# 272: Working Capital: The Hidden Constraint to Sustainable Manufacturing Growth featuring Klear Co-Founder & CEO Chris Hale

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour-854319/272-working-capital-the-hidden-constraint-to-sustainable-manufacturing-growth-featuring-klear-co-founder-ceo-chris-hale
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour-854319/272-working-capital-the-hidden-constraint-to-sustainable-manufacturing-growth-featuring-klear-co-founder-ceo-chris-hale.md
Podcast: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://stenobird.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour-854319)
Published: 2026-01-27T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/9be813e0-19f5-4479-9a6d-0316a68d298e.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/manufacturing-happy-hour-854319/episodes/272-working-capital-the-hidden-constraint-to-sustainable-manufacturing-growth-featuring-klear-co-founder-ceo-chris-hale
Duration seconds: 1991

## Resource

A lot of manufacturing companies can build insanely complex and intricate things, but far fewer are set up to handle what happens once customers start buying. So, what happens when those products start selling at scale, contracts get longer, and customers get bigger? In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Hale, CEO and Founder at Klear, to uncover a side of manufacturing that often gets overlooked: how money moves through industrial businesses. The conversation explores how money flows when deal cycles are long, customers are global, and planning starts to feel less like spreadsheets and more like a 3D chessboard. Trade finance sits underneath a lot of this activity, shaping how physical infrastructure gets built and how manufacturers grow. We also hear about Chris' experience touring in a band, and how this shaped the way he thinks about coordination, timing, and handoffs, ideas that show up repeatedly in how he approaches financial systems for manufacturers today. In this episode, find out: How Chris Hale moved from touring in a band to working in finance and building fintech tools for industrial companies Why trade finance underpins everything from shipping containers to large-scale infrastructure projects What orchestration means in a manufacturing context, and why clean handoffs matter Why managing money often becomes harder as companies grow and demand increases How global volatility, customer behaviour, and innovation shape financial decision-making Where financial visibility tends to break down inside fast-growing manufacturers Why tying money directly to physical execution changes how companies scale Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It’s feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going! Tweetable Quot…

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## Transcript

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