Many warehouses consider peak season (November and December) as a finish line. Once peak season is over, demand stabilizes, pressure eases, and management immediately shifts its focus to the next planning cycle.

We often imagine the lives of our paleolithic ancestors as an unrelenting struggle. But the very existence of cave art suggests that at least some of them could focus on making meaning beyond necessity. So what drove them?

Walk the aisles of any liquor store in the U.S., and brands named after people call for your notice—Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo, Captain Morgan, and Jim Beam. Perhaps the most revered name among them is Jack Daniel.

In some organizations, possibility feels like a luxury. Something you talk about at offsite sessions. Something you reference in mission statements. Something you save for after the real work is done.

The manufacturing world is undergoing a major shift.

During the last couple of decades working in quality, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the same pattern play out: A strong launch. Tight focus. Great early results. People doing the right things for the right reasons. Controls are followed.

Jennifer had a problem. She was the program manager for the No. 2 business priority at a multibillion-dollar company, rolling out sustainability programs in manufacturing. But when she presented, she kept hearing: too complicated, too time-consuming, too costly.

‘I don’t want my Dollar General store to look like a Dollar General store!” That was the owner’s assertive Sunday morning response to a sincere compliment on her immaculate, well-organized store.

The future of flexible work will not be decided by floor plans or badge swipes. It will be decided by who gets to build the tools.

(Michigan Metrology: Livonia, MI) -- Registration is now open for the annual “Surface Roughness, Texture, and Tribology” short course, presented in Livonia, Michigan, May 13–14, 2026.