Kevin Carpentieri serves as the Chief Information Officer at Manual Woodworkers and Weavers (MWW), a 90-year-old family-owned textile and apparel manufacturing business based in North Carolina. With nearly three decades of IT leadership experience, Kevin brings a rare combination of enterprise-scale vision and small-business practicality. His career began in an unexpected place—as a music major and aspiring performer—before a part-time college job in IT sparked a lifelong passion for infrastructure, automation, and process improvement. From managing complex networks at BMW to leading a digital transformation at a regional manufacturer, Kevin’s journey underscores his commitment to doing more with less, making technology accessible, and using automation to empower teams and elevate business performance.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- How Kevin transitioned from music education to CIO leadership
- Why asking for enterprise-level support still matters—no matter your company size
- How MWW implemented automation without external consultants
- Strategies for cutting Microsoft licensing costs and improving uptime
- The role of AI in textile manufacturing, including defect detection and color matching
- Why self-service and scripting became core to internal IT transformation
- Challenges in adopting Power BI and lessons for small teams
- The importance of balancing automation with the human “artisan” touch
In this episode…
Kevin Carpentieri takes us inside the transformation of a 90-year-old textile company—starting with culture and mindset. He describes the initial hurdles in shifting a small IT team away from legacy habits and manual fixes, emphasizing the importance of challenging the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset. His leadership style focused on empowering the team to automate repetitive tasks and implement self-service systems—leading to faster support, higher uptime, and significant cost savings.
Kevin reflects on the contrast between his time at BMW and the realities of working in a smaller business. While large enterprises enjoy immediate access to vendor support, MWW had to fight for attention—and win it through persistence and creative use of existing tools like Jira and Confluence. He shares how Power BI gave the team an early win in data visualization, though long-term adoption challenges persist as pricing and product alignment shift.
The conversation also dives into AI’s role in manufacturing. Kevin explains how AI tools are being used to detect defects, match color profiles, and assist with pattern alignment—speeding up production without replacing the human touch that defines MWW’s products. From sewing machines with laser-guided precision to predictive analytics for quality assurance, Kevin highlights how modern tech can enhance artisan-driven businesses rather than erase them.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Matthew Connor on LinkedIn
CyberLynx
Kevin Carpentieri on LinkedIn
Manual Woodworkers and Weavers Website
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