News

How Industrial Workers Can Drill Down on Safety This Summer with Wearables

Wearable technology is revolutionizing workplace safety with real-time, personalized insights mitigating the increasing risks of heat stress. The escalating climate crisis continues to take a toll, and industrial workers are at the frontline, grappling with a multi-record-breaking summer of heat... Continue Reading

Can AI Enhance Leadership?

Do you remember your introduction to smartphones? Ryan, our techy son-in-law, was the first person I knew with an iPhone. Usually understated, Ryan declared that the iPhone was the first technology he’d seen that would change how he lived his life in small and significant everyday moments.... Continue Reading

Leadership on Point: Managing through the Generational Divide

The principles for managing multiple generations are really the same principles of good leadership. It’s hard to keep them all straight – the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, GenZers, Baby Busters, Millennials, iGen, Gen Alpha. Regardless of what you call them, or who... Continue Reading

Monday Economic Report

Housing Growth at Risk: Mortgage Rates Soar to 22-Year High The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached 7.23% last week, the highest since the week of June 1, 2001, according to Freddie Mac. Higher borrowing costs and issues of affordability risk slowing... Continue Reading

How to Create a People-First Culture in Large Workplaces

It takes constant review and enhancements to keep employees happy. Continental’s Wahpeton, North Dakota, facility got its start as family-owned WCCO Belting, a company which grew from a few employees to more than 300 over the 70 years it has been in business. Now, as a Continental... Continue Reading

NAM Update on Potential UAW Strike

As many of you know, the UAW is negotiating a new labor agreement with important automotive manufacturers as the current contract expires September 14. The consequences of a strike would have a potentially devastating impact not just on the vast automotive supply chain but many related sectors... Continue Reading

Without a Problem-Solving Culture, AI is an Expensive Mistake

Artificial intelligence won't miraculously solve your problems unless your company is good at curiosity, effective data-gathering and use of data in decision-making. A 2016 U.S. Department of Commerce survey of 80 U.S. manufacturers and vendors reported that smart manufacturing would provide $57... Continue Reading

Why the US Needs Manufacturing to Succeed

Leadership focus on sustainability, nearshoring and DE&I is critical to manufacturing's future, writes the CEO of Chicago-based grid manufacturer S&C Electric. Who can forget those early, confusing, and scary days of the COVID-19 pandemic? Overnight, our world changed. In the midst of... Continue Reading

Sage Advice about Older Workers

Manufacturing often frets about the aging of its workforce. Some nimble companies revel in it. The past decade has featured a long march of news about manufacturing’s labor shortage. At last count, some 800,000 manufacturing jobs were going unfilled in the United States. Less well-known,... Continue Reading

How To Think About AI: A Guide For Manufacturers

The artificial intelligence revolution has arrived, and it’s here to stay. ChatGPT has provided us the indisputable evidence that this long-awaited technology is entering a more mature—and more valuable—stage. In fact, generative AI will produce between $170 billion and $290... Continue Reading

Be Long on Patience When New Workers are Short on Skills

I am obsessed with the Wall Street Journal story about America’s many new, young workers who are oblivious to workplace behavior norms and skill expectations. One person thinks it’s OK to read a book while store customers are present. A fast food worker manning the fryer thinks... Continue Reading

How to Know it’s Time to Change

Albert Einstein said, “’The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” What he didn’t elaborate on is knowing when it’s time to change. In the business world, leaders are called upon to anticipate and address their continually changing environment for the... Continue Reading