Abelara Ascent

Abelara

Abelara Ascent - Long-form conversations about what it actually takes to modernize manufacturing. Abelara Ascent is where architecture meets execution. Interviews with the people building real systems. Panel discussions that go deeper than the keynote. And solo episodes that break down the frameworks, decisions, and trade-offs behind industrial digital transformation. Hosted by Zack Scriven, Director of Sales and Marketing at Abelara, with regular appearances from cofounders Dylan DuFresne, Chief Architect, and Glenn Gardner, President. If you are a manufacturing leader, plant manager, controls engineer, or solutions architect trying to figure out where to start, what to prioritize, and who to trust, this is the show. Published by Abelara. Event coverage powered by Abelara Live.

Episodes

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    How Fuuz Changes Everything — A Deep Dive Conversation

    Summary The Abelara team — Glenn Gardner, Zack Scriven, and Dylan DuFresne — just spent a week at Fuuz corporate headquarters for bootcamp. In this roundtable debrief, they give their unfiltered take: what they loved, what needs work, how Fuuz compares to Ignition and Plex, where it fits in the stack, and why a greenfield site should probably run both Ignition and Fuuz together. The conversation covers real pricing comparisons, the MCP tooling announcement, and why "it does everything" is both Fuuz's greatest strength and its biggest go-to-market challenge. Key Topics Covered What each team member is most excited about after bootcampWhat Fuuz needs to improve: UX, user journeys, discoverability of featuresFuuz vs. Ignition: not competitors — different layers of the stackFuuz vs. Plex: why enterprises evaluating Plex should look at FuuzPricing reality: single-site MES is comparable to Ignition; multi-site is where Fuuz pulls aheadEdge gateway architecture: cloud platform with an on-prem edge componentMCP tooling: Fuuz is building it now while others have only announced itThe three pillars: schema designer, flow designer, screen designerWhy "it does everything" is both the value prop and the sales problemBuild vs. buy spectrum: Fuuz as the middle ground between full custom and rigid off-the-shelf Key Takeaways Ignition owns the lower stack (SCADA, plant floor). Fuuz owns the upper stack (enterprise MES, iPaaS, ERP integration). A greenfield site should run both — they're best friends, not competitors.Fuuz's hardest problem isn't the product — it's explaining the product. It's six or seven commercializable products in one platform, and nobody can pitch that in a sentence without sounding like BS.MCP tooling on the Fuuz flow designer means a lot Notable Quotes "Ignition and Fuuz should probably be the best of friends." — Dylan DuFresne"It's like seven different applications. And if someone said pitch me on Fuuz, I would sound like an idiot." — Glenn Gardner"Other leading platforms have announced the ability to do this in the future. Fuuz is doing it now." — Dylan DuFresne (on MCP) Timestamps / Chapters [00:00] — What stood out most from Fuuz bootcamp [01:56] — Zack: enterprise orchestration and best-of-breed integration [03:08] — Dylan: the people, the platform, and where Fuuz fits in the stack [04:48] — Honest critique: what needs to improve [06:48] — The discoverability problem and the change logging trap [09:31] — Edge gateway explained: cloud platform with edge component [13:02] — "Fuuz is like six or seven different products" [15:12] — Pricing reality: Fuuz vs. Ignition vs. enterprise iPaaS [17:47] — Single-site vs. multi-site: where Fuuz takes the lead [20:06] — Ignition and Fuuz: complementary, not competitive [21:44] — Fuuz vs. Plex: entirely different platforms [23:29] — What module would you add next? SCP. [24:40] — The most common problem: integrating ERP with the plant floor [32:55] — MCP tooling: the AI unlock [33:41] — Glenn's final take: card-carrying Fuuz fan Links & Resources Fuuz: fuuz.comAbelara: abelara.comIgnition: inductiveautomation.com

    34 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    From ERP to Factory Floor — How CIOs Are Powering Modern Manufacturing with Fuuz

    Summary Glenn Gardner frames the quality problem every manufacturer faces: DPPM spikes and nobody can figure out whether it's a catastrophe or a blip — because the data lives in a dozen different systems. Steve Modrall walks through how Fuuz solved this for HighBar, the world's first solar-powered steel mill, deploying MES, WMS, yard management, scale house, and vendor portal in nine months. Craig Scott demos Fuuz's schema designer and shows how embedded quality checks and digital work instructions eliminate the "more training" corrective action that plagues every 8D process. Key Topics Covered Quality as the hardest problem in manufacturing: tracking DPPM across downstream, midstream, and upstreamWhy ERP falls down for midstream and upstream quality dataHighBar Steel: world's first solar-powered steel mill, 2x output per FTE vs. industryRed data vs. blue data: enterprise governance vs. plant-level detailiPaaS as the bridge between ERP and plant floor (not point-to-point)WIP visibility without SKU proliferationSchema designer: modeling manufacturing data as normalized relationshipsPoke-yoke through MES: embedding quality into process, not as an afterthought8D root cause failures when you run out of dataMCP integration for AI/LLM analysis on manufacturing data Key Takeaways The ERP handles downstream data (RMAs, customer returns) well, but for midstream (factory floor) and upstream (supplier quality), you need MES, SCADA, and quality systems — the ERP was never designed for that level of detail.Don't track WIP in the ERP — it explodes your SKU count by an order of magnitude. Keep raw materials and finished goods in ERP; let the MES own the WIP detail.If your 8D corrective action says "more training," you've run out of data. Embed quality checks into the process so the failure literally cannot propagate forward. Notable Quotes "Your business doesn't happen in the ERP. It happens on the plant floor." — Zack Scriven (quoting Walker Reynolds)"You start making stuff up because you're out of data." — Glenn Gardner (on 8D failures)"They're running this mill with half the staff and generating double the output per FTE." — Craig Scott (on HighBar) Timestamps / Chapters [00:16] — Welcome and introductions [01:34] — Glenn: the manufacturing reality check [03:02] — Quality as the most direct impact to revenue, margin, and customer sat [05:14] — Downstream data: ERP handles RMAs well [06:30] — Midstream: where ERP falls down [08:20] — Upstream: supplier quality [12:08] — "Your business happens on the plant floor" [13:22] — Steve: HighBar Steel case study [15:35] — Fuuz iPaaS: agnostic integration vs. point-to-point [24:08] — Craig: MCP and AI/LLM on manufacturing data [27:47] — Why serial-level detail doesn't belong in the ERP [30:28] — Fuuz as the unified namespace for this architecture [34:34] — WIP in ERP = SKU hell [36:21] — Red data vs. blue data explained [40:45] — Craig: live demo of the schema designer [54:00] — Poke-yoke through MES [57:09] — ISO 9001: embedded procedures vs. printed SOPs [59:29] — The drunk guy looking for his keys: why 8Ds fail Links & Resources Fuuz: fuuz.comAbelara: abelara.comOracle NetSuite: netsuite.com

    1hr 3min

  3. 1 DAY AGO

    The Golden Triangle: PLM, MES and ERP with Steve from Fuuz

    Summary Glenn from Abelara visits Fuuz corporate headquarters during boot camp week and sits down with Steve to walk through the real manufacturing pain points that Fuse solves — from the supply chain and factory floor divide, to quality traceability, bill of materials wars, real-time variance tracking, and the multi-plant standardization trap. Steve frames Fuse as the system that lives "where the carpet meets the concrete." About the Guest Steve is a senior leader at Fuuz with deep manufacturing operations experience. He positions Fuse as a composable platform covering MES, WMS, quality, scheduling, EDI, and iPaaS integration — designed to complement ERP rather than replace it. Key Topics Covered The supply chain vs. factory floor divide: pegging sales orders to work ordersERP's visibility gap below the shop floor levelQuality traceability: tracking components from dock to shipmentRecording PLC parameters per serial number for root causeThe bill of materials war: supply chain, manufacturing, and R&D viewsThe golden triangle: PLM ↔ MES ↔ ERP integrationReal-time variance tracking by work center and operatorMulti-plant standardization without forcing ERP onto the floorReducing tech stack from 40 vendors with a composable platformBalancing corporate control vs. local plant innovation Key Takeaways Pegging sales orders to work orders lets planners make partial shipment decisions in real time — most systems produce blanket work orders blind to customer demand.The million-unit recall problem exists because companies test everywhere but trace nowhere — traceability is the missing layer, not more testing.Use ERP for financials and front office; use MES for the shop floor. Forcing ERP down to the plant floor is why no enterprise has ever achieved one-ERP standardization. Notable Quotes "Where the carpet meets the concrete — that's where Fuse takes over." — Steve"The money's made and lost on the shop floor." — Steve"No two machines are alike. Even from the same manufacturer, they're all different." — Steve Timestamps / Chapters [00:00] — Inside Fuse HQ: a software company that knows manufacturing [01:34] — The supply chain and factory floor divide [03:14] — Pegging sales orders to work orders [04:30] — ERP's visibility gap on the shop floor [06:55] — Quality: the hardest challenge in manufacturing [08:09] — Tracking components from dock to shipment [09:48] — The million-unit recall problem [11:05] — Recording 120 PLC parameters per serial number [12:48] — What R&D leaders really need from production data [14:18] — The bill of materials war [15:29] — The golden triangle: PLM, MES, and ERP [18:53] — Real-time gross margin and variance tracking [21:42] — IT's challenge: future-proofing manufacturing [24:04] — The multi-plant standardization trap [27:49] — Employee development across standardized plants [29:48] — Closing thoughts Links & Resources Fuse: fuse.comSteve Modrall: LinkedInGlenn Gardner: LinkedInAbelara: abelara.com

    30 min

  4. 1 DAY AGO

    The Ignition Reference Architecture for Modern Manufacturing with Dylan DuFresne

    Dylan DuFresne walks through Abelara’s reference architecture for modern industrial systems — from edge controllers through Ignition’s tag gateway pattern, UNS publishing, historian integration with Timebase, Flow Software for contextualization, and enterprise-scale deployment with HiveMQ cloud bridging and Fuuz as an MES layer. The episode covers how to phase these components in with zero technical debt and how Abelara helps enterprises cut through analysis paralysis. About the GuestDylan DuFresne is an architect at Abelara specializing in Ignition, MQTT / Unified Namespace, and enterprise data systems. Key Topics CoveredTag gateway pattern: separating tag providers from front-end / back-end DevOpsIgnition 8.3 improvements and Gateway Area Network updatesHistorian integration: Timebase direct from tag gateway vs collectorsFlow Software for contextualization, KPIs, and bidirectional flowBlue namespace vs red namespace: site flexibility vs enterprise standardsHiveMQ cloud bridging to Snowflake, BigQuery, AzureFuuz as an MES layer replacing ETL between ERP and site systemsPhased implementation: SCADA → UNS → historian → analytics → AIKey TakeawaysUse a dedicated tag gateway so front-end and back-end systems can run DevOps cycles without risking production tag state.Standards should get stricter as you move up the stack — fluid near controllers, rigid near ERP.Build additively with zero technical debt: SCADA, then UNS, historian, analytics, AI.Timestamps[00:00] Tag gateway pattern [02:42] Timebase historian [04:01] Flow Software [07:45] HiveMQ + cloud data lakes [13:04] Fuuz as enterprise MES [15:06] Zero technical debt roadmap [17:50] Abelara workshops LinksAbelara: https://abelara.com Ignition: https://inductiveautomation.com Flow Software: https://flowsoftware.com Timebase: https://timebased.io HiveMQ: https://hivemq.com Fuuz: https://fuuz.com Litmus: https://litmus.io Axilon: https://axilon.com

    21 min

  5. 1 DAY AGO

    Dan Prudhoe — Why MQTT Wasn't Enough for Enterprise Manufacturing

    Dan Prudhoe spent 15 years building industrial systems at a large chemical manufacturer — scaling from beta Ignition in 2009 to 70+ gateways across 30+ sites. In this ICC 2025 conversation, he walks through replacing a legacy Unix MES with Ignition, adopting Spark Plug B and MQTT, hitting MQTT's limitations, and building an enterprise event mesh with Solace that streams millions of tags from edge to cloud. About the Guest Dan Prudhoe is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Solace. Previously he spent 15 years at a large chemical manufacturer leading Ignition adoption from beta, building a standardized platform across 30+ sites, and architecting an event mesh for millions of historized tags. Key Topics Covered Ignition from beta (2009) to enterprise-scale across 30+ plantsBuilding modular, upgradeable standards across diverse sitesSpark Plug B and MQTT: decoupling systems, lightweight data collectionMQTT limitations for transactional and guaranteed deliveryEvent mesh with Solace: edge to cloud, multi-protocol, guaranteed messagingSelf-service analytics with SeeqUNS debate: centralized semantic layer vs. composable hierarchiesGraph databases and industrial data modelingThe path: self-service → automated → autonomous (agentic AI) Key Takeaways Start with analytics, not SCADA — lower risk, proves value fast, builds political capital for mission-critical systems later.Build standards designed to flex — the first few deployments will break your standard, and that's expected.The path to autonomous manufacturing: self-service (SMEs solve their own problems), automated (event-driven workflows), then autonomous (agentic AI investigates and prescribes). Notable Quotes "We wanted to build a standard that's meant to have flexible standards." — Dan Prudhoe"Instead of we don't have enough data, they're almost like oh my god there's so much data." — Dan Prudhoe"We were able to allow them to start solving their own problems." — Dan Prudhoe Timestamps / Chapters [00:00] — Who is Dan Prudhoe? [01:06] — Ignition beta testing in 2009 [02:20] — MES 101 [05:10] — Scaling to 70+ gateways across 30 sites [08:53] — In-house vs. system integrator [11:01] — Ignition becoming enterprise-grade [12:00] — From Spark Plug B to event mesh [15:14] — MQTT's limitations [16:51] — Solace: edge to cloud architecture [20:55] — Self-service analytics for SMEs [26:31] — Predictive maintenance data provisioning [28:30] — The UNS debate [32:08] — Graph databases and ontology [33:42] — Wrap-up Links & Resources Solace: solace.comDan Prudhoe LinkedInIgnition: inductiveautomation.comFlow Software: www.flow-software.comSpark Plug B: sparkplug.eclipse.orgAzure Data Explorer: azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/data-explorer

    34 min
  • 5 Episodes

About

Abelara Ascent - Long-form conversations about what it actually takes to modernize manufacturing. Abelara Ascent is where architecture meets execution. Interviews with the people building real systems. Panel discussions that go deeper than the keynote. And solo episodes that break down the frameworks, decisions, and trade-offs behind industrial digital transformation. Hosted by Zack Scriven, Director of Sales and Marketing at Abelara, with regular appearances from cofounders Dylan DuFresne, Chief Architect, and Glenn Gardner, President. If you are a manufacturing leader, plant manager, controls engineer, or solutions architect trying to figure out where to start, what to prioritize, and who to trust, this is the show. Published by Abelara. Event coverage powered by Abelara Live.

Information

  • Creator
    Abelara
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Abelara