🎙 Guest: Craig Borden – Controls Hardware Design Manager at Calvary Robotics & Host of Jaybird Watching Podcast
🎧 Episode Title: Engineering, Blue Jays, and Podcasting: Finding Your Team On and Off the Field

🚀 Episode Summary:

In this episode of Machine Builder Talk, I sit down with Craig Borden, hardware design manager at Calvary Robotics in Rochester, NY, and—by night—the voice behind the Blue Jays fan favorite Jaybird Watching Podcast.

Craig’s journey is a testament to the unexpected intersections between engineering, sports, and loving what you do. By day, he leads a tight-knit team tackling complex electrical control system challenges for custom automation projects reaching as far as Ireland. By night, he turns his gift of gab to baseball banter, podcasting about his beloved Toronto Blue Jays and building a vibrant online community.

Craig pulls back the curtain on what it takes to manage multiple automation builds (seven at once!), lead a design team, and keep customers happy with tailored, modular solutions in industries from medical to automotive. He shares hands-on stories from the field (melting mesh fences and alcohol wipe queuing included), how field experience shapes better designs, and why flexibility and teamwork are non-negotiable in automation.

Beyond CAD and control panels, Craig dives into how podcasting sharpened his skills as a communicator and connector—plus what baseball can teach us about leadership and thriving on a great team.

💡 Key Takeaways:

✔️ Why cross-disciplinary experience (and a sense of humour) is a winning combo in engineering
✔️ Real-world strategies for handling project overload, retrofits, and unpredictable field challenges
✔️ The power of modular, off-the-shelf solutions—and how to keep designs future-proof
✔️ Building teams, not silos: mentorship, cross-functional skills, and the importance of people
✔️ How “outside the box” passions like podcasting can boost your professional life
✔️ Why nurturing new talent and college partnerships is key to the industry’s future
✔️ Tools Craig can’t live without (hello, EPLAN), and his advice for young engineers

From retrofitted machines to the Rogers Centre, this episode is packed with technical insight, leadership lessons, and a reminder: whether it’s on the shop floor or in the dugout, it’s all about building the right team.

Grab your headphones—you won’t want to miss this honest, entertaining, and deeply relatable conversation. Hit play and get inspired!