# James Brett: Why Maintenance Teams Must Stay Ahead of Failure Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure.md Podcast: [Maintenance & Manufacturing Insights](https://stenobird.com/podcast/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475) Published: 2026-06-11T09:21:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.maintenancemanufacturinginsights.com/e/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure/ Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/yxppttxkfsczy6nr/James_Brett8vcga.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475/episodes/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure Duration seconds: 1602 ## Resource In this episode of Maintenance Manufacturing Insights, Martin Engster sits down with James Brett, Senior Facilities Manager at Carbon Aerospace, to discuss the challenges of maintaining more than 1,200 assets across a large aerospace manufacturing operation. James shares how his team supports the production of carbon fiber aerostructures used on commercial aircraft, including control surfaces and engine components found on Boeing platforms. The conversation explores the importance of preventive maintenance, asset management systems, equipment reliability, spare parts strategies, and the growing role of technology in modern maintenance programs. James explains how his team uses CMMS data, uptime tracking, and KPI monitoring to reduce downtime and improve overall equipment effectiveness. Martin and James also discuss equipment obsolescence, standardizing critical components such as spindles, the future impact of AI on maintenance programs, and why proactive maintenance remains the key to avoiding costly failures. Whether you work in manufacturing, maintenance leadership, facilities management, or reliability engineering, this episode provides valuable insights into managing complex operations while keeping production moving. ------------------------- Are you responsible for keeping machines running and production on track? If you’re a maintenance manager, tool crib manager, or shop leader — we want to hear how you’re getting it done. Apply to be a guest on https://maintenancemanufacturinginsights.com/guest and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475/episodes/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/maintenance-manufacturing-insights-7818475/james-brett-why-maintenance-teams-must-stay-ahead-of-failure.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.