Kory Anderson

Direct exposure makes an unfamiliar craft tangible: people can see the process, meet its workers, and imagine themselves doing it.

For National Manufacturing Day, Anderson describes turning an idea, pattern, sand, fire, and molten metal into a casting, then calls on young people to see the fire, get their hands dirty, and meet the people who make things. A separate post recounts directors’ surprise at seeing foundry work up close; the quoted reactions are theirs, not Anderson’s.

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The people who make, repair, weld, pour, machine, build, and maintain essential things also need respect, and young people need to see trades as a positive career choice.

In a post announcing a Build Freedom Summit speaking appearance, Anderson says the conversation about skilled trades needs to grow and the next generation should see these careers as a first choice. The National Manufacturing Day post reinforces the point, calling hands-on work rewarding.

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The tribute is not only to famous inventors or leaders, but also to the people who show up, solve problems, repair what is broken, and teach the next person.

A Manufacturing Month post celebrates the “Garys”—workers who figured things out, fixed what was broken, and taught others. Anderson sets the tribute at the 150 Case, while the tour post describes families sharing the engine’s history across generations.

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The steam tour also shows how a manufacturing story can reach beyond industry audiences, including families, children, and longtime enthusiasts.

Anderson describes the 150 Case traveling for five weeks through Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri. The post recalls children seeing steam power for the first time, lifelong enthusiasts, and families sharing the experience; it points readers to YouTube for more tour footage.

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Newcomers should start here: one post lays out both the craft and the workforce mission.

In a National Manufacturing Day post, Kory Anderson describes pouring metal at Anderson Foundries and names each step of the craft: an idea, a pattern, sand, fire, and molten metal, turned into a part that keeps America moving.

• The post argues that the experience cannot stay "behind factory walls" and calls for showing the next generation the fire, letting them get their hands dirty, and introducing them to the people who make things.
• It closes with a teaser about an unannounced project.

For brands planning a campaign

For a workforce-development nonprofit, this is the clearest statement of the talk's premise: keep the craft alive by making it visible and inviting young people in. It offers a concrete storytelling frame—a close look at the process paired with an invitation—that a keynote can adapt.

Useful for assessing their storytelling instincts.

A production team that works with some of the biggest names in the world visited Dakota Foundry in Webster, South Dakota, to film casting work.

• Kory Anderson describes the heat, dirt, noise, and grit the visitors encountered, and quotes their surprise: "Wow.
• They do this every day?" and "I had no idea…" They say sharing how castings are made is one of their greatest joys, but the best part was watching the team have their moment.
• The post thanks Carhartt for outfitting the crew and says the project debuts in the fall.

For brands planning a campaign

A ready-made template for a keynote segment on outsiders' reactions and giving production workers visible credit. The post documents Carhartt outfitting the crew; treat it as a credited mention, not a described sponsorship.

Kory Anderson announces they will speak at the Build Freedom Summit on October 20–21, after Mike Rowe posted about it.

• The post argues that the skilled-trades conversation is getting louder but needs to grow, and that workforce shortages cannot be discussed without rebuilding respect for people who make, fix, weld, pour, machine, build, and maintain.
• They will share what they see firsthand in manufacturing and what must change for the next generation to see skilled trades as a first-choice career.
• A registration discount code, "KORY150," is offered.

For brands planning a campaign

Direct evidence for a keynote: Anderson already speaks on this topic and has a promotional code tied to their name. The post shows their framing and where a customized keynote could extend it.

On cleanout day after five weeks on the road through Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri, Anderson reflects on the 2026 tour of the 150 Case steam engine.

• They describe meeting kids seeing steam power for the first time, lifelong enthusiasts, and families sharing a piece of history across generations, and credit the crew that kept the engine rolling.
• The post points to YouTube for more footage from the road.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows a live, hands-on format that reaches families and first-timers, not just industry audiences. A workforce nonprofit could borrow the "let them see it working" approach or invite Anderson to bring tour stories into a keynote.

A Manufacturing Month post salutes "all the 'Garys'"—the workers who showed up, figured things out, fixed what was broken, taught the next person, and helped build America one day at a time. Anderson ties the tribute to the 150 Case as the right place to recognize earlier generations, credits a song, and links to 150case.com along with manufacturing organizations.

For brands planning a campaign

Demonstrates a recognition-first message a nonprofit could use to celebrate workers, not just discuss shortages. The heritage frame gives a keynote a concrete emotional close.

The Manufacturing Day post says the industry cannot keep the experience behind factory walls and calls for letting the next generation see the fire, get their hands dirty, and meet the people who make things. A Dakota Foundry film-visit post records visiting directors reacting with surprise at what a foundry does, while the 150 Case tour wrap-up says the engine met kids seeing steam power for the first time.

Open-factory demonstrations, film-crew access, and touring equipment serve as the hook, not the explanation.

For brands planning a campaign

A workforce or manufacturing brand can build a campaign around a plant tour, live pour, or traveling demonstration, with Kory Anderson as host or narrator. Capture the reactions of people seeing the work for the first time.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Kory Anderson says the summit talk will cover what they see firsthand in manufacturing and what has to change for the next generation to treat skilled trades as a first-choice career path. The Manufacturing Day post uses the same frame, calling building something real with your hands one of the most rewarding paths.

For brands planning a campaign

A workforce development nonprofit can use this as a keynote or campaign theme. The distinctive angle is operational credibility: the argument comes from someone running a foundry and a heritage tour, not only from a policy or education platform.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The tour wrap-up adds families sharing a piece of history across generations and lifelong enthusiasts who know the engines. The approach frames manufacturing as an inherited craft rather than a new industry.

For brands planning a campaign

Suitable for Manufacturing Month, anniversary, or “who taught you” storytelling campaigns. A brand can attach to the generational story, with Kory Anderson supplying the tribute or hosting the recognition moment.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The 150 Case wrap-up promises footage posted to YouTube over the following months, and the Manufacturing Month post points to 150case.com. The through-line is that the work itself is produced and distributed as media.

The posts name Carhartt for outfitting a crew and tag organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Ask about payment and sponsorship terms before treating these as paid partnerships.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can co-produce documentary-style content with Kory Anderson, using an active foundry or the steam engine as the setting. The existing pattern shows a willingness to be filmed and carry a sponsor credit, such as crew outfitting.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

20-21 with a registration discount code, National Manufacturing Day, and a five-week, six-state 150 Case tour through Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri that wrapped with a cleanout day. Formats range from keynote promotion and a day-of observance to a rolling road tour, each turning an event or journey into a series of posts.

For brands planning a campaign

Kory Anderson can be booked as a speaker or touring presence. The discount code in the summit post shows a trackable call to action; a brand can apply the same pattern to event registration, tour stops, or a roadshow.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

The tour post names kids, lifelong enthusiasts, and families, showing an audience wider than industry professionals. Hashtags include steam preservation alongside manufacturing and skilled trades.

Steam preservation appears in only two posts and is linked back to manufacturing and skilled trades. Ask for audience data before building a campaign around steam preservation alone.

For brands planning a campaign

A heritage, tourism, or rural-event brand can use the steam engine as a draw. It is a narrower subject than the workforce message and may suit regional or history-focused campaigns, while the trades message travels further.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

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Original disclosure

A huge thank-you to Carhartt for outfitting our crew and to everyone who helped make the week happen.

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Original disclosure

Register today and use code "KORY150" for 25% off your registration: https://lnkd.in/g4d8rkGv

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Both treat workforce readiness as something built from skills, training, and partnerships—not hiring alone.

Lares focuses on compliance, apprenticeship standards, and grant-funded program administration—the reporting and eligibility work that keeps contractors and owners positioned for future bids. Anderson's material comes from running a foundry and touring a steam engine, and shows the work to the public rather than documenting program systems.

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Both argue that recruiting fails when people cannot picture what the job is actually like.

Eaker's answer is technology: VR walkthroughs of the plant floor that shrink the gap between expectation and reality.

• Anderson's is physical presence—plant tours, live pours, and a traveling steam engine.
• Craft and heritage are central to their posts in a way they are not to Eaker's.

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Both address how older and younger workers can understand each other and stay in the industry.

Peerman's background is in organizational psychology and leadership development. Their recent work centers on preparing leaders and teams for AI, not on craft, production, or trades recruiting.

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Lares writes about a Project Success Team approach that aligns investment, project scope, required skills, workforce strategy, compliance, and community impact, as well as apprenticeship placement, DOL standards, and reporting tied to contractor bid eligibility. For a nonprofit whose members must staff funded projects, Lares speaks the language of those deliverables and can make the case that a job title alone doesn’t describe the work, safety expectations, or training a role needs.

The tradeoff is texture.

• Lares documents systems, reporting expectations, and alignment across owners, contractors, apprenticeship programs, and workforce agencies, but the posts don’t show the hands-on recruiting imagery or live demonstrations that make Anderson’s story land with audiences who have never stood in a foundry: molten metal, the 150 Case steam tour, and visiting film crews reacting to the floor.
• Lares is the stronger pick when the room already understands the trades and needs a plan for connecting training to real project demand; Anderson is stronger when the goal is to make the work itself visible and desirable.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Eaker’s posts argue that companies spend on advanced technology while new employees leave before the end of week one because nothing prepared them for the noise, pace, physical demands, and culture of a plant floor.

• They describe putting a headset on a recruit to walk through their actual workstation before day one, shrinking the gap between expectation and reality.
• That’s a directly actionable recruiting and retention argument, including for an audience weighing whether immersive training is a gimmick or a legitimate tool for reaching younger workers.

The tradeoff is scope and format.

• Eaker’s posts make a case for training methods built around virtual reality and onboarding, not a first-hand story of reviving interest from inside production.
• They offer less on heritage, craft pride, and recognition of the people already doing the work.
• The two posts don’t show the speaking, touring, or documentary-style formats a nonprofit seeking to revive interest in production wants.
• Eaker is the better keynote when the takeaway must be a specific onboarding intervention; Anderson is the better keynote when the takeaway must be showing the next generation what the work looks like.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Peerman writes that the hard part of new technology is people adapting, and frames employees’ questions about their roles, decisions, skills, and trust as leadership problems.

• A feature in Modern Casting, a publication of the American Foundry Society, is described as centering on bridging generational differences and helping people understand each other better so they can work better together, with stated effects on safety, performance, and culture.
• That makes Peerman a natural fit for the part of a workforce program focused on keeping and developing the people a manufacturer already has.

The tradeoff is the entry point.

• Peerman’s posts focus on leadership practice, organizational psychology, and change management, not hands-on attraction: open-door days, filming a foundry floor, traveling heritage equipment, or giving production workers a visible moment.
• A nonprofit trying to get young people to consider the trades will get more from Anderson’s exposure and storytelling material; one trying to help member companies lead that change internally will get more from Peerman.
• Neither angle substitutes for the other.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2