In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Chad Hartzell, VP of HR at Barletta Boats, to talk about what happens when an organization sees AI potential before it has a formal AI role, job description, or project plan.

Chad shares how Barletta, part of the Winnebago Industries brand portfolio, approached an opportunistic AI hire by starting with values alignment, letting the candidate help shape the interview, and mapping the role to the areas where it could create the most immediate business impact.

The conversation moves beyond AI as an HR-only story. Chad explains why Barletta first placed AI talent near customer experience and sales, how dealer feedback shaped the decision, and why improving service delivery can become part of a broader revenue and retention strategy.

Chad also talks about building AI as an organizational competency. From ChatGPT and Copilot to data integration, predictive analytics, and workflow automation, he makes the case that HR can help people understand where AI fits, how to apply it responsibly, and how to create real bandwidth for higher-value work.

Topics Discussed:

• Why Barletta hired AI talent before it had a formal AI job description
• How values alignment shaped the interview process for a nontraditional role
• Why the candidate led parts of the interview with Barletta's executive team
• How to co-create a role when the organization does not have a playbook yet
• Why customer experience became the first focus area for Barletta's AI work
• How AI can help connect warranty, service, technical, sales, and customer data
• Why AI strategy needs to tie back to people, innovation, differentiation, and scaling
• How HR can build AI competency across back-office teams like marketing, finance, HR, and IT
• Why repetitive tactical workflows are good starting points for automation
• What HR leaders can learn from early AI use cases in recruiting and operations

If you are an HR leader trying to move AI from a loose idea into practical organizational capability, this episode offers a grounded look at how to evaluate talent, build trust, and connect AI work to the business problems that matter most.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Future Proof HR Community
• Connect with Chad Hartzell on LinkedIn

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Thomas Kunjappu sits down with Jason Carson, VP of HR at Bad Boy Mowers, to talk about how AI is changing HR in manufacturing and what it takes to use new technology responsibly inside a fast-growing, operationally complex business.

Jason shares how Bad Boy Mowers has approached AI and automation with a practical, people-first mindset. For his HR team, the goal is not to remove the human side of the function. It is to reduce repetitive work, improve speed and consistency, and free the team to spend more time with employees, managers, and leaders.

The conversation covers how AI can support recruiting, onboarding, employee feedback, shift-worker support, and data-driven decision-making. Jason also explains why HR teams need clear guardrails, especially when using AI in recruiting, interpreting workforce data, or scaling employee support across different locations, shifts, and languages.

Jason’s core message is simple: data should drive decisions, but AI should not make decisions for HR. Future-proofing HR means learning the tools, asking better questions, validating the output, and staying close enough to the business and employees to know when something does not add up.

Topics Discussed:

• Why Jason compares AI adoption in HR to the evolution of zero-turn mowers
• How a small HR team can use AI to move away from repeatable administrative work
• Why manufacturing HR needs both operational efficiency and face-to-face employee support
• How employee feedback surveys can improve recruiting, onboarding, and retention
• Why Bad Boy Mowers is taking a careful approach to AI in recruiting
• How HR can use data to support headcount, productivity, and retention decisions
• Why shift-worker support creates a different set of challenges for HR teams
• How chatbots could give employees faster access to policy and HR answers
• What manufacturing automation teaches HR about change management and trust
• Why AI-enabled onboarding can improve consistency across locations and languages
• How HR professionals can future-proof their careers by building flexibility, tech fluency, and data judgment
• Why HR must let data guide decisions without letting AI replace human thinking

If you are an HR leader trying to bring AI into a manufacturing, hourly workforce, or operationally complex environment, this episode offers a practical look at how to balance speed, consistency, trust, and human judgment.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Future Proof HR Community
• Connect with Jason Carson on LinkedIn

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichirayil speaks with Melissa Ganchev of Universal Nutrition about how AI modeling helped challenge one of the most common assumptions in a growing business: that scaling always means hiring more people.

Universal Nutrition had reached a new growth milestone and was planning for more demand across its manufacturing operations. The initial plan pointed toward a significant increase in headcount. But instead of moving straight into hiring mode, the team paused, used AI modeling to evaluate production lines, equipment efficiency, shift structure, and resource allocation, and found a smarter path forward.

Melissa shares how the company moved from an estimated need for around 30 new hires to hiring roughly eight manufacturing associates while still supporting growth. She explains how AI helped leaders rethink where work should happen, which lines were most efficient, and how to avoid over-hiring in ways that could later lead to painful reductions.

The conversation also makes a clear case for people investment alongside AI adoption. Melissa talks about leadership development, career pathing, employee training, better benefits, cross-training, real-time dashboards, and a culture that has helped Universal Nutrition maintain unusually low attrition in a manufacturing environment. The lesson is not that AI replaces the people strategy. It is when the organization has already invested in the people who will make the work better.

Topics Discussed:

• Why Universal Nutrition challenged the assumption that growth required major headcount expansion
• How AI modeling helped the team rethink production lines, shifts, and staffing plans
• Why the company started its AI pilot in one of its strongest revenue-producing buildings
• How headcount planning changed from an estimated 30 new hires to roughly eight manufacturing associates
• Why employee investment matters before and during operational transformation
• How leadership development, lunch and learns, and career pathing support scaling efforts
• How real-time dashboards can help employees troubleshoot production issues faster
• Why long-tenured manufacturing teams create resilience through cross-training and shared knowledge
• How communication, focus groups, surveys, town halls, and floor-level leadership support retention
• Why AI should be treated as another data point that sharpens critical thinking, not as a replacement for judgment

If you are an HR or People Ops leader thinking through AI adoption, workforce planning, or growth without reactive hiring, this episode offers a practical look at how data, operations, and people investment can work together.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Future Proof HR Community
• Connect with Melissa Ganchev on LinkedIn