Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast AI Adoption in Manufacturing Maintenance, Stories from the Field
Mar 14, 2026
Lee McClish, Director of maintenance programs at NTT with deep data-center operations experience. He talks about scaling builds, vendor diversity, obsolescence and spare-part planning. He highlights balancing cost vs reliability and keeping long-term maintenance programs intact during short-term pressures. Short, field-tested stories about practical maintenance tradeoffs and planning challenges.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Rebuild MRO Expectations After COVID
- Do reset your parts and pricing expectations post-COVID instead of relying on pre-COVID lead-time and cost assumptions.
- Jason Hahn describes supplier lead times and steel/tooling costs jumping 40–60% and forcing teams to start over on MRO planning.
Standardize Parts And Use E‑Maintenance
- Do implement a standardized MRO/parts system and cycle counting to cut inventory and avoid premium vendor captivity.
- Nathan Kibert says Eaton lacked part naming conventions and expects ~20–38% MRO savings by moving to e-maintenance and global part visibility.
Modular Build Cuts Data Center Delivery Risk
- Time-to-market and modular construction reduce data center build risk and procurement complexity.
- Lee McClish explains using factory-built electrical modules and staging allows sites to be ready faster while staggering asset procurement.