Bridging Operational Excellence: Vessel’s Diagnostic Platform for Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturers

This episode of U.S. Manufacturing Today features Derik Ellis and Molly Lenty of Vessel, a platform designed to help manufacturers and the experts who serve them turn operational data into insight by unifying shop-floor systems with business outcomes through smart assessments and supply chain intelligence. Molly shares her transition from 25 years in corporate banking and economic development to helping manufacturers access resources, while Derik describes his path from the Air Force and software entrepreneurship to founding Vessel in 2018 as a consulting firm that evolved into a technology platform. They discuss recurring challenges in small and mid-sized manufacturing, including limited access to resources, trust-building with consultants, misaligned stakeholders, and the need for disciplined, organization-wide diagnosis before action (e.g., ERP adoption). Vessel supports MEPs and consultants with a library of 300+ customizable assessments, multi-stakeholder alignment, longitudinal tracking, actionable reports, and aggregated ecosystem visibility to inform workforce and regional strategy.Timestamps00:00 Show Introduction01:24 Meet Molly Lenty03:16 Derik Ellis Origin Story05:20 Recurring SME Challenges06:30 Access And Resource Networks09:02 What Vessel Does10:07 MEPs And Standardized Assessments15:29 Why Consulting Often Fails17:53 Diagnosis Before Action21:29 Assessment Library And Custom Builds23:31 Multi Stakeholder Alignment26:23 Delivering Actionable Reports31:34 AI As Expert Augmentation33:05 Ecosystem Level Visibility35:51 Workforce And Policy Gaps38:06 Future Vision To 203042:09 Where To Learn More42:42 Closing And SubscribeLinksVesselMolly on LinkedInDerik on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Navigating Trump 2.0 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Revitalizing US Manufacturing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign Up on the Veryable Platform ⁠⁠