Management
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How Managers Can Keep Unions on Their Side
- March 27, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
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I had a rule as a manager that I would never take union leadership by surprise. If anything, despite the traditional “management versus the union” conflict, I always believed they were an important part of my team. For example, if I was ever thinking of initiating a new process or major idea, I would share
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How Do You Plan for a Disaster or Crisis?
- March 13, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management, Manufacturing, Safety
Planning for a disaster for your business is never fun, and it can even be a little depressing. That’s because planning for a disaster or crisis is basically dreaming up all the scenarios that can befall your business and then imagining the worst-case scenario. Then you have to come up with all the things that
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Perform an Annual ABC Analysis to Find New Profits
- March 6, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Productivity
According to the Pareto Principle (also called the 80/20 rule), you’re wasting a large portion of your time on items and customers that don’t actually have an ROI for you. That is, 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your results, and 20% of your inventory brings in 80% of your sales. Conversely, 80%
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How Can You Address the Skills Gap and Workforce Development?
- February 28, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
It’s getting harder and harder to find skilled workers for the manufacturing segment. Too many recruiting strategies are based on hiring people away from other companies, keeping them for a couple of years, only to have someone else hire them away from you. If you want to address the skills gap and improve your workforce
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How Should Manufacturers Manage Compliance and Regulatory Challenges?
- February 14, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management, Manufacturing, Safety
It’s critical that your manufacturing operation stays compliant with all laws and regulations, both domestic and international. It not only affects your bottom line but there are instances where CEOs have gone to prison because they ignored different laws and regulations. No more can you just ignore regulations and pay fines because you think it’s
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The Importance of Having a Mentor, No Matter Your Role
- December 27, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management
When you were coming up in your career, you no doubt had mentors, people who would help you in your job and prepare you for the next step in your career. These were people who were undoubtedly older, wiser, more experienced, and very knowledgeable. But does that stop once you reach the C-suite? Once you’ve
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How Do You Coach a Reluctant Employee?
- December 13, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management
The problem with nearly every leadership and management book and philosophy is that they make one dangerous assumption: that your employees are willing and eager to be a part of your vision. They teach you how to communicate, how to lead, how to describe your vision, and how to get people to follow you in
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How to Handle Firing Someone: A Practical Approach
- September 20, 2023
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management, Manufacturing
Firing someone can be a challenging and emotional task for any employer or manager. You often have empathy for the other person, you're worried about their future and their family, and some small part of you (hopefully) is concerned about their well-being. But as the leader, it's your job to protect the company. You have -
Three Steps to Streamline the Hiring Process in the Digital Manufacturing Era
- July 19, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Management, Productivity
Hiring workers, regardless of the era, has been all about people. Too many companies are trying to streamline the hiring process and automate it, and they’re missing some real gems. You can’t walk away from the interpersonal parts of hiring, but companies are trying, and they’re losing out on the possibility of hiring a superstar
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Why You Should Provide Cross-Training to Your Employees
- June 28, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing, Productivity
Cross-training is going to be a critical function of the work you do in your factory. Not only does it help your workforce and their mental health, it increases their skills and makes them more valuable to your organization. But more importantly, it also reduces the risk of injury. Years ago, when I was at