The manufacturing industry is facing a significant challenge: a shift in demographics. Historically, the ‘baby boomers’ (ages 53 to 63) made up the majority of the workforce. But there’s a ‘silent tsunami’ coming. We’re facing the biggest retirement wave we’ll ever experience. The skills of baby boomers will be washed out of the industry over… Read more
Why A Cross-Generational Approach Is The Key To The Future
Most manufacturing workforces are currently made up of ‘baby boomers’ (those born between 1946 and 1964). They have extensive knowledge and experience, but this begs the question: what happens when they retire? A soaring skills gap could well be on the cards. However, if you act now, you can harness their expertise for future generations…. Read more
Why You Need A Plan And What You Need To Consider
Why don’t we plan? Because it’s more exciting to just see what happens, right? Or perhaps you’re too busy dealing with today to even consider tomorrow. Maybe you simply can’t get the leadership team to agree or don’t have the right data available. Whatever your reason, you need to have a plan – and you… Read more
How To Include Employees In Rapid Innovation Projects
The innovation process is difficult. It’s a long journey from an idea on a piece of paper to a product on a manufacturing line, so it’s little wonder that 99% of concepts end up in a kind of ‘museum of failed dreams’. Yet innovation is often the only way that small businesses can compete and… Read more
What You Need To Do To Be An Effective Leader
In Jacob Stoller’s book The Lean CEO, he states that 95% of lean transformations fail. The cause? People. So much of the time employees are burnt out, scared or frustrated. But this doesn’t mean you should point the finger of blame at staff. After all, as W. Edwards Deming highlights, that transformation starts with you… Read more
What Is The True Essence Of Leadership?
What makes a great leader? Seeing a business through a pandemic? Achieving quick results? Firefighting and expediting are often mistaken for leadership responsibilities. But this belief can in fact hinder an organisation. The Manufacturing Institute’s Leadership and Enterprise Excellence Coach, Adam Buckley, explores the true essence of leadership… Firefighting issues When there’s a burning platform,… Read more
I’m just not getting stressed like I used to…
Ashley Banks is convinced that the Manufacturing Institute’s Leadership Development Programme (LDP) has been instrumental in improving his confidence, effectiveness and communication skills in the workplace. A lamination shift trainer for Veka, Ashley attended the LDP for one day a week over two months in mid-2019. He says the impact of the course was immediate… Read more
Leadership Development Programme helps rubber maker put more bounce in his career
Nathan Williams signed up for the Manufacturing Institute’s Leadership Development Programme [LDP] to hone his management skills – and came away with so much more: a rejuvenated faith in his own abilities and an unexpected eagerness to see how far he can rise up the career ladder. An unhappy earlier foray into management had left… Read more