All Features
MIT Sloan School of Management
Meritocracy—the idea that individuals should advance and be rewarded on the basis of their talent and hard work—is one of the most widely celebrated ideals in education, business, and government. It shapes how organizations recruit, evaluate, and promote, promising a fair system where the best rise…
Nick Haase
Imagine this: A production line hums along smoothly. Operators clean and check equipment between cycles to spot problems before they snowball. No scrambling. No surprises. That’s what autonomous maintenance looks like.
It’s a concept born from the principles of total productive maintenance (TPM),…
Maartje van Krieken
Your market is shifting, your competitor just pulled ahead, and the one person who could execute the next move has resigned. You can’t get more data fast enough, yet the window to act is closing. In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, this is the moment that defines…
Kristin Burnham
Organizations are eager to benefit from generative artificial intelligence. But in the rush to deploy AI to meet business goals, some companies jump in without fully weighing whether it’s best to buy an existing model, purchase a model and enhance it with their own data, or build a custom AI…
Global Shop Solutions
Small to midsize manufacturers are facing mounting pressure from unpredictable supply chain disruptions. From fluctuating customer demand to reshoring operations and diversifying suppliers, maintaining efficiency and protecting cash flow have never been more critical.
Global instability, shifting…
Bruce Hamilton
In October 1989, my company hosted Total Improvement Process Week, one of the most productive experiences of my career. Our consultant was Ryuji Fukuda, a Deming Prize winner and author of Managerial Engineering (Productivity Inc., 1983), a book I still value for its emphasis on management’s role…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s called “work” for a reason. Most days we’re able to “work” through it and find enjoyment in what we do. But occasionally we’re faced with a grind that saps our strength and threatens to derail us. Fortunately, there are simple techniques for working through that grind.
I love writing this…
Seb Murray
Promoting a “flat hierarchy” with fewer layers of managers might sound modern and progressive. It promises agility, equality, and empowerment. Yet, a new study co-authored by Wharton management professor Saerom (Ronnie) Lee suggests that while flat organizations may appeal to some candidates, they…
Harish Jose
In this article I’m looking at the notion of organizational purposes in light of cybernetic constructivism. The ideas here are inspired by giants like Stafford Beer, Spencer Brown, Ralph Stacey, Werner Ulrich, Russell Ackoff, and Erik Hollnagel.
The corporate world seems to be obsessed with…
Chris Chuang
The plant manager’s day started perfectly. The production schedule was optimized, the teams were aligned, and the shift was running smoothly. Then, a critical pump on Line 3 failed. The floor supervisor tried to radio for maintenance, but his call dropped in the plant’s notorious dead zone. By the…
Akhilesh Gulati
Quality initiatives rarely fail because of bad tools. They fail because people don’t adopt them.
Organizations spend months mapping processes, running kaizen events, or documenting corrective actions, only to watch the improvements unravel when employees quietly return to the “old way.” Leaders…
Anthony Vianna
There’s a lot of talk about automation these days, not just in manufacturing circles but also the news in general. As the demands of modern manufacturing grow more complex, and manufacturing industries continue their digital transformation—with automation playing an ever-expanding role—where does…
Quality Digest, Jason Chester
Today, manufacturing is largely shaped by supply chain volatility, complex labor dynamics, and—like most global industries—the rise of AI. Adopting AI technologies on the shop floor can help manufacturers minimize operational costs, mitigate risk, and optimize processes, which drives efficiency and…
Walter Nowocin
Software selection, implementation, and ongoing maintenance are critical stages in the life cycle of biomedical software systems such as asset and calibration management platforms. Yet few industry resources provide detailed, practical guidance for managing these processes effectively.
One notable…
Annie Wilson, Professor Ryan Hamilton
Nano Tools for Leaders, a collaboration between Wharton Executive Education and Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, are fast, effective tools that you can learn and start using in less than 15 minutes, with the potential to significantly affect your success and the engagement and…
Frank King
At Ramirez & Co., a midsize business with decades of wins, leadership thought its biggest challenges were competitors, technology, and the market. Close, but no cigar. The real problem was stress, the silent drain that doesn’t show up on a Gantt chart but still wrecks your timeline.
Deadlines…
Gleb Tsipursky
Imagine a bustling conference room where employees aren’t just listening to lectures but actively experimenting with cutting-edge tools, tackling real-world challenges and discovering new ways to revolutionize their workflows. That’s the transformative power of workshops focused on generative AI (…
Mike Figliuolo
It’s hard to balance all the demands that are placed upon you as a leader. Many of us default to dysfunctional ways of spending our time and energy. If you know what the common mistakes are and take a more deliberate approach to investing your time and energy, you’ll get better results from your…
Judy Fainor
What if your quality system could detect and initiate corrective actions for equipment deviations before they affect product quality?
It’s a compelling vision—and one that’s becoming increasingly achievable through AI-enabled automation. But let’s be clear: We’re not there yet. What we do have is…
Cornelia C. Walther
Sarah, a marketing director at a Fortune 500 company, recently celebrated her team’s 40% productivity increase after implementing AI-powered content generation tools. Her seasoned copywriters now produce campaigns in hours rather than days, while AI handles routine social media posts and email…
Mike Regan
In July 2024, CrowdStrike rolled out a software update that crashed more than 8 million Windows systems worldwide. The faulty release disrupted hospitals, grounded flights, halted banking operations, and affected government services. Comparable to a major cyberattack, the incident caused more than…
Kate Zabriskie
Most of us have been there. A deadline whooshes by, a teammate consistently shows up late to meetings, or someone just isn’t pulling their weight. And what do we often do? We avoid the conversation, hoping the problem will magically resolve itself. Spoiler: It never does.
Dodging these…
Bruce Hamilton
In my Labor Day article, “Celebrating Our Frontline Scapegoats,” I observed that of the seven wastes, the one most people recognize is defects. This is understandable: Workers are often blamed for defect-causing situations over which they have little or no control. This article continues that Labor…
William A. Levinson
A vital concept from the chemical process industry, management of change (MOC) relates primarily to safety. It means that whenever we change a factor in a cause-and-effect diagram (e.g., machine, material, manpower, method, measurement, environment, or any other factor), we create risks of…
Akhilesh Gulati
Organizations often face a familiar dilemma: It’s not a shortage of good ideas, but a struggle to decide which one to pursue first. During project prioritization meetings, leaders are likely to present a wide range of perspectives. The finance team pushes for hard savings, while operations advocate…