digital transformation
-
Building a Winning Team: Continuous Improvement and Development
- September 18, 2024
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
No Comments
Every manager dreams of building a winning team. Every boss dreams of having a winning department. Every sergeant dreams of commanding a winning squad. Members doing the high-quality work that needs to be done, fulfilling every function, completing every pass, every play, every task, every order, and functioning as a single unit with a single
-
How Managers Can Keep Unions on Their Side
- September 1, 2024
- Posted by: Nanette Gregory
- Category: Business, Leadership, Manufacturing
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
-
How to Develop Good Habits as a Leader
- June 24, 2024
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
Good leaders are always open to new ideas about how to become better leaders. They don’t assume they know everything, especially as they ascend to higher and higher positions. They know their strengths and work to make them even stronger. They know their weaknesses and work to make them, well, stronger, too. You don’t have
-
Perform an Annual ABC Analysis to Find New Profits
- May 29, 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%
-
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
-
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 -
What are the First Steps a Manufacturer Should Take to Modernize?
- October 20, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
Last week, I talked about how there’s still a need for old-school manufacturing, but that doesn’t mean that there will always be a need. Some of you old-school manufacturers need to modernize and update your systems. If you’re still running labor-intensive processes and you’re struggling to find labor just to meet your orders, then maybe
-
Automation Makes Work (and Life) Better For Workers
- August 18, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Productivity
Automation is changing the face of manufacturing. It may be taking away some of the low-paying jobs, but it’s also taking people away from the heavy, backbreaking work on the floor. It’s giving people new opportunities to do much easier work and to even learn new skills and gain new knowledge. That leads to higher-paying
-
Embrace Cloud Computing for Manufacturing
- December 2, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Management, Manufacturing
A few months ago, I talked about how cloud computing may be a solution for manufacturers to embrace the latest in manufacturing technology. I wanted to dive a little deeper into the idea and talk about some of the ways manufacturers can use the cloud to save time and money and protect their intellectual property.
-
Additive Manufacturing is the Next Industrial Revolution
- November 25, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Manufacturing
I recently saw an article that called additive manufacturing the next industrial revolution, and I thought they couldn’t be more right. Of course, we all know about the original Industrial Revolution and how it has shaped society today, including working hours, salaries, trade unions, and even the idea of the weekend. Robotics and digital manufacturing
- 1
- 2