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.

It’s a terrible feeling to put a ton of effort into crafting a recommendation only to have it shot down in front of all your co-workers. If you want your idea approved, you should try doing things backward instead.

As the holiday season is left behind, many manufacturing leaders find a moment to step back from year-end deadlines to reflect on the bigger picture and look ahead.

Performance indexes use the global standard deviation statistic to describe the past. Capability indexes use a within-subgroup measure of dispersion to characterize the process potential. However, some within-subgroup measures are better than others.

Most leaders you meet are losing almost a full workday every week to meetings that go nowhere. Same people. Same topics. Same problems. No real movement.