Mike Harris, founder and vice president at Worksighted, describes how his tech company has benefited from Automation Alley’s Tech Takeover event series and other Industry 4.0 involvement.

Automation Alley added 29 new members in May. Click the link below to meet them.

For manufacturers today, technological change is coming faster than expected. But for some companies, customer demand for digitization has already reshaped their industry. This has been the case for New York-based reprographics firm A. Esteban & Company. Read about how the company has learned, pivoted and grown to improve profitability and competitiveness.

While plastics have given us a lot—everything from lifesaving medical devices to twisty straws for our summer ice tea—these magical materials present a big problem: There’s really no good solution for what to do with them, after we’re done using the product. To make matters worse, the life expectancy of the average plastic product is less than a year, meaning so many of these items are used once and tossed away. Enter Spectalite, a Michigan-based, women-owned, advanced engineering and materials manufacturer, specializing in bamboo fiber composite plastics. This week on the blog, Spectalite CEO Kylee Guenther discusses how her company is making a difference by helping customers find new and sustainable materials for their products while helping reduce plastic waste.

This Fourth of July, Automation Alley COO Pavan Muzumdar shares his American Dream story.

“We live in a fast-paced world that expects immediate results with clear and actionable data. It’s tempting for a sales representative to look to technology as a way to help them sell more efficiently. But what are you sacrificing in the name of efficiency?” asks Kristin O’Neill, an Automation Alley business development representative. In today’s data-driven world, more and more companies are seeking out a different type of salesperson: the consultative sales rep. This week on the blog, Kristin takes us through the five basic steps in the consultative sales process.