Using AI to Document Manufacturing Processes

The single biggest roadblock to digital transformation isn’t a lack of vision or a lack of budget, it’s a lack of time. For most manufacturers, the move from paper binders to...

Precision at Scale: Eliminating Batch Variability in Process Manufacturing

In process manufacturing, the recipe is the foundation of quality. Whether you are mixing industrial chemicals or producing consumer food products, success is defined by the...

The Real Cost of Firefighting on the Factory Floor

If you manage a plant, you already know the usual problems: equipment breaks down, a process gets skipped, a new hire is working out of order, and production stops until the...

Rethinking MES in the Era of the Connected Workforce

Most Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) were built to rigidly enforce processes, not to empower people or evolve how work gets done. MES platforms excel at orchestrating...

The Four Disruptive Forces Reshaping Manufacturing

Manufacturers are at an inflection point. Emerging technologies, shifting customer expectations, and rising workforce pressures are converging—and fast. The pace of change is...

Insights from a Decade of Manufacturing Workforce Trends

In this insightful podcast episode, join Thomas Davis, an experienced training manager, as he unravels the transformative shifts in the manufacturing workforce observed...

Decoding the Manufacturing Labor Market

"It's a very tight labor market. For every 1.5 job openings, there's only one unemployed worker.”Join Chad Moutray and Anjana Radhakrishnan from The Manufacturing Institute...

How a Small Machine Shop Became a Top 20 Supplier to NASA

“Be careful with that silicon wafer. It's worth more than your house.” Rodney Babcock, President of Next Intent, learned this lesson as the quality assurance manager...

Manufacturing The Heavy Way: Unlocking Productivity Gains

Disruption is the new status quo in heavy equipment.Supply chain challenges continue to impact production.Covid accelerated labor trends that impact every part of the...

A Food Manufacturers Recipe for Quality

The status quo for food and beverage manufacturing has some new ingredients. Consider several of the social, economic, and cultural trends impacting the industry: Consumers...

How Auto Manufacturers Can Avoid Production Potholes

Automotive manufacturing has been a windy road. Here are a few of the social, economic and cultural trends currently impacting automotive manufacturing. But automotive...

The Cost of Losing Frontline Employees

Here's How To Avoid Paying It Employee retention is as important (if not more important) than hiring workers. At any given manufacturing organization, a single frontline...

Push vs. Pull System in Manufacturing: A Complete Overview for Optimizing Production

fthoughtsManufacturing companies must carefully balance expenditure and revenue to remain profitable. It might sound simple when put that way, but every manufacturer knows...

Best Methods to Reduce Human Error in Manufacturing

In manufacturing, many factors need to be balanced and aligned for companies to be successful. And one of those factors includes the combination of humans and machines...

Best Practices to Maximize Production Capacity in Manufacturing | 2023

According to the numbers, manufacturing makes up around 12% of the U.S. GDP and provides jobs for 12.984 million Americans, or about 9.6% of all U.S. workers. In other words,...

Understanding Corrective Action vs. Preventative Action in Manufacturing

One of the most important aspects of a successful manufacturing organization is the ability to solve complex problems as they arise. In keeping with the continuous...

How To Reduce Defects in Manufacturing in 2022

Product defects are a pain at any manufacturing company. When all the time, energy, and money that is spent to produce a product is wasted due to defects in the final...

11 Common Manufacturing Challenges & Solutions | 2023

When it comes to industry, manufacturing might be one of the most challenging. Because of the high cost of doing business, the need for skilled workers, and an...

How to Scale Technology Across Manufacturing Operations with 3M

Most manufacturing companies don't have people dedicated to evaluating and deploying modern tools. At best, IT or HR takes responsibility for new technology and doesn't have...

Using Standards to Empower the Frontline Workforce

Chad Nelson is a Lean Six-Sigma Operations Manager at 3M and has a wealth of knowledge about standardized work and engaging frontline workers with improvement efforts. Join...

How to Manage Change on the Plant Floor

Change management is a crucial part of any digital transformation or improvement efforts on the plant floor. But how do you deal with stubborn employees or older workers that...

How Smart Factories are Impacting Productivity

Deloitte research suggests that "smart factory" initiatives have yielded an average of 10-12% increase in labor productivity gains. Despite this success, a majority of...

How 3M Continues to Innovate During COVID

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 3M has been integral in maintaining domestic and international supplies of essential PPE. These production and supply chain challenges required...

How to Reduce Changeover Time with Standard Work Instructions

Many manufacturers see reducing changeover time as a golden opportunity to improve operational efficiency and reduce waste. For good reason, a simple reduction in changeover...

Insights from the Field: Can Tribal Knowledge Actually Work?

Recently, I had a chance to visit one of our larger manufacturing clients. Of the many insights gained on that trip, one stood above the rest — tribal knowledge used to...

How to Reduce Tribal Knowledge and Downtime with Dozuki Answers

The conveyor belt on line one stopped running and production came to a halt. It was the second time in a week that this happened. The maintenance team and engineers spend the...

The Manufacturing Skills Gap is an Opportunity

There is a pending manufacturing skills gap impacting the United States workforce. Millions of positions are expected to go unfilled in the coming years, with reports...

Top 10 Shigeo Shingo Quotes on Lean Manufacturing

Shigeo Singo: The Ambassador of Lean Shigeo Shingo was an industry leader of Lean manufacturing principles and philosophies. Originally brought on by Toyota to update their...

Why Standard Work is a Contradiction

We recently wrote a popular article about a major mistake at a nuclear waste facility. In short, we cited poor standard revision processes as the root cause of the mistake,...

Millennials, Vinyls, and Documentation

Vinyl is in the midst of a comeback. Perhaps it’s due to the unpredictable whims of Millennial trends. Or, perhaps it’s the byproduct of a digital backlash from consumers who...

Give Your Manufacturing Company a Boost

Whether you’re in aerospace or automotive, medical device or dairy—it’s important that your manufacturing company grows while keeping up with the latest innovations. In honor...