Welcome to the Industrial Executive!

I’m super glad you’re here.

Let’s get to it!

A new study released this week by Manufacturing Dive reveals that extended reality (XR) tools, including VR and AR, reduce training time in manufacturing by 24% while nearly eliminating errors.

The research emphasizes XR's role in enhancing job readiness, particularly in complex assembly and maintenance tasks, amid labor shortages.

Companies like Boeing and Siemens are adopting these technologies to upskill workers faster and improve.

I think this stuff is super cool, but it has a long way to go before it’s ready for prime time on the plant floor.

I’m thinking safety glasses with VR + AR heads up display.

Who’s with me?

After 15 years in this industry, I've noticed something: Every plant manager, operations director, and VP of manufacturing falls into one of these 5 archetypes when facing operational challenges.

Here's the thing - your leadership style isn't just about personality.

It's directly impacting your bottom line, your team's morale, and whether you're still going to be competitive in three years.

Which of these are you?

Lives in crisis mode. Jumps from urgent problem to urgent problem but never addresses root causes. Always busy, never productive.

All Fire Fighters have the same complaint: "We can't seem to get ahead of anything." One plant manager told me he'd been dealing with the same conveyor belt issue for eight months. Not because it was complex - because every time he started to fix it, something else broke.

Fire Fighters mistake motion for progress. They're heroes in their own minds, but their teams are exhausted. Turnover is high because nobody wants to live in constant crisis mode.

The real cost? A Fire Fighter at a 200-person plant told me his unplanned downtime was costing them $50K per incident. He was averaging 12 incidents per month. That's $600K annually just because he couldn't step back and think strategically.

Wants six months of data before making any decision. Has beautiful dashboards but can't explain why downtime increased 12% last quarter.

Don't get me wrong - data is crucial. But Analysts suffer from paralysis by analysis. They're so busy measuring that they forget to act.

I watched an Analyst spend 45 minutes showing me his predictive maintenance dashboard. Impressive stuff. Then I asked when he last used it to prevent a failure. Crickets.

The irony? While Analysts are building the perfect report, their competitors are implementing good-enough solutions and gaining market share. Perfect is the enemy of profitable.

"We've always done it this way." Resists change until forced by customers or compliance. Usually the last to adopt proven solutions.

I respect experience. But Traditionalists confuse experience with wisdom. They're fighting tomorrow's battles with yesterday's weapons.

A Traditionalist at a machining company told me they still use paper work orders because "computers are unreliable." His average setup time? 45 minutes. His competitor using a basic MES system? 12 minutes. Guess who's winning the pricing wars?

The brutal truth: Traditionalists often have the deepest industry knowledge but the worst business results. They know how things should work in theory but can't adapt when reality changes.

Chases every new technology trend. Has pilot programs running everywhere but struggles to scale anything beyond proof of concept.

Innovators are fun to talk to at conferences. They're always excited about the latest AI tool or IoT sensor. But ask them about ROI on their last three projects and you'll get vague answers about "strategic value" and "future positioning."

I know an Innovator who's been running IIoT pilots for three years. He's got sensor data coming out of his ears but can't tell you if any of it has improved a single KPI. His team is tired of "testing" things that never become real solutions.

The problem isn't the technology - it's the lack of focus. Innovators spread themselves too thin chasing shiny objects instead of solving actual problems.

Focuses on sustainable improvements. Balances innovation with practicality. Measures everything but acts on what matters most.

Here's what separates Optimizers from everyone else: they start with the problem, not the solution. They ask "What's broken?" before "What's new?"

An Optimizer at a food processing plant showed me how they reduced changeover time from 3 hours to 45 minutes. Not with fancy technology - with better procedures and operator training. ROI? 300% in the first year.

Optimizers can shift between archetypes when needed. They'll be analytical when data is crucial, innovative when breakthrough solutions are required, and even fight fires when necessary. But they always default back to systematic improvement.

Here's what I've learned: Fire Fighters burn out their teams. Analysts suffer from paralysis by analysis. Traditionalists get left behind by competitors. Innovators never finish what they start.

But Optimizers? They consistently deliver results while building stronger operations.

The difference isn't intelligence or experience. It's approach.

Real talk: Which archetype describes your leadership style?

And more importantly, which one does your plant actually need right now?

Most leaders are a mix of these archetypes, but we all have a default mode. The key is being honest about your tendencies and intentional about when to shift.

If you're constantly in crisis mode, you're probably a Fire Fighter who needs to step back and think strategically. If you have great data but struggle with execution, you might be an Analyst who needs to embrace "good enough" solutions.

The most successful manufacturing leaders I know can shift between archetypes based on the situation. But they always default back to optimization.

Because at the end of the day, we're not paid to be busy, innovative, or traditional. We're paid to deliver results.

Your leadership style is either driving those results or killing productivity. The choice is yours.

This week’s executive is Swanagan Ray!

Tom brings over 13 years of executive manufacturing operations experience (in Fortune 100 companies) to TIAG and has a track record of leading digital transformation initiatives across the chemical, robotics, warehouse automation, pharma, and defense industries.

Let’s just say he knows a few things about being an industrial executive.

Enjoy this Q&A with Swanagan:

1. What's one belief about leadership or operations that you held for years that you now realize was completely wrong?

I used to believe success was about putting in more hours than everyone else.

Working late nights. Weekends. Always being available.

But I missed my Dad's last phone call because I was working late at the plant on a Saturday at 11 PM. And that moment taught me everything.

Success isn't measured by hours logged.

It's measured by being present for the moments that actually matter. At home and at work.

Focus on the stuff that matters. Because 80% of what you spend your time on right now probably doesn’t.

2. What's the most effective way you've found to get buy-in from plant floor operators when implementing new systems?

It all comes down to showing how the new system makes their life and job easier or better. And its all built on trust and relationships.

Before you try to upend what they’ve been doing for years build that respect and trust by listening, making sure they feel heard, and then actually doing things to help.

When you genuinely empathize and help people, they'll trust you. .

Then, you have to prove that the change is going to be better than what they have now. And that comes down to data and storytelling.

3. How do you communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders without losing them or oversimplifying the problem?

Learning the art of storytelling.

Even with complex, technical topics, you can weave in illustrations, analogies, and transformations that make it intersesting and relateable.

And at the end of the day, you have to tie the topic into to why the audience should care. Something like the ideal outcome that the technology solves, why it is relevant right now, etc.

Don’t spend too much time on the how.... use 80% of the time on the why.

4. You've been in manufacturing for a while. What's one piece of conventional wisdom that's completely wrong in today's environment?

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

If you're waiting for something to break before you act, you're already behind. The tech curve outpaces your depreciation schedule. Old systems are a hacker’s dream. Legacy PLCs and outdated firmware are wide open to cyberattacks.

Build in time and budget for upgrades. And then model before you modify. Use digital twins or simulations so you're not guessing.

Lighting a fire under yourself is a whole lot better than waiting for one to catch you while you’re sleeping.

5. What's the best way to improve communication breakdowns between siloed groups of people, leadership to operations, etc?

Start by changing what people see.

Most breakdowns aren’t about laziness or incompetence, they’re about visibility.

Leadership speaks in strategy. Operations lives in details. If you don’t create a shared picture, people will default to their own.

Embed people across functions. Have ops sit in on planning meetings. Have engineers spend a day on the floor. Use visual tools. Whiteboards. Process maps. Cell phone videos. Stop explaining in paragraphs what you can show in 10 seconds.

And most importantly... NEVER ASSUME. Clearly state what you understand or don’t understand.

6. What's your process for staying current with industry trends without getting distracted by every shiny new technology?

Separate the signal from the noise by defaulting to problems, not tools.

Each and every trend or technology should be viewed through the lens of how to solve real problems faster, cheaper, or better. If a new tech helps with that, great. If not, I move on.

Then, pick 2-3 trusted sources for news. 1 podcast, YouTube channel, newsletter, etc. To many noisy signals makes everything murky.

I also block time once a week to explore, intentionally. Otherwise, I’d spend every afternoon “researching” some new AI startup on LinkedIn.

I’m not anti-new. I’m just anti-distraction.

7. If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Start writing now.

Writing is both meditative and productive. It’s made a huge difference in the quality of my thinking.

Every day, you fill your mind with infomation that just accumulates in your mind as a jumbled mess. Writing at least once a day helps me align the clutter and clear out the junk.

And (bonus answer, haha), don’t chase impressive... chase useful.

No one’s giving out trophies for sounding impressive. The only thing that matters is: did you make the problem go away?

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And that’s all folks!

Till next week,

The Industrial Executive