Pioneering Predictive Manufacturing Maintenance with Jeremy Frank



Dare to Disrupt
Dare to Disrupt
Pioneering Predictive Manufacturing Maintenance with Jeremy Frank
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Jeremy is co-founder and CEO of KCF Technologies, a technology company based out of State College PA. KCF Technologies provides proprietary machine health optimization hardware, software, and services to industry and military clients. Under Jeremy’s leadership, KCF has pioneered advancements in wireless vibration sensing and machine health monitoring. Today, the company is a global leader in predictive maintenance, monitoring over 80,000 machines across numerous industries, driven by Jeremy’s vision of eradicating unplanned downtime and enhancing industrial safety. 

In this episode, Jeremy shares the evolution of KCF Technologies, from an imports/exports company to a consultancy to the thriving solutions software company it is today. He shares his background growing up in Pittsburgh helping with his father’s forensic engineering business. He also talks about the devastating realities of failure in business, juxtaposed with the allure of all the freedom entrepreneurship provides.

Episode Chapters

0:00 – 2:54 Intro/Jeremy’s background information

2:54 – 3:32 Formative years growing up in Pittsburgh, Pitt fan 

3:32 – 5:36 Decision to come to Penn State, studying mechanical engineering, unclear career path

5:36 – 6:11  Working at father’s forensic engineering business 

6:11 – 7:14 Never applied for a full-time job, but good at making money 

7:14 – 10:18 Crashing cars for science, acoustics and vibrations studies  

10:18 – 11:51 From Tokyo to business launch

11:51 – 14:35 First go-to-market business idea

14:35 – 19:04 Dad’s advice on failure  

19:04 – 21:17 What it means to be wired for entrepreneurship

21:17 – 24:32  The KCF business model today

24:32 – 31:21 Scaling and growing the business from 1 employee to 250 

31:21 – 35:03 The entrepreneurial environment in State College, then and now

35:03 – 36:28 Penn State Athletics, measuring vibrations at Beaver Stadium 

36:28 – 37:09 Intro for student guest Ankur Verma

37:09 – 38:20 Targeting mid-market companies  

38:20 – 41:59 – AI and industry