Oct 14, 2026

As a young engineer on the Ford Explorer line, Shawn Herbig chased a strange complaint. Drivers said their radios were changing stations on their own. Dealers swapped the units, and every one passed the bench test. The cause: in cold-weather states, drivers wearing thick winter gloves were hitting two of the small...

Oct 7, 2026

An HR professional in manufacturing told Trevor her onboarding program is strong for ninety days, and then it starts to dip. Her instinct was to extend it. The research says something else.

Once somebody is past three months, lack of onboarding is the last reason they leave. Toxic culture, unsafe conditions and feeling...

Sep 30, 2026

Greg Harrod noticed something strange partway through a career leading cross-functional teams in manufacturing. He was getting more and more of the work he was best at, and enjoying it less and less.

That is not a workload problem. It is a sorting problem.

We hand out work based on two things. Is this person good at it,...

Sep 23, 2026

Walk into most plants and you’ll hear the same thing. The new, younger people need everything spelled out. The veterans just go do it.

New research says that’s backwards. Seventy-six percent of Gen Z expect clear expectations of their performance and responsibilities. Among Boomers it’s 98 percent, and it climbs...

Sep 16, 2026

Dr. Sunita Sah asked nurses in a large hospital what stopped them from speaking up about medical errors. They gave her two answers. They were afraid of the repercussions, and they had learned that speaking up changed nothing. Then she asked their managers the same question. The managers did not name fear or...