“Are you sure there hasn’t been some mistake?” That was the response of more than one person after being notified that they were selected to be one of this year’s “25 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing.” The responses were fueled not only by humility but by some genuine confusion: “I don’t really have anything to do with manufacturing,” one insisted.
However, this person’s nominator—and the SME committee that vetted all of the nominees—disagreed, and for good reason.
First, 21st-century manufacturing is dependent upon a greater range of activities, technologies and knowledge than ever before.
Here’s an analogy: A mill or lathe Is no longer judged only on how many seconds it takes to cut a piece of metal, but rather on how it impacts what the users see as “the total cost of production,” taking into account other factors such as precision, reliability, ease of use, maintenance, automation capabilities, Industry-4.0 readiness and more.
Likewise, a manufacturing enterprise consists of a whole lot more than what any number of machines are doing on the shop floor. Manufacturing can’t be discussed in any useful way without considering every aspect, from design to distribution and all of the communication needed between each part of the entire enterprise.
This view has been a hallmark of this publication since its first issue. It has always looked at the big-picture ways manufacturing is getting, well, smarter—beyond how the metal is cut, the plastic is molded, or even, now, how either is printed.
This year’s group of leaders includes people creating and improving ways things are made. But it also includes other experts—on cybersecurity, digital communication, workforce recruitment and training and other fields. Do they “have anything to do with manufacturing?” You bet they do.
Finally, SME offers sincere thanks to the readers who took the time to nominate each honoree.
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