Beatriz Gutierrez: What is very interesting is when you're trying to take that and translating it into economic impact, we are able to measure GDP contributions, job creation, state tax. Federal tax. So when we do that and we collect that information we're able to say that this program, for each dollar invested, we return around 2.69.

Narrator: You are listening to Augmented ops where Manufacturing meets innovation. We highlight the transformative ideas and technologies shaping the front lines of operations. Helping you stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving world of industrial tech. 

Speaker 3: Welcome back to Augmented ops. I'm your host, Gillian Catrambone.

I'm the COO here at Tulip, and today I'm joined by Beatriz Gutierrez, the CEO and President of Kep. Connecticut's. Manufacturing extension partnership. Beatrice leads one of the most active MEP centers in the country, working directly with manufacturers to drive competitiveness, workforce development, digital adoption, and regional growth.

Today we're talking about something that doesn't always get enough attention. The role of meps regional ecosystems and public-private collabor collaboration in building a stronger US Manufacturing base. Beatriz, thank you so much for joining us. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: Thank you. Thank you for having me. 

Speaker 3: All right, so let's start at the foundation.

Manufacturing extension partnerships have been around for decades, but I don't think everyone understands what they actually do or how much impact they can have and do have at the regional level. Bayo three. Can you explain what an MEP is and why this model matters right now? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: Sure. So an MEP is basically a partner to the small and medium manufacturer.

It is a program that is funded by feral Amani to the nist, which is the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Department of Commerce. And their history is very interesting because they came from technology transfer programs, which are called step. State technology transfers. And as things evolved, it was clear that manufacturers needed a little more handholding per se, and support particularly small and medium manufacturers.

So there is one where each state. Plus Puerto Rico, so 51 centers. And the beauty of these centers is that while the national strategy is very encompassing, basically to focus on technology and innovation, supply chain strengthening or resilience and workforce development. Each center adapts their offerings and their support to the needs of their market.

So basically we act as consulting companies that help manufacturers find resources, find, develop skills, and basically leverage their knowledge and resources available to them to grow and create strong companies in each state and as part of a national ecosystem. 

Speaker 3: So in Connecticut with concept, what kinds of manufacturers are typically engaging?

Beatriz Gutierrez: So Connecticut has we have all kind of Manufacturing because we make chocolates and we make engines for airplanes. But, if we're gonna talk about our word strengths we have three strong supply chains. We have aerospace particular guided by. And La Martin. We have chip building, electric boat submarines, and then we have medical devices.

And these three supply chains bring together many of our manufacturers. From our role, we were very closely in developing very strong supply chains, particularly for the defense, which will encompass aerospace and ship building. But we do bring our know-how to other industries as needed. 

Speaker 3: And how do you measure impact at the regional level?

Beatriz Gutierrez: So at the regional level, one of the beauties of this program is that it has a standardized way of collecting impacts through our collaborative agreements with the federal government. Every quarter through a third party, these third party goes to our manufacturers and says, Hey. The projects that you did in our case with Stead or with any of our partners, what was the gains for you?

So was it that you retained jobs? Was it that you created jobs? Did you cost save? Were you able to sell more, et cetera. So there measures on growth, productivity and employment and also on technology. And there is a measure on net promoter score. Will you recommend it? So these. Scores are calculated for each of us.

And they're public and they allow that particular center to remain in collaboration of this program, guiding the program. What is very interesting is when you're trying to take that and translate it into economic impact, we are able to measure GDP contributions, job creation, state tax, federal tax.

And this is something that I wanted to note because at project perspective. We talk about job creative, but at the economic development perspective, this translates into sales for the company, which collects tax jobs that pay labor tax, and then translate into direct growth, direct jobs, but also indirect and ancillary.

So when we do that and we collect that information we're able to say that this program, for each dollar invested on it, we return around 2.69. 

Speaker 3: That's incredible impact. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: It is. 

Speaker 3: I'm curious about the current state. So much has changed over the past few years. Are manufacturers coming to you today with different challenges and they were even three, five years ago?

And how has the role of MEPS evolved over that time period? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: Absolutely. So let's take an environmental change, which was the pandemic. So COVID came in and our manufacturers were very involved in obviously growing their business, growing their global markets. Looking for productivity. And then the pandemic came and we know that we went to what they call the great resignation.

Correct. So a lot of people left employment either retire or decided they wanted to do something else. So our manufacturers in 2020 21 were very strapped for finding labor, qualified labor. So we pivot with the support of the federal government and the state government to really focus on finding people.

So recruitment. Skills development. A lot of the programs we created, for example, one key program that stead created was supervisory bootcamp because you had in this Manufacturing facilities, younger people that had inclination to grow, but maybe were pushed to that grow faster. So one of the key programs that had a lot of acceptance was that, but we obviously.

Help also, and in our case, we use a lot of the CARES funding that came from the federal government to recruit, to find people, to work with the communities, colleges, to create programs, to develop labor, to go into manufacture, and also to look in other areas of. Population that may not have been part of Manufacturing, veterans being one of them.

We have a lot of veterans coming from service and they need to find jobs. And it's a wonderful collaboration for us with the federal government in different areas, particularly in Connecticut with the Navy, to try to get those people back into the workplace. So that's an example of reacting to that now that big push has gone away a little bit.

Part of it had to do in our state, we have a state that tends to be older age, and we are getting to a point that we have the opposite correct. We have jobs that nobody can fill. So now automation. Becomes very relevant. Correct. So first you find people, but if people are not gonna be available or you are not able to do it at a, at an economic point, one of the things we're working very closely with other partners, including Connecticut Center for Advanced Technologies Technology.

So getting people ready to transition to 4.0, and for that, the ideal thing is improve your processes first, and then bring technology. You want to put technology in a bad process. We're ready to help manufacturers do that first by helping them with lean and other tools to improve the process. But when the process is capable and you cannot improve it anymore, technology has a place.

Ai, for example is coming in advanced Manufacturing, et cetera. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. You mentioned AI and automation here. How are you seeing some of the manufacturers in your ecosystem adopt this, and what challenges are they facing? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: What we are finding is you always have your leads, correct. You have the people that are technology ready and are able to take the risk.

In some areas is just fear of technology. Part of the challenge is even at an operator level where you look at technology and say, this is gonna replace my job. So they're not ready to advance it. So one of the things that we work with customers a lot is change management. To bring technology, you need to get people not only understanding the technology, but.

Thinking about ways to bring technology. The other piece is there was this thought, particularly in the defense area, that these transitions were gonna be immediate. And what we're finding is that a lot of manufacturers are getting to the point that they said, unless I am forced into it, I'm not gonna jump it.

And that is something we're trying to help understand by breaking the problem in pieces. You don't have to automate your whole combo. You can look at one process, one piece of it, and I always tell staff and customers, if you see someone doing something repetitive automation may be your solution. You don't have to think ai.

You can think just a sensor or a little piece of the process. Now, where AI has been very interesting for us is in documenting and creating SOPs. Standard operating procedures where you have that guy or that person in the plant that knows a lot. Now they're ready to retire and you don't have any documentation of what they do, how they do it.

In those cases, these kind of tools are very helpful. So I have to say, I am very surprised. I'm an electrical engineer. I've been in this environment for 30 years or more, and very excited about 4.0. I've been to Hanover Fair. You see it there, you see the applications, but it's taking a while to really.

Stake hold. And I think as an industry we haven't done a great job yet to educate that you can do it in parts. You don't have to make the mega investments. You can do it in one piece. And that's where meps become very useful because we can bring the vendors we do not implement, but we can bring the vendors and.

Several and be a trusted advisor and say, look, talk to these guys. Get an understanding of your application, and maybe this one is good for your ERP, but that one is good for your SOPs, for example. 

Speaker 3: There's been a lot of national conversation also about reshoring and industrial policy. And Manufacturing is deeply regional talent pools and infrastructure and suppliers and community colleges and so on.

From your perspective, what makes a region Manufacturing ready? You're talking a lot about talent and technology as a component of that, but I'm curious about your perspective there. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: I think there's several pieces. I will say start with qualified labor. You don't have people ready to work.

That's a challenge in some areas. For example, in the Northeast, we do have a lot of qualified people, particularly young people coming from great universities. You have Boston and you have Connecticut, and we have really talented people. But one of the challenge to keep them in this area is the cost of living when you're young, coming from a university and your cost of living is really high.

You may have to go somewhere else. So I will say the first thing that companies are trying to work together is trying to figure ways to retain labor, qualify labor in the area, so conversations with academic institutions, internship programs, the ability to provide lower cost, housing, transportation, that's another area.

And these are all things that when I was in Manufacturing and I worked for ge, I worked for Rockwell. We never thought about that. It was like we are the names. People come to us and they want to work for us. That paradigm has definitely shifted and now we have to think about how do we engage people to stay with us.

So labor is the first part. The second part that makes an area, I think, is the ecosystem connectivity. So Connecticut is a good example of that. We're at 3 million and a half population and we have been working really hard as. Industry, but also through collaboration with Department of Economic Development.

They created a position maybe five years ago called the Chief Manufacturing Officer. And the idea is that connectivity, there's a lot of programs for manufacturers. There's a lot of economic development programs in federal level and state level. There's grants, there's internship, there's, but nobody knows about when you're running a business, you'll have time to learn that.

So we have to make it easier. To connect to those programs. So Connecticut has done a lot of work on that. Not only having the programs access to capital, access to training, we, for example, have something called the voucher or if you're gonna buy equipment. There's up to a 50% subsidy under a hundred thousand I believe it's now to buy equipment.

If you're gonna train people, you get also an incentive, financial incentive to train. But my manufacturers call it the alphabet soup, correct. All these acronyms that they don't know and they almost, it's almost a full-time job to go in and do that. So for a region, I will say, you gotta have the labor ready to go.

You have to have ways to incentivize and retain young people to stay in your area. But beyond that, so it's the quality of life, but beyond that, you have to make it easier for the manufacturers to stay with you. So we talk about friendly states. Taxes are important, are the tax grades are important. But if you are not able to even access markets from where you are.

That's a problem in the US there's particular clusters that are very successful. Connecticut, definitely in defense, very long installed base, very strong OEMs. And I would say that's another thing that is important when you're trying to deal with the small and medium manufacturers in supply change, where you have a strong OEM that is very connected to the area that's health.

It's also a competitive factor though, which I have to be honest about. A lot of the small companies complain that then when you get students or employees, they have other places to go and that's the reality of it. Correct. But they do bring a lot of vibrance in the area and they bring the money contract.

So this is an area where this is very strong. I will say another good example is Silicon Valley. Correct. Because you have not only the companies. The academic, but the funding, and you can have both public funding, but you do have to attract private funding. And in our industry, I think one thing that is very interesting lately is we have very strong generational companies in Connecticut and in this area.

People that have been at this small Manufacturing for five generations. And now you are gonna see, I believe, a lot of consolidation and a lot of venture money. Just because the fourth, fifth generation may not want to be in the business, plus the cost of moving to higher technology may be more than that family wants to do.

So there's gonna be a lot of vertical integration and consolidation in the industry, and that requires capital. That requires investors. 

Speaker 3: You just shared a couple of examples that are getting this right in terms of different regions across the country. Do the meps, regional meps, do they share these best practices, and what are some of the things that you have adopted that other regions have done or that other regions have adopted that Connecticut has done?

Beatriz Gutierrez: First of all, yes. That's the value of this network. Correct. This network. One of the things that makes it very unique. Is you get to be the MEP for a state only. So that eliminates competition for customers, but it does allow you to develop your own skills. So one thing that is very important to us is, for example, at the regional level, we meet once a month, the Northeast plus New York, and we sit in a meeting and we talk about best practices.

What do we do? What's working for me? What's not working for you, et cetera. And the other thing is there is an incentive for cooperation. So the national network gives per se, when they do funding, additional funding, there is an incentive to work together. So a good example, cybersecurity is an area that is critical to every company, but definitely to defense companies because you own.

Drawings and parts from our national defense supply chain. So one of the things we done as a network, there was some funding to develop the knowledge. How do we train these companies in doing this work? And we did it all around and we created basically a procedure and a way of doing it. And now we're able to share information on how well we're doing.

For example, we know that in New Jersey there's a lot of demand for this work. Not so much yet here in Connecticut to Massachusetts. So we see every month and say, what's going on? What are you doing that we're not doing? So there is an opportunity to really share information and we have an agreement among all the meps also to, if you need a particular skill, I can send my guy to do it.

And then we share, I take the impacts and you take the person. That is important. That is really important because it will be cost prohibited to develop a model where you have all the skills at the local level. But what's very important is to be able to not only share skills, but share knowledge.

Best example, Rhode Island and Connecticut. We have a base that we share. Basically the workforce comes from both sides, so it will be foolish to try to recreate programs. We try to do our best to share. So that is an example of how you do that in a way that is meaningful. So important that these meps are non-for-profits.

And I think that's important to mention. Some of them sit at a university, some of them sit at the DCD. Their state stead happens to be a five one C3 non-for-profit. This is important because we are mission-driven organizations, which means we are looking to bring innovation, workforce development, supply chain resident to our customers.

We are measured in impacts, not on profits, so that allows us to. Take risk maybe with some clients where a for-profit company could not. So it's a value add. The other thing position us quite well is to develop agreements with academic institutions. In our case, we have one with Central Connecticut State University, where we work in many areas, but particularly diverse security, trying to train and get their students.

Up to speed so they can work with smaller companies and also with the University of Hartford in supply chain resilience because they have a wonderful program where they can bring those students into serving companies. And what I think this is so important is while the larger companies provide a wonderful environmental growth for a student, the smaller companies provide a lot of flexibility and a lot of breadth.

You get to do a lot of things. Sometimes when a student goes to one of these companies as an intern, they fall in love with the company and we want to make sure that we're allowing both 

Speaker 3: for so many reasons that you just described. In so many examples. It's clear how public private partnerships are a clear and evidence solution to strengthening Manufacturing, but in practice, these partnerships can be complex as you know better than I do.

So from your experience, what separates effective public-private partnerships from the ones that struggle? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: I think the biggest piece is transparency. You have to have a good way to measure the return on the taxpayer funding. You have to have very clear roles and responsibilities while the state of, the public piece has a macro view of what's needed, and they don't have the resources to get to the detail level, nor their official have that.

But they have to be very good at governance and controllership. I happen to have the opportunity lifewise to have had done both. I was the executive director for the Department of Economic Development in Connecticut, and now I'm on this side. And to me the biggest part is you have to sit down and be very clear what the purpose of the funding is.

What do you expect the partner to do in that case, the private entity? And then how are you gonna measure success? It has to be agreeable, transparent, and repeatable. You're looking for these partners to create capacity for you. You don't want to micromanage their work, but you have to be aligned in the main objective.

And I think where it fails is at some point, either you two. They their work to the point that you take away the flexibility as a public partner or you remove yourself so much that you're not accountable. And that has to be very well ironed in the contract, in the reporting and in the closeout. So in my experience, for example, we have had a wonderful partnership with BN, as I mentioned, but with the Department of Economic Development.

They were at the core of founding stead with the University of Connecticut more than 30 years ago. But through the changes in industry, we have kept a very open conversation on what the state is looking to see from that funding. How do we return the value and the trust that they invest in us? And how are we trying to be very transparent?

With the data collection for stead, it's easy because as I said, we have a third party collecting the data, but beyond that, also the flexibility of the relationship. I think those relationship fails when things change and you say that's not within our mission. So let me give you an example. During COD, the state need as part of the survival of the industry to get parts, simple parts, respirators, masks.

Protection to manufacturers, and they rely on stead very closely to do that work because we knew who these customers were, we knew how to get the data that they needed, and then they could create the programs of enforcement. So a good example is all those guidelines for Manufacturing and deciding that Manufacturing was gonna remain an essential.

Industry and it wasn't gonna be shut down. A lot of that work was done working with Comset, directed by the state, directed by the chief Manufacturing officer of the time, and then the day to day of so and so needs a respiratory mass. A lot of that work was done by us because we know where the customers are in the state.

I think it's that desire to take that relationship from transactional. Relationship building. 

Speaker 3: So let's make this practical. If an operations leader was listening today, they're navigating labor shortages, which you've touched on supply chain shifts, AI and automation, cost pressures, what should they be doing right now?

Beatriz Gutierrez: I think the first thing is don't panic because we live in a time of uncertainty. And that's the norm today, correct? Yeah. And when I went to business school, we talk a lot about you just plan for uncertainty. You cannot right now. You cannot build it in your budget because one day is one thing and another day is something else.

But what you can do is be very intentional about understanding your critical processes. What are the things I need to get my payroll and my business going? Focus on those. An example, I was talking to a customer today and she was saying that a lot of her material comes from China. So what she did is she found two particular parts that she needed to survive and then those, she stuck up in inventory and she basically look for domestic supplier 

Narrator: and reach out.

Beatriz Gutierrez: A lot of these costs are gonna be absorbed by the market, like it, or not short term, but what you need to be focusing is the long term. Saying to yourself, for right now, there's nothing I can do. I'll just absorb it and bring inventory. But long term, what can I do? And I think that's where we saw a lot of issues in supply chain during COVID.

And there's a lot of learnings that came from that we should be thinking about. If when you were there and your supply chain, for example, you went somewhere, China, Indonesia, whatever, because of labor costs, now you're gonna bring it in. Don't think about it just, oh, now I have to hire people.

Think about automation is there's an opportunity for me to automate. Maybe I can bring it at a lower cost. So yes, you may have to hire two people, but you're not gonna hire 20. But think about also the shipping cost. So I would say to me, the advice is, first at all, focus on your critical processes. Learn for long term, address the immediate.

But don't get caught in. I need to build my inventories to the max. Remember, if you tie your money, that's cash. So always think long term and call stead. 

Speaker 3: Call stead. Exactly. For the companies that have been able to adopt that model, and I know I as an operations leader can empathize with how challenging that can be to stay focused and to take it incrementally to piece of the time and stay committed to the long term.

What is really required? What are the ones who've done this well? What have they built in terms of internal capabilities to. Keep that focus and to maintain that continuous transformation, like incremental gains and staying, locked in on what's gonna have the greatest impact. What do those companies do?

Beatriz Gutierrez: I think the best thing is to really focus on your core, but long term, I said that, but let me explain. I had that company in Cranwell, Connecticut, and they make hinges, for cabinets, hardware, basically. And years ago they decided. They were, most of the production was in Asia, and they said, Nope, the incentives there have stopped and we're gonna bring this production in-house.

It took them two years to bring that to the states because they had to bring all these parts for manufacturers, per inventory, et cetera. But they did it when they were not under pressure. 

Speaker 3: They were proactive. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: They've very proactive. They had one gentleman that knows everything. They documented that work.

And now when all these things happen with COVID and so forth, they were here, they didn't have to worry about it. So I would say it is like when you have your closet and you don't clean it, and now you have to move too late. Do it, do spring cleaning, every quarter. Have a strategic plan.

Think about what are the things that you wanna grow. That you want to remain in the market for. And also as yourself, if you're a small company, privately owned, do you even want to be in this business? Because that's another thing that we see a lot. People stick with the company and now they want to retire, and the value of the company is now what they thought they had.

Instead of buying the next piece of equipment, sit down every five years or even, every year you can, but sit down and say, what do I want this company to be? In five years, and it may be you don't want to grow it, and that's okay. Get it ready. Because getting ready for sale takes time. Get it ready.

Bring process, clean your process. Bring automation. Look at the real value. And this is something I see. With small companies, they become lifestyle companies. The owners have it, they spend from it. They go on vacation, and then now they want to get out and there's no value in the company. So business has to be unemotional, say, what are my goals?

What are my goals for the company? How much I wanna grow? And once you decide that the rest is put together a thing, a strategic roadmap that says, this is the pieces I want to invest. Invest in the right technology. That's another thing. You go and see these beautiful machines and you say, oh, I need that.

Maybe not. You don't want to spend half million dollars in a piece of machine that becomes like the gym equipment in my house to hand clothes on it. What you want to make sure is the things you bring. Add value. Add value to you as a company. Add value to your process, and most it all add value to the employees.

Employees can always be upgraded, but you have to do it the right way. 

Speaker 3: So on that note, one of the things I think about a lot is people development and skills development. Yep. And obviously I work in a software company, we're not so different than Manufacturing, especially here at Tulip. So I'd love to know a little bit about the most effective workforce development programs you've seen, and also what role does workforce development play?

It's, you've talked about it a lot, but with what? What role does workforce development play in your day to day with the different companies you engage with? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: One thing we had seen is in the past, and I'm gonna talk, workforce development is critical. Even at our, in our company, which is a small company consulting company, people particularly young people want to grow and they want to see that they're acquiring new skills and they may not be necessary.

On their path, but they want to grow their career and their knowledge. So I think the first thing a company needs to do is to look up their talent as an asset at comes that I consider my HR person and my finance person at the same level. And that is because those are the two assets you have. You have capital or you have people, period.

So you have to invest on the people, but you also have to look to invest on things you don't need. Let me. I give you an example. Right now we are sending one of our younger employees to Han Earth. Am I gonna be in automation? No. We have partners that work with companies in automation, but we need him to really broaden his mind around what's out there because manufacturers that we serve need to understand that.

As far as my experience, that's one of the best places to see a lot of technology, newer technology things. So you have to invest in the future. So that's one thing. It is critical to invest in the job people have in the next job, but in the jobs you'll have, because we don't know what the next thing will bring.

We have no idea. Someone will have told me that there will be a whole generation of people working on AI tools 30 years ago. I didn't know that. I know there was it. But it's that sense of always investing. So that's the first step. We are very successful right now both with CICC, which is champions for lean.

We have a program as many years old where we actually bring people from companies and they spend 10 weeks with us once a week. And they do a project and they have mentoring. And the idea behind that project is not that you learn lean, but that you become a lean champion in your company. So you do learn the tools, you do the project, but the idea is pollinating the operational excellence in the company.

So as one the other one that we're very successful lately is the Supervisor Bootcamp because it combines not only supervisor skills with. Lean and continuous improvement skills. And that's open to not only manufacturers, but this an open class people can come from any industry that, I will say moving forward more than technical skills is change management and cultural skills.

Because with this example, we are not sitting together in the same room but we still have to get work done. So the ability to develop. Emotional intelligence, the ability to work in teams to operate across boundaries are very important. I almost will say you can teach technical skills with some good curriculum union line, but you definitely need for the worker of tomorrow, the ability to work cross groups, cross teams, cross boundaries, and then to be able to engage at a very different level than just hierarchy.

So to me, companies that invest in culture and concepts like lean, for example, but not from a technical skill, but from a continuous improvement culture and innovation, being able to think outside the box is very important for the jobs of today, not even the future, the jobs of. 

Speaker 3: And adaptability.

We don't know what's coming next. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: Absolutely. And flexibility. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: And flexibility. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. So despite the challenges that you've touched on throughout this conversation, like workforce gaps and global competition and infrastructure complaints and workforce and so on and so forth, you spend your days working directly with manufacturers across Connecticut.

What gives you confidence about the future of Connecticut, but also US Manufacturing? 

Beatriz Gutierrez: I will say first of all, grit. These manufacturers are very committed and I am very focused on small and medium as up to 500 employees. That's my area of work. But a lot of these manufacturers are very invested in their companies because they're invested in the community.

They come from these towns and they come from these companies. So they want to succeed and they want the economy to succeed, but not only for a personal benefit, but because they truly, their companies have created community. So that's the first thing. I think we have very good work ethic here in the Northeast.

In particular, we have a history of Manufacturing. We like to make things. One example is we have a contest. During September, which is the coolest thing made in Connecticut. And every year we are getting more people voting and showing us their innovation. And I gotta say, this year of the four finalists were chocolate companies.

One was an explosive manufacturer for defense, the other one was in defense, and then the other two were shock of the companies. So people take a lot of pride in what they make. And I think there's always a value. As much as we go to a virtual site, people like to make stuff. They take pride in making stuff, and Manufacturing is one of those areas where you can come in the industry at any level and move up.

The salaries are higher than another industries. Of course, the challenge has been, I think, is in the last 30 years, we pretty much told everybody that if you didn't go to college, you had no words. And that is a challenge. That is a challenge. We gotta get people back to thinking about Manufacturing as a lifestyle and something you do.

But I am very optimistic about the thinking, the innovation. I do think from the standpoint of global diversity, being able to connect at all levels, the technology allows us today to make. Connections with people in Germany or in India or so forth. I think that's an engine of knowledge and it's an engine of creativity and I'm really hopeful that continues.

Speaker 3: What a great place to end. Thank you again and thank you for listening to Augmented ops. 

Beatriz Gutierrez: Thank you very much for having me. 

Narrator: Thank you for listening to the Augmented Ops podcast from Tulip Interfaces. We hope you found this week's episode informative and inspiring. You can find the show on LinkedIn and YouTube or at Tulip dot co slash podcast.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating or review on iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Until next time, 

I.