On this week's episode of The Maintainers: A Blue Cap Community Podcast, hosts Jake & David are joined by an outstanding guest, Anna Goodman. Anna is the Senior Mechanical Reliability Engineer at Celanese, a global chemical leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Anna is bringing in her extensive and diverse manufacturing background to the conversation today.
On this week's episode of The Maintainers: A Blue Cap Community Podcast, hosts Jake & David are joined by an outstanding guest, Anna Goodman. Anna is the Senior Mechanical Reliability Engineer at Celanese, a global chemical leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Anna is bringing in her extensive and diverse manufacturing background to the conversation today.
Some topics that are covered in this episode include: What differences exist between various manufacturing industries, why leadership should be taking a top-down approach towards their predictive maintenance efforts, and how the tides might slowly be shifting to close the gender gap in the industry. Anna also stresses the importance of mentorship in fostering early career development, and the ways in which she works with professional organizations to do her part.
Additionally, David & Jake poke around the subject of AI, and where the industry might be headed as it is further integrated into the work done everyday. Hear Anna give her thoughts on how she views the future potential available, and if it will be fully replacing humans or working together to enable more intellectual work.
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Guest Bio
Anna Goodman is a Senior Mechanical Reliability Engineer with Celanese in Houston, Texas.
She began working in the nuclear industry in 2011. She received her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2010. In the past 12 years, she has worked in various industries including nuclear, food, plastics, petrochemical, and chemicals.
The primary focus in each being to work with teams of various disciplines at the facilities to improve reliability and mechanical integrity of the equipment. Her work over the past 5 years can be summarized as covering the following subjects:
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Guest Quote
“Try to help the user find the failure before it happens. Then you don't have any surprises. The surprises lead to the accidents and possible injuries depending on what the risk is of that particular piece of equipment.” – Anna Goodman
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Time Stamps
*(01:42) Opening Icebreaker
*(02:27) Anna's Background
*(04:31) Automotive vs. Chemical Manufacturing
*(06:08) Segment 01: The Maintainer Mashup
*(08:30) Why is predictive maintenance important
*(13:38) Section 02: What's in Your Toolkit?
*(17:04) Segment 03: The Future of Factories
*(20:03) Women in manufacturing and maintenance
*(24:26) How professional organizations can help
*(26:21) Mentorship matters
*(29:03) Segment 04: Fix It Funnies
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Links
[00:00:00] Anna Goodman: Maintenance. What you call maintenance. I'll
[00:00:05] David Lee: fix it. I'm gonna fix it.
[00:00:07] Anna Goodman: Concentrate it. Maintain it. Maintain control,
[00:00:11] Jake Hall: maintenance, complete
[00:00:14] David Lee: welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the maintainers, a Blue Cap Community podcast. I am your co-host David Lee, experience leader in the industrial space, and director over at Traction.
I'm here today with Jay Call.
[00:00:27] Jake Hall: And I'm Jake, the manufacturing millennial. I'm an industry advocate, thought leader, and content creator online. And it, it's great to be here. And today we have an amazing guest today, Anna Goodman, who's been in the industry for 10 years. Anna recently started a new role as the senior mechanical reliability engineer for Celanese, a Fortune 500 company, which is based in Texas as a industrial chemical supplier.
So if you don't a little about selling east, there are. Been around since 1918. They have 25 production plants in 11 countries. But before we dive into that, let's do a quick word from our sponsor.
[00:01:08] Voiceover: This podcast is brought to you by Traction. Traction Offers streamlined hardware and software solutions designed to make maintenance more reliable and profitable.
Their AI powered condition monitoring and asset management solution predicts machine failures and unplanned downtime, allowing clients to save an average of $10 million every trimester. It's artificial intelligence quarterbacking your
[00:01:31] David Lee: maintenance. Thanks for joining us today, Anna. So first, how are you doing?
[00:01:38] Anna Goodman: I'm doing great. How about you?
[00:01:40] David Lee: I'm doing outstanding. So if we were to have this conversation today, for example, if you could pick anywhere in the world, what would you like to have this conversation? Uh, what would be your favorite place to be in the summer? Or maybe a thing to do while we have this interview?
I'd
[00:01:54] Anna Goodman: say probably, you know, some little cafe just shooting a breeze. Maybe even in like a different country, like Italy or something like that. Would be nice. Might not go fancy. Nice. Yeah,
[00:02:05] David Lee: I like that. Uh, maybe Venice, right? If we could pick anywhere on the map. I think I. Point there as well. Awesome.
[00:02:11] Jake Hall: Yeah, I could definitely go for, for Venice right now, sitting out, you know, drinking a nice cappuccino and having those conversations.
So, you know, to kick things off with before we go and we talk about, you know, the industry, I wanna talk more about the person, so, so tell us a little bit about your background. You've been in the industry for 10 years. How did you get started in the industry? Where did you get this inspiration to do what you do today?
[00:02:34] Anna Goodman: So that's actually a very, uh, interesting story and adventure. My life has been quite an adventure. So I actually started at a, working at, for a nuclear facility, Honeywell, at their Metropolis site. And that was my very first job outta college. And it was during a lockout of the union and I was an operator for nine months.
And then I transitioned to a process engineering role after that. And then after about nine months of doing the process engineering role. They decided that they were going to do a lot of upgrades due to an audit that happened from the N R C. The N R C said they had to do a lot of structural updates because they were built in the fifties.
They were on a fault line, their tornadoes were prevalent, all that fun stuff, right? So they actually, at that time, laid off 60% of their workforce to take care of those. And so I was on the, the job hunt again, and that's when I landed with DuPont. And I actually worked at their Danisco acquisition even further north in Thompson, Illinois.
They have a little sugar plant there that took tree SAP liquors essentially, and made the different sugar xylitol, lacol, things like that. And I did that for a couple years as a mechanical integrity, quality assurance engineer. And then I transitioned to Texas mostly to get away from the snow. And um, so then I worked as a reliability engineer for DuPont in Orange, Texas.
And I did that for a couple years, and then due to some personal reasons, decided that I wanted to get to a bigger city. So then I started making my way towards Houston, and I've since then have worked for a few, uh, co-polymer elastomer plants as well as chemical facilities. I've been, I was a contractor for a small time for an inspection company.
And now I'm, I'm with seventies,
[00:04:22] Jake Hall: so I, I love to learn more about your experience. Like when we think of a lot of traditional manufacturing, at least where I'm at in the Midwest, it's, it's automotive, right? It's consumer goods, it's automotive. What's been your experience like for, I guess you could say someone who's not familiar with the chemical industry specifically when it comes to manufacturing?
Like what are just some unique things that you've learned over the years working in the chemical industry, on the manufacturing side? It.
[00:04:49] Anna Goodman: I mean, I think there are some similarities, but there definitely are some differences to go down the road of the similarities first, I guess. So safety is definitely the biggest thing.
That plays a part in everything you do, everything you analyze, every walk down, every consideration is revolved around safety. Beyond that, there definitely is a a culture of just friendship and comradery that I haven't had in any of my other jobs. Where there's a lot of brother keeper going on, which then ties back into that safety, right?
So like a lot of the people that you work with, you can tell that they care not only about making the pounds and getting the product out the door, but they care about the people that they work with and they wanna make sure that what they're doing is, is by the book and by the letter, so that everybody can walk out the same way they came in.
I think that's the big things that keep me coming back every day. You know, when in getting up every morning, um, But I mean, outside of that, just ultimately it's never a dull moment. You're always learning something new. Once you think you have one thing fixed and it's gonna be fixed for a while and you move on to the next thing, you might be pulled off on this other thing.
And it's very dynamic in that way and very, uh, fulfilling in that way as well.
[00:06:02] David Lee: Nice. So now it's time for our first segment, maintainer, mashup,
[00:06:09] Jake Hall: maintenance required. Listen,
[00:06:11] Anna Goodman: I maintain, I maintain them myself. Maintain course,
[00:06:15] Jake Hall: maintain speed.
[00:06:17] David Lee: I gotta maintain respect. So we'll dive deeper into the equipment management and the teams to find out how can we make maintenance more reliable.
And so can we hear a little bit more about. Ese in your, let's say, role, day to day, like your concerns, challenges, and what's typically at the top of mind? You did talk a little bit about it, but I'd like to hear a little bit more
[00:06:41] Anna Goodman: detail there. Yeah. So as a reliability engineer for Celanese, they separate the res by equipment class, let's say.
So for my specific role, I'm focused more on the fixed equipment side, and that's mostly due to my a, my familiarity with the a p i codes and, and my background and, and those kind of things. Um, I. I was chosen for that role. So a lot of the day-to-day is supporting operations, making sure that I'm in the loop with what trials and tribulations they're having, supporting them as they need it.
Uh, if, uh, management of changes come up and process needs me to review this or that, I can do so from a fixed equipment perspective. Um, in addition to that, I, you know, do some data diving in, trying to find, you know, bad actors, mtbs, things like that to try to find root causes of some things to improve reliability in those ways.
I'm very interactive with the inspection, uh, department as well. I have an inspector for each unit and so the gentleman that I work with, with that, you know, if he has finds items during his inspections, we work together to try to get those addressed as, uh, quickly and efficiently as possible. And in addition to that, you know, on the softer side of things, there's some groups that I'm involved with, some volunteering I've done.
They have a women's network that's amazing. And, you know, they're having a STEM event for the children and I'm running one of the booths for that and things like that. So they really make sure that, you know, yes there's a focus on, on the technical, but there's also a focus on the people and that really affects the day-to-day and the, the resources and support and overall just vibe is, is really cool there.
[00:08:18] Jake Hall: I love that. Awesome. And, and so I wanna draw this back to part of the early conversation where you talked about how safety. You, you found was so critical to the industry being a part of the industry that you're involved with, and it seems like when safety is front of mind, there's, there's a more of a positive focus from a team member perspective on making sure the equipment that you're using is safe from your 10 years of experience.
And it doesn't need to be at your current job. It could just be from. From anywhere in the, in the past, how would you say you've used predictive maintenance or data that's coming from predictive maintenance to basically drive productivity or drive, you know, maybe even safety. How is, how is predictive maintenance being used to improve safety that you've seen from your experience?
[00:09:03] Anna Goodman: I've had experience in a few different monitoring technologies that have helped out with that, uh, that journey. So, uh, vibration is a good one. Lubrication is another one. Your thermography, uh, your circuit analysis, your M c a, that, that sort of thing. All those things. Basically try to help the user find the failure before it happens.
Right. Which is awesome because then you don't have surprises. And the surprises lead to the accidents and possible injuries depending on what the risk is of that particular piece of equipment. So in my experience, I, I've seen it m many times where what they'll do is they'll prioritize, right? They'll only put the.
Constant monitoring equipment on the, your highest risks or highest, most critical pieces of equipment. And then from there it's a lot of routes and PMs and, and things of that nature to try to get a better feel and picture of how the equipment's doing and, and what kind of things need to be done to make it continue to work as as expected.
So
[00:10:03] Jake Hall: how do you create that culture of like, we will plan ahead of time? For a lot of manufacturers that I, that I've talked with is they love this idea of predictive maintenance, but they feel that they're playing so much catch up that they never can get ahead to the point where they can plan ahead. H how do you recommend that manufacturers create a culture around.
Future prediction. I, I guess you could say scheduling maintenance ahead of time before maintenance schedules you. Yeah. If that makes sense. You know, how do you, yeah. How do you encourage companies or like how, how do we create
[00:10:42] Anna Goodman: that culture? So ultimately my experience has shown me that really needs to be a top-down effort.
Like the leaderships at the highest levels need to understand how beneficial and how significant. These conversations and processes and implementation can be to your predictive and preventive programs being successful. And then beyond that, just having a good team there that has the right experience.
And if not, they're hungry to get it and you know, and willing to work together and willing to really like just make, make it happen. 'cause I've seen places where they're just so reactive, they're so downtrodden, they're so. Almost beaten that it's very difficult to get them to switch the mentality to, alright, let's get ahead of this.
Let's not just play catch up all the time. That that's because they're getting pressure from their management to go faster and make up time, and then they're getting pressure from their management and then ultimately, you know, the operations and the company wants to make money and all that. You know, and all that stuff is well and good and understandable, you know, from a business perspective.
But you really gotta, you gotta take a little bit of a step back, I think, and just look at big picture as even more of a whole of, okay, this is what our end product we want to be, but how do we get the quality work and the quality product within
[00:12:00] Jake Hall: that? The big thing that I always think about is if I'm going into my day with a plan, I can perform a lot better than if I'm going into my day basically not knowing what's gonna happen.
Thousand percent. And I think I, I, I think it's one of those things from just a culture perspective of employee burnout. If you create a culture that your employee knows what they need to do to achieve that day, they're gonna perform way better than trying to put a bandaid on whatever machine went down that day just to keep the machine up running.
Because let's face it, if we go into a process with a plan, we can execute that plan. To the degree that we want to achieve it versus the opposite. It feels like it's a bandaid and I, I think it's one of those things where when you look at predictive maintenance and the, and the technology, it almost creates a routine that's structured for the company rather than trying just to be reactive all the time.
It, it's predictive technology is cool 'cause it gives you information but allows you just, it allows
[00:13:02] Anna Goodman: you to plan. Yeah, for sure. I mean, and not to say that the plans won't go awry, right? Yeah. No shutdown ever truly starts and stops 1000% or like right when it needs to, right when it, right when you expect it to.
But if you can get within closer margins and you can get your scope done and know what kind of things you're working with moving forward after the work you know is done and those, that's also something that you can plan better for for the next one. And you can do those lessons learned and, and actually make progress in, in your processes.
So,
[00:13:35] Jake Hall: absolutely.
[00:13:36] David Lee: Alright, let's talk about your toolkit.
[00:13:40] Anna Goodman: We're gonna
[00:13:41] David Lee: fix it.
[00:13:41] Jake Hall: Get the tool, pick the one right tool, the right tool for the right job.
[00:13:50] David Lee: Uh, so what type of software tools, for example, do you find useful managing maintenance activities and the best ways to do that
[00:13:57] Anna Goodman: Actually, Um, so the tools that I've mostly used in, in my career so far for any like damaged mechanism analysis really is excel, honestly, first and foremost, right? Uh, your C M M SS systems, getting your work order data history and all that jazz together.
And then in addition to that, just different softwares that the contractor or the technician at the time has been given permissions to use for tracking their findings and their reports, and. And all that stuff, because I think a lot of that, the details that go into that is lost in your C M M SS system.
You can add some of it, but, uh, I don't think you would ever be able to, without bogging down the system altogether, get all of it in one place necessarily. Maybe, maybe in 50 years they'll be able to perfect that. But, but yeah, those are, those are the tools that I've primarily used in my career.
[00:14:50] Jake Hall: So for the audience that's learning the, the acronyms or the abbreviations, excuse me.
Uh, C M M S'S computerized Maintenance. Management system. It's a yes, a system that's usually in place to help manufacturing companies manage their assets, schedule their maintenance, and track their orders. So, you know, you mentioned Excel. You know, I, I, I think that's where a lot of. Manufacturers start when they're originally scaling.
They don't, they don't buy into an actual software that, that, that can support them. But what would you say to a, a, a manufacturer, maybe it's a small to medium sized manufacturer that is scheduling stuff on a whiteboard still, like by, by bullet point, you know of, Hey, this is the checklist that we have to do, and you've probably experienced that over your industry years.
There's different levels of adoption of C M M Ss, but what would you say? Are some of the most valuable things that say, Hey, this is why you should invest in beyond just your bullet point to-do list. Like this is what it can help create as a
[00:15:49] Anna Goodman: benefit. I think a lot of that just kind of goes back to how much your leadership understands the benefit of using your reliability analysis tools and your data analysis tools, right?
So y yes, your lists and your whiteboards can be helpful in managing your schedules and your tasks. But then what are you gonna do with that history after the fact? You're just gonna let it go to the wayside and start creating the wheel again the next time round. If you can prevent doing that, it's best.
Right? So, and then in addition to that, like, you know, making sure that it's repeatable, making sure that it's on a schedule, making sure that that schedule is followed, making sure that, uh, you know, your technicians are getting the tools that they need and the time that they need so that you can. Reduce your repair times.
And then, you know, ultimately if they know the best ways to fix things and implement things, then you can overall, uh, you know, extend your meantime between failure. But if you don't know what your meantime between failure is to start with, it's hard to figure that out too. So really, like the softwares help you quantify and justify, uh, some of the more reliability centered maintenance practices that are very, you know, uh, Encouraged, I guess, in the in the reliability world.
[00:17:06] David Lee: Alright, so now for our next segment, the Future of Factory Meet
[00:17:13] Anna Goodman: the Future to Our Futures.
[00:17:15] David Lee: What
[00:17:15] Jake Hall: Future? The factory. My Factory, everybody's factory.
[00:17:19] David Lee: I
[00:17:19] Anna Goodman: love your factory. My factory, my walls.
[00:17:23] David Lee: So this is where we would like to cover the trends we've seen across the industry and then also. What we'd like to see next.
So Adam, what type of things are you looking forward to when it comes to the, the factory technology in the future? And then also what type of impacts have you seen that you view as positive?
[00:17:42] Anna Goodman: I would say the things that I think are gonna be the most influential as time progresses within the industry is just how technology and AI is becoming more involved, and especially some of your big key players day-to-day.
You know, we talk about all this monitoring and software and things like that, but I've seen an inspection from the fixed equipment side that they're trying to take people outta the equation as much as possible to then increase that safety and reduce the potential for injuries and fatalities and things like that for confined spaces and things of that nature.
And you, you go to these conferences and you see these, these cameras hooked onto these, uh, drones or the, or the little dog walkers and all that things, and there's like a lot of potential for that stuff to just. Gain a plethora of data for then there to be an expert to go ahead and go sift through it and find all the goodies that's there.
Right. So I think, I think as time progresses that the, the industry is probably gonna go more and more that way. And so a lot of the physical labor part might be taken out, but the more intellectual technical side may get a little bit more diverse and complex. So I think that'll be really cool to see.
Yeah.
[00:18:47] Jake Hall: I think that's what's exciting about AI is from, from a lot of people, AI seems super intimidating, right? It's, it's out there, it's gonna take over the world, it's gonna take over jobs. But as manufacturers want to drive more information into like A C M M Ss, for example, AI can help. You know, filter the noise out from what is actually I important, especially when they're so focused on creating predictive maintenance and creating scheduling.
I think AI can create a lot of those predictive patterns over time, where if we see a upward trending over time, AI can recognize those patterns a a lot better. Where, you know, ai, we just think of, oh my gosh, Chet, t p t. We can get some really cool prompts, but I think AI just could do a lot better when it comes to creating models.
In the space and getting this data manufacturers can, um, Leverages technology in a lot of new ways,
[00:19:40] David Lee: right? And then with a lot of this new technology, we'll have, uh, I would say an expanded workforce. So then there's gonna be more diversity, people with different skill sets and things of that nature. What we like to say in my role and in our conversations is artificial intelligence isn't here to remove the human element.
Or we say it's not here to replace humans, but what will happen is humans with artificial intelligence will replace humans without artificial intelligence. So there's gonna be new skill sets required just in the industry. And again, this lends to more diversity. So I'd love to hear your opinion, uh, since we're talking about the workforce and diversity.
Your kind of experience as a woman and your view of like the gender gaps that people traditionally talk about and do you see that starting to basically close? Are we making progress and what do you think, uh, we should do in the future to do a better job at that? 'cause you did allude to, you have some experience with respect to, it sounds like nonprofits and different organizations as well.
So I'd love to hear your take on that.
[00:20:42] Anna Goodman: Yeah. Yeah. So everybody's journey is unique, right? But within my own journey, what I've seen is, you know, in college, 5% of my graduating class was female engineers, right? And then nowadays it's up to maybe 13, 15%. And you can see that reflected in the workforce as well, right?
You see, A lot more interns and a lot more engineers and people within the industry coming up and, and doing things like, like safety and operations and things. Where before you didn't see that quite so much. And I think that we've made strides over the years in that, you know, it obviously that increased shows that, but I think that it could be faster and it could be bigger.
I think, you know, ultimately, We need to encourage girls at younger ages to be more mechanically, technically intrigued so that they want those skill, that skillset, and they wanna pursue those things. You know, I was, um, I was definitely an oddball, even as far back as, as high school and elementary school because I loved math and science, right?
I didn't wanna become a nurse or, or anything like that, you know, or a teacher, which God bless those people that do that. I always was a bit more mechanically inclined. And so, you know, I think the earlier you can pique that interest, the more aptt you're able to get them to, to pursue those things. And the more apt you're able to encourage then the diversity through the whole process.
Right. So through college and through the industry, I will say, you know, uh, female leadership is, is definitely also expanded. I was involved in the Society of Women Engineers in college, and I'm involved in a, a woman's uh, network at Celanese now. And when I was involved in swe, you didn't hear so much about the companies having their own women's network, and now that's becoming more and more of a a common thing.
So I will say, Whereas some of the places that I've worked, you can definitely tell there's a bit more of a boys club and there's a bit more of a diversity need. Other places are really thriving and encouraging diversity and supporting diversity, and I think that as the years go on, if there can be more of those and more of that, the better off we'll be as a whole.
Right. Which is why, you know, I, I, I like being a part of the community and being in the community and volunteering for things that have to do with young women, young girls, young people, even just trying to get them interested in math and science because, because I really think that, especially with how technology is going and how the world is going, like.
That's where the need is gonna be, that's where the gaps are gonna happen. If we don't, I will say, you know, I've always been one to have the philosophy that respect isn't given, it's earned. And so I think that that's helped me in my career with working in a male dominated field, because I don't come into a room and automatically assume I know everything and I'm gonna tell you how it is and everything.
Even though my role might dictate that I have that. That power. I try my, my very best not to abuse it, but it, it is a a a very interesting line too, that, you know, you wanna be assertive, but you don't wanna be aggressive. You wanna be influential, but you don't wanna be, uh, naggy. You know, and, and some people just based on stereotype assumptions can assume that before anything comes outta your mouth.
Right. So I think mm-hmm. I think in the, in the, in the cultural sense, we need to also just. Kind of open our minds a little bit to, okay, let me not judge this person before they start telling me what their, their, uh, values and, and things are. So right. And I think with
[00:24:23] Jake Hall: that as well as well, you know, you highlight.
The really Cooper opportunity that you had with being with the Society for Women Engineers in college, but you've also a lot of, you're part of a lot of other professional networks, even graduating. I think that's the big thing that we want to encourage more to do. When we talked earlier, you know, you, you mentioned that, uh, you're part of the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, C M R P.
Can you talk a little bit more about that and like what, what your experience has been like being a part of professional organizations after graduating
[00:24:52] Anna Goodman: college? I would say, From what I've seen, the bigger organizations like S M R P try to make smaller groups within their societies. So like, even though SS M R P is nationwide, you know, they have a Houston unit, they have a Ohio unit, they have a, you know, New York unit, whatever.
And so like not only can you can you get involved in like the big conferences and the big picture stuff, but you can also get involved in the things locally and the regulations and the discussions that are happening. Just in the industries that are just right outside your back door, right? It's kind of neat in that way.
I think Society of Women Engineers does well in their space, but their space is more so along the lines of, let's encourage women to get into maths and sciences and, and understand better what the industry wants versus what they might have and, you know, kind of bridge those gaps and make sure that they have the right, uh, skill sets and exposure to things that will help them be successful.
[00:25:48] David Lee: Anna, so you, you have. A lot of experience. Right. So you alluded to just different approaches that you take personally when it comes to like the social aspect of things and obviously that takes experience and, and mentorship and learning. But having that long, I would say history that Spark started somewhere.
As you mentioned, you were always into math and physics at a young age. Do you remember that initial spark and how can we engage? Younger women so that we can transition them. We have that spark and transition them on that journey to being where you are now. Do you have any ideas on how we could do that?
Because there's organizations attacking each part, but it seems like it could be better put together and more streamlined.
[00:26:31] Anna Goodman: Yeah, I mean it depends on kind of what age, so to speak, as to far as like where the spark started and how it developed and how it got reignited and all that, right? Because you go through these, these phases.
But um, You know, initially, I think for me it really started, uh, because of my relationship with my father. Both of my parents were blue collar workers. My dad, uh, repaired heating and air conditioning equipment, and my mom worked at a grocery store, right? Very, mm-hmm. Stereotypical Midwestern little family.
But like, whenever I would ask questions to my dad about things involving, you know, how something worked or why he was repairing something the way that he did. He was very open about talking about what he knew and how it went together and why he was doing what he was doing. And so over the years of gleaning a little bit here and there from those open conversations, whether it be when, when I was helping him, when he was repairing something or at a dinner table or you know, maybe something sparked an interest at school and the teacher didn't know.
So I'd ask Kim and maybe we would look it up together and stuff like that, like that openness really like was encouraging for me to just keep going and keep having that thirst. For knowledge. And then, you know, as the years went on, you know, and I get into the industry, I think, you know, seeing other professionals being just as if not more thirsty and knowledgeable about things that I could learn about from them and they could learn other things from me.
And just having those open conversations of. Okay, how can we work the best together? How can we teach each other where we're coming from? From a, not just a personal perspective, but a technical perspective. And I think, you know, a lot of the best mentors that I've had were the most willing to have those conversations and not just, you know, brush me off 'cause I'm an engineer, brush me off.
'cause I just don't know and I don't get it. And, and, you know, but if they're willing to be like, okay, this is where I'm coming from, this is what I've seen over the past 30 years. Right. I mean, The guys that really have know the good stuff, have those, the those 20, 30 plus years experience. That is able to reignite kind of a fire in me.
'cause sometimes even on a weekly basis, right? 'cause everybody has their bad days and their bad weeks and Yes. So yeah. Right.
[00:28:44] Jake Hall: I think it just goes in to speak of how critical mentorship is in our industry and, and going out there and, and for experienced people being willing to, Be a mentor for the future generation, for the young people in the industry, and then for the young people in the industry going out and searching and asking, I wanna be mentored.
I want to be invested in. I think it's just, it's so critical. I. For sure, for sure. So, so let's move into our final segment as, as we wrap things up and, and that's the fix it funny's the fixes in.
[00:29:16] David Lee: It's making a really funny noise.
[00:29:17] Anna Goodman: I'm gonna fix it. Make it funny. Would be great if you could make it
[00:29:20] David Lee: funny.
Your fate is fixed.
[00:29:22] Anna Goodman: Make it funny. Make sure it's
[00:29:24] David Lee: funny,
[00:29:25] Jake Hall: you know, before we say goodbye, Anna, with your story and, and sharing all that stuff. We're gonna have a couple of just fun wrap up questions, just just as takeaways. So these are kind of the, the, would you rather, um, that, you know, you got asked when you're traveling in the car for a long road trip.
So would you rather have squeaky work boots or jiggling keys all day when you're walking on the manufacturing floor doing predictive maintenance?
[00:29:51] Anna Goodman: Oh my goodness. I think due to frequency, I'd prefer the keys. I think the squeak would get on my nerves. It would start grinding my gears a little bit.
[00:30:01] Jake Hall: I I totally get that.
Would you rather have a building with no air conditioning or a building with no
[00:30:06] Anna Goodman: heat? Oh, having experienced both lived in the Midwest and lived in Texas, I'd say no heat. You can always put layers on. You can't always take those layers off.
[00:30:18] Jake Hall: For sure. That is, that
[00:30:20] David Lee: is the truth. So I do have one. It's in the same realm, but it's a little bit technical.
So you, you're currently working with fixed assets. Do you prefer to work with fixed assets or rotating assets?
[00:30:32] Anna Goodman: That's a really good question. I am actually okay with working with both. I don't really have a preference one way or the other. I just have, by happenstance, gained more experience in the fixed arena just because Okay.
Um, of the, uh, emphasis on the a p I code certifications and maintaining those. Versus letting some of those rotating level one certifications kind of drop off. But I, I think both are fascinating. I think both can definitely learn some things about the equipment, you know, using those, the, the philosophies and techniques that are associated with them and, and really get some good stuff done.
[00:31:07] David Lee: I. Awesome. Awesome. I do want to ask you, so are you watching any shows that you are, you're into or are you reading any specific books and things of that nature?
[00:31:18] Anna Goodman: Let's see, what am I reading? So I, I tend to read, I tend to go back and forth between the fantasy realm and self-help. Those two veins, for whatever reason, are kind of my jam.
So, Uh, the self-help, uh, side of things. I'm reading a book by Jay Shetty called The Eight Rules of Love or something like that, which is really helpful because he talks about, you know, not only just the interactions and relational things between, you know, romantic couples. But also you can translate it to friendships, uh, you can translate it to families.
It's just about basically you having better communication around love and showing love and, and all that kind of thing, which can be a challenge sometimes. Um, and then on the other side of that, uh, I'm actually on Netflix. There's a show called The Witcher, which I highly recommend, and they just came out with a new season.
It is. She's a three baby. It's pretty good. It's very good.
[00:32:11] Jake Hall: Yeah. Three. I love it. Awesome. Well, Anna, thanks so much for joining us on the show. We really appreciate the knowledge, the insight, the passion you have for, for getting more women in our industry, but also the passion that you have for maintenance and driving new technology and predictive maintenance.
And thank you for all the listeners who, who listen to today's show. I'm Jake Hall, along with my co-host David Lee, and you just listen to the maintainers of Blue Cap Community Podcast. And of course, don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast For the next episode, I. Thanks.
[00:32:44] Voiceover: This podcast is brought to you by Traction.
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