Manufacturing
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How Managers Can Keep Unions on Their Side
- September 1, 2024
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Manufacturing
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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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The Role of Safety Audits in Preventing Workplace Accidents
- August 21, 2024
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Manufacturing, Safety
I’m going to say something that’s going to upset some people. There should be no safety audits in a factory setting. Why is that? Because safety audits are like restaurant inspections. Everyone who has ever worked in a restaurant knows the dirty little secret: when you know a health inspector is showing up, everyone makes
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Perform an Annual ABC Analysis to Find New Profits
- May 19, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management, Manufacturing
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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Sustainability’s Vital Role in Modern Manufacturing
- September 30, 2023
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Manufacturing
Sustainability has become more than just a buzzword in manufacturing circles: it’s a fundamental consideration and often the cost of doing business. The government lodges heavy fines, people protest and boycott the companies, and there are costly lawsuits against companies and prison sentences for executives. So how can your manufacturing operation embrace sustainability and still
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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 -
How Can Leaders Prepare for Changes in Modern Manufacturing?
- August 23, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
The modern manufacturing industry is undergoing seismic shifts, especially in the last decade. But adapting to these shifts isn’t optional — it’s critical if you’re going to survive and succeed. So how do you navigate these changes without losing your way? How can a modern leader adapt to the changes in modern manufacturing? Do you
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Building a Sustainable Workforce: Strategies for Retaining Talent in Digital Manufacturing
- August 9, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Manufacturing
When you’re recruiting in the digital manufacturing era, some of the strategies are the same as they were 50, 40, or even 30 years ago when manufacturing was a semi-skilled profession. It was easier to find people, but now, because digital manufacturing is a highly skilled position, the demand for workers is very high. There’s
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How Has Manufacturing Leadership Changed In the Last 40 Years
- July 5, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
The more leadership changes, the more it stays the same. This is true for manufacturing leadership, if not leadership in general. In a lot of ways, the things it takes to be a leader now are not the same things it took back in the 70s, but in some ways, they’re exactly the same. Back
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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
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When Should You Do Maintenance and Repairs On Your Machines? Why?
- June 21, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Productivity, Safety
Your factory’s maintenance program should be ongoing, not as a repair-as-needed reactive process. You need to be as proactive and preventative as possible. Basically, there are two kinds of maintenance you should be doing: 1) Heavy maintenance and 2) Running maintenance. Heavy maintenance:Once a year when you check everything and do all the heavy stuff