This article is written by Mark Allen Roberts, CEO and Founder of OTB Solutions.

To say 2021 has been a rollercoaster ride of incredible highs and scary lows is an understatement. We have experienced market disruptions, uncertainty, new pandemic variants, and constraints none of us could have forecasted. In response to these changes CEOs and business owners adapted. A recent McKinsey study indicates more than 60% of CEOs restructured their organization in response to the pandemic.

Top Leaders Explore the Intangibles of a Manufacturing Career

This is an original article written by Scott Schein, Director of National Network Programs at GENEDGE, part of the MEP National Network.

The pandemic revealed potential vendor-based weaknesses for many small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs). Late deliveries have increased, materials have become scarce, quality is less reliable, and prices have ticked upward. These issues and general upheaval in global supply chains make supply chain management an urgent focus for many SMMs.

Part 1 to this blog discussed the importance of incorporating ESG into your business strategy for stakeholders including customers, employees, and investors. In this follow up, you will learn how and why ESG evolved from its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) origins, transcending the latter’s internal perspective with an outward-facing regimen of objective, measurable, stipulated standards to validate and verify reductions in impacts such as carbon footprint/output.

This article is written by Mark Allen Roberts, CEO and Founder of OTB Solutions.

I have been sharing how powerful capturing the voice of your customers (VoC) and voice of your market ( VoM) is in growing your business profitably. In this post I will share how to leverage customer voice into a “sales secret weapon“.

In a recent post I shared how critical it is to understand the criteria your buyers use today as well as how those criteria rank in order of importance. You may be providing services and

Many manufacturers continue to face challenges in their quest to recruit employees. If you are struggling with acquiring talent, consider doing more to attract mid-career workers – individuals in their thirties, forties and fifties who seek new employment opportunities. Armed with experience and skills acquired during years of working, they can be hired to fill critical roles and help propel your company forward.

Here are some helpful tips:

Local and regional colleges are terrific places for recruiting entry-level talent. Here are nine tips for getting the most out of your college recruitment program.

1. Work on Recruitment All Year
College students begin looking for internships and jobs long before they graduate. Therefore, it’s important to form strong relationships year-round through a variety of tactics.

Are you struggling to find an adequate amount of young job applicants? One smart, pivotal move you can make right now is to ramp up recruitment of high-school students. By focusing on current students as well as recent graduates, you can ensure you have a strong pipeline of workers to sustain your manufacturing business. Here are nine ideas to help you get started:

The path to manufacturing is widening. While disruptive technology like robotics, AI and data analytics is shaping the factory of the future, higher education is forging a path with education-industry partnerships, certificates and credentials, statewide networks, and an eager desire to solve problems with interdisciplinary teams.