletizing story is a clinic in change management. We also dug into the Manufacturing Readiness Grants that have pushed matching dollars into more than 700 small and midsize shops, the FiberX company that 10x'd its business, and why Conexus works hard not to be a plaque factory. If you have ever wondered what it would take to build something like this where you are, Bryce lays out the non-negotiables. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Learn more about Bryce Carpenter, Conexus…

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## Transcript

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