Whether you're a plant manager, operations manager, or frontline supervisor, you'll discover practical strategies for lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. We cover critical topics like workforce development, employee retention, safety culture, and change management—helping you navigate challenges like labor shortages, skills gaps, and the evolving manufacturing landscape including Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing.Trevor Blondeel invites guests from the manufacturing industry (and beyond!) to have candid discussions about leadership and share stories from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. You'll find new ways to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have acheiving greater retention, productivity, and profits.
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Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0 is a business podcast hosted by Trevor Blondeel, with 189 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.
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Trevor Blondeel hosts Manufacturing Greatness | Productivity | Retention | Profits | Continuous Improvement | Safety | Workforce Development | Labor Challenges | Skills Gaps | Industry 4.0, a business show with 189 episodes published.
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Episode #189
Why Nobody Pulls the Cord with Dr. Michael Gillespie │ Leadership Decision Making │ Ep. 189
Aug 19, 202636 minS1
When was the last time somebody stopped your line and you thanked them for it? Toyota built the andon cord into the line decades ago and most plants still treat pulling it as a failure. Dr. Michael Gillespie, organizational psychologist at the University of South Florida and co-author of Distancing with David Marquet, studies why the person closest to a problem is often the least able to see it. Being locked inside your own point of view is the default setting, not an occasional lapse, which is how five people can walk up to one stopped line and each honestly see a different problem. Nobody is lying. Everybody is immersed. Mike walks Trevor through the three moves that create distance, be someone else, be somewhere else, be sometime else, and shares the research on why higher performing hospital units report more errors rather than fewer. Trevor brings the plant floor version, including the moment he admits he spent years defending his own department instead of the whole line, and applies temporal distancing live to a month-end budget decision every operations leader will recognize. Ends with one exercise you can try tonight, and it sounds cheesy until you read the research behind it. A practical conversation about decision making, critical thinking, and manufacturing team leadership for plant managers, operations directors, and frontline supervisors. Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/trevorblondeel Website manufacturinggreatness.com
Nobody Inspects the Culture │ Safety Culture │ Ep. 188
Aug 12, 202612 minS1
You inspect for hazards every single day. When did anybody last inspect the culture? In new research across the United States and Canada, a toxic or unhealthy work culture ranked above unsafe or hazardous working conditions as a reason people would leave a new manufacturing job inside the first three months. Forty-seven percent against forty-three. Most leaders hear that and file it under the soft stuff. Trevor takes a different position. Four points apart is not two problems, it is one. Culture is a safety system. A plant where people do not speak up is a plant where near misses go unreported, and an unreported near miss is an incident waiting for its turn. He walks the mechanism one link at a time, from the grinding shield nobody wants to cross the plant to get, to the fork truck rolling a stop sign on midnights when nobody is watching. Then four questions to take back to your plant, starting with the one most leaders never think to ask: what does your near-miss reporting rate look like next to your incident rate? Also inside, why the most experienced workers are the most certain that culture is the dealbreaker, and a confession from fifteen years as a materials manager about what really gets communicated when the truck is late. A practical look at safety culture and manufacturing team leadership for plant managers, operations leaders, and frontline supervisors. Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/trevorblondeel Website manufacturinggreatness.com
Why Your Best Technician Fails as a Supervisor | New Leader Onboarding | Ep. 186
Jul 29, 20269 minS1
Why do six in ten of your people feel unheard at work? Trevor goes one level up from the first-week mentor: the new leader nobody onboards. He unpacks why a badge and a shift turn your best technician into a command-and-control boss, what the study of 1,250 manufacturing workers with Crossover Solutions and The Center for Generational Kinetics says people actually want from a leader, and what to build into a new supervisor's first 30 days so the concerns keep coming. Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/trevorblondeel Website manufacturinggreatness.com
Why Your Plant Manager Can't Solve Complex Problems | Time Management for Manufacturing Leaders | Ep. 185
Jul 22, 202633 minS1
What if the only machine in your plant with no maintenance plan is you? Trevor sits down with productivity expert Marcey Rader, author of Reclaim Your Workday, to bring health-powered productivity to the shop floor: the red headphones rule that protects deep focus without an office door, why burnout comes from lack of recharge rather than workload, the burn-it-down audit nobody runs on the supervisor's role, and the rule of three that separates relentless prioritization from endless optimization in manufacturing team leadership. Connect with Marcey: Website helloraderco.com Book reclaimyourworkday.com Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/trevorblondeel Website manufacturinggreatness.com
The Week-One Blind Spot Costing You New Hires | New Hire Onboarding | Ep. 184
Jul 15, 20268 minS1
What if your newest hire decides whether to stay in their very first week? Trevor opens a new solo series built on a national study of 1,250 manufacturing workers, run with Crossover Solutions and The Center for Generational Kinetics. The frontline wants a first-week mentor far more than the leaders who sign off on one, and that blind spot is feeding turnover. He names the Expectation Gap and shares the near-zero-cost move in manufacturing team leadership that closes it before your next hire walks in the door. 🎁 Free: 10 great questions to ask your leadership and drive engagement → manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe and get bonus content in our newsletter! Connect with Trevor: LinkedIn 👉 linkedin.com/in/trevorblondeel Website 👉 manufacturinggreatness.com
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