Manufacturing Leadership Journal

The Manufacturing Leadership Journal April 2025

Bold Ideas for a Better Future

Dialogue: Scaling Industry 4.0 at Eaton

Craig Sutton shares how Eaton is scaling digital transformation across 200 plants by focusing on strategy, culture, and technology.

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Survey: Tariff Tumult Roils Supply Chains

More than 40% are already seeing a negative impact from tariffs, resulting in rising costs, a new MLC survey shows. Greater resiliency using digital tools is a key mitigation strategy.

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Smart Factories and Supply Chains Thrive with Connectivity

Unlock agility, visibility, and efficiency with smart manufacturing and connected supply chains powered by IoT, AI, and advanced wireless tech.

How to Boost Competitiveness Through Supplier Collaboration

Leading organizations consider their supplier networks for their contributions to innovation and overall value, not just cost.

Resilient Supply Chains and the Digital Thread

Strengthen your supply chain by applying digital thread principles to your data.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Balancing Today’s Needs with Tomorrow’s Challenges

Location, efficiency, packaging, transportation, and business continuity are key aspects of sustainable supply chain management.

The Foundations of Enabling an M4.0 Supply Network

Today’s competitive supply networks are digitalized, responsive, and flexible enough to adapt rapidly to changing markets, challenges, and opportunities.

Best Practices for Cultivating Collaborative Manufacturing Ecosystems

Sharing data-driven insights across networks can turn transactional suppliers into strategic partners.

Four Ways to Leverage Spatial Computing in M4.0 Supply Networks

As manufacturers confront rising supply chain complexity, spatial computing offers new approaches to enhance resilience and enable real-time collaboration.

Smart AI Moves: Build Your Supply Chain Step by Step

To turn supply chain challenges into opportunities and accelerate transformation, build the right AI foundation to walk before you run

Welcome New Members of the MLC April 2025

Introducing the latest new members to the Manufacturing Leadership Council.

“You can create a strategy, but you also have to integrate those and execute it, and really show how it’s driving improvements to stay competitive and keep the metrics green. That’s what we want to do – (to) create what is viewed to (our leaders) as a world-class level that they’re trying to achieve.”

Craig Sutton,
Vice President of Industry 4.0, Eaton Corporation

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Survey: M4.0 Appears Poised for A Significant Leap

As they climb up the maturity curve, manufacturers see a host of benefits as well as challenges with AI, says…

Survey: Leadership Preparedness Improves, but Gaps Remain

As they climb up the maturity curve, manufacturers see a host of benefits as well as challenges with AI, says…

Manufacturers See AI as a “Game-Changer” as They Ramp Up Investments

As they climb up the maturity curve, manufacturers see a host of benefits as well as challenges with AI, says…

For Manufacturers, Digital Maturity Hasn’t Yet Come of Age

Manufacturers are at an early stage of understanding how far advanced they are with Manufacturing 4.0, as they grapple with…

Survey: Smart Factories Are Still a Work in Progress

Manufacturers are moving ahead with creating smarter factories as they grapple with cultural resistance and integrating new technologies.

SURVEY: Manufacturers Go All-In on AI

A growing number of manufacturing organizations have brought AI to the shop floor, and as usage grows, so do aspirations…

SURVEY: Choppy Supply Chain Seas Making Skilled Sailors

MLC’s latest survey reveals continued disruptions and challenges but big shifts in digital technology deployments and supply network geography

Survey: On Board with Technology, At Sea with Strategy

Manufacturing executives want to know what digital transformation can do for their businesses, but an overall plan to find out…

Survey: Data Mastery is Slow to Mature but Essential

Manufacturers show some progress with data mastery efforts, but much opportunity for growth exists.

Survey: Smarter Factories Are on the Way

Manufacturers will be pressing ahead with their M4.0 investments as they expand their digital deployments in operations, a new MLC…

Survey: Sustainability Momentum Surges Dramatically

Sustainability is rapidly becoming one of the key drivers of industrial transformation for the rest of the decade, reveals the…

Survey: More Expect M4.0 Tech Adoption to Increase

A new MLC survey reveals that rapid technology adoption continues as manufacturers deploy transformative technologies to reshape how work gets…

SURVEY: Manufacturers Get Tough on Cybersecurity

More companies are taking a disciplined approach to dealing with the growing threat of cyber attacks, a new MLC survey…

SURVEY: Digital Leadership Playbook Still Work in Progress

In manufacturing’s new digital era, the requirements for leadership are evolving just as rapidly as the technology that is underpinning…

SURVEY: Manufacturing Supply Disruptions to Last Well Into 2023

A new MLC survey warns that disruption could continue for as long as two years as manufacturers strive to adopt…

SURVEY: Future Outlook: Hazy

While pandemic disruptions created a rush to move to M4.0, MLC’s latest Factories of the Future survey finds those plans…

Manufacturing’s Sustainability Challenge: The Race is On

The desire to adopt more sustainable and environmentally responsible practices is now an overwhelming sentiment among manufacturing executives, reveals the…

Pedal to the Metal

Manufacturers see data’s massive potential to improve operations, predict disruptions, and bring about new revenue streams, but realizing that promise…

Growing Pains

Manufacturers see data’s massive potential to improve operations, predict disruptions, and bring about new revenue streams, but realizing that promise…