News and Insights
MLC 2025 Photo Gallery
MLC’s 2025 highlights included plant tours at United Scrap Metal and GM, Rethink sessions on digital manufacturing, and an awards gala honoring Merck’s Besu Alemayehu and standout manufacturing teams.
2025 in Photos at the MLC
MLC’s 2025 highlights included plant tours at United Scrap Metal and GM, Rethink sessions on digital manufacturing, and a Manufacturing Leadership Awards gala honoring leaders and breakthrough projects.
MLC Plant Tour: United Scrap Metal and Its Vision for a Coast-to-Coast Recycling Network
United Scrap Metal grew from a $200 startup to a $725 million recycling network across nine states. MLC members toured its Cicero headquarters to learn about its technology, safety, culture and expansion plans.
Why Smart Manufacturers Are Betting on Sustainability
Digital technologies like AI, analytics, and the digital thread are helping manufacturers cut emissions, reduce waste, and boost energy efficiency. Companies that embed sustainability into growth strategies can improve resilience and outpace competitors.
Small Manufacturers Win Big with Digital Transformation
Small manufacturers can thrive with digital transformation, as Graphicast shows by using cloud, AI and data tools to improve decisions, meet customer demands and address labor shortages.
Creating a Listening Culture
Worthington Industries VP Joe Resko says manufacturing leaders must listen to employees and turn their ideas into automation, safety and quality improvements.
Enabling the Circular Economy
United Scrap Metal is advancing the circular economy with closed-loop recycling that puts metallic and non-metallic materials back into production while helping manufacturers cut waste and emissions.
Harnessing M4.0 to Embrace the Circular Economy
Advanced 4.0 technologies like analytics, digital twins, and 3D printing can help manufacturers shift to circular economy models, reducing waste, improving efficiency, and meeting rising ESG demands.
Sustainability Reaches an Inflection Point
Novelis VP Bea Landa says manufacturing has reached a turning point, with digital tools, analytics and collaboration helping drive a more sustainable circular economy. The company is using recycling and innovation to reduce resource use and customer carbon footprints.
The Do’s and Don’ts for Deploying AI
Manufacturers should take a disciplined, deployment-focused approach to AI, prioritizing feedback loops, scalable production use, and practical outcomes over hype and one-off model building.
