Toolpath
• 67 min
#11 Chips and Tips — Automation, Variability, and the Tyranny of Now (with Miguel Pinilla)
Chips and Tips Podcast
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What does it take to fill boxes faster? In this episode of Chips and Tips, Toolpath CTO Justin Gray sits down with Miguel Pinilla, a self-described "logistics geek" whose experience spans everything from SaaS warehousing to container terminals. Together, they unpack the messy realities of supply chain ops, job shop optimization, and why shorter lead times are the future of manufacturing.
Automation, Variability, and the Tyranny of Now episode summary
In this episode of Chips and Tips, Toolpath CTO Justin Gray welcomes Miguel Pinilla, CTO of Arda Systems, for a deep dive into the practical challenges of manufacturing and logistics. Miguel, a Stanford Ph.D. in supply chain systems, has spent decades moving boxes, literally. His résumé spans warehouse SaaS, container terminal software, and fuel cell R&D. Through it all, he's developed a rare systems-level view of how things move, and more importantly, how they get stuck.
“As you ramp up your utilization, the delays that machine introduces grow to infinity.” — Miguel Panilla
Miguel frames his career around one core obsession: the flow of materials. From container ports to e-commerce fulfillment, the biggest challenge isn’t packing parts efficiently; it’s getting the right part to the right place, exactly when it’s needed. As he puts it, “the big challenge is to have things arrive where they need to be, on time, every time”. It’s a deceptively simple principle that drives everything from Kanban sourcing to robotic automation.
Throughout the episode, Justin and Miguel explore how shops can improve throughput without burning out. Whether you’re a two-person shop with four machines or a high-mix, low-volume operation, the path forward is clearer than you think. Miguel highlights that pinpointing your constraint, or the machine with the biggest queue and most variability, is step one.
“Things that have a lot of variability tend to accumulate a lot of work... The moment you lose time with something, you don’t recover it.” — Miguel Pinilla
From there, they shift into strategy. Miguel emphasizes that maximizing machine utilization isn’t just about uptime; it’s about predictability. He compares high-utilization bottlenecks to asymptotic delays: “as you ramp up utilization, the delays that machine introduces grow to infinity”. It's a reminder that smart scheduling and buffers aren’t optional; they’re survival.
If you’ve ever felt like your shop is always behind, this episode offers real talk and actionable insight. It's a must-listen for anyone interested in cutting through manufacturing chaos with data, systems thinking, and a bit of AI.
