Dark Factories and Bright Ideas with Drew Allen

The Innovators of Things

In this episode, Jillian Kaplan chats with Drew Allen, the CEO of Grace Technologies—and a direct descendant of Samuel Morse—to unpack what innovation means across generations. Drew shares how his family’s legacy of invention and creativity led him to blend hardware, software, and IoT into one of the most forward-thinking companies in industrial automation today.

Drew walks us through his journey, from learning Mandarin and negotiating contracts in China as a teenager, to scaling a digital-first IIoT platform and pushing the boundaries of smart manufacturing. With transparency and energy, he reflects on the painful lessons of transitioning from analog to digital, the rise of robotics, and what the future holds for U.S. factories in an era of dark manufacturing and edge intelligence.

Key Takeaways:

• Innovation is both inherited and developed—and often powered by creativity.

• Moving from mechanical systems to full-stack digital IoT requires new skill sets, team structures, and lots of patience.

• Failure isn’t personal—it’s part of the process, and success comes from learning, not avoiding mistakes.

• U.S. manufacturers must rethink their operations, talent, and timelines to compete with global automation trends.

• The factory of the future is modular, AI-powered, and human-augmented—not human-dependent.

Highlights from the Conversation:

• The pressure of carrying a family legacy of patents (and how many Drew has pending!)

• Transitioning a company from analog connectors to cloud-connected IIoT

• Real-world insights on building and scaling industrial IoT platforms

• Why dark factories in China signal what’s ahead for American manufacturing

• The value of stoic philosophy and Churchill’s resilience in navigating modern entrepreneurship

Quotable Moment:

“You’re not a failure just because you failed—you’re only a failure if you don’t learn from it.” – Drew Allen

Learn more about Grace Technologies: https://www.graceport.com