The Best of the Manufacturing Leadership Journal 2025
Celebrating expert insights from a year of manufacturing innovation and leadership.
As manufacturers confronted another year of rapid technological acceleration and shifting competitive pressures, the Manufacturing Leadership Journal has been a consistent source of clarity, context and forward-looking insight. Across 2025’s bi-monthly issues, contributors explored the industry’s most urgent themes: from the rise of AI-driven production and digital supply networks to the growing imperative for sustainability, data mastery and smarter manufacturing. The result is a roadmap of ideas that reflect both the disruptive forces shaping the sector and the practical strategies leaders are using to create value.
Each article published in the Manufacturing Leadership Journal delivers value that helps manufacturers of all sizes progress on their digital journal. In this special best-of collection, we revisit 10 such articles from the past year.
Learn how manufacturers are deploying digital twins to unlock operational excellence, collaborating across supply ecosystems to boost competitiveness, and embracing sustainability as a business driver. Explore the pivotal moment AI now represents for industrial performance and the essential role of data governance in preparing for the next wave of intelligent production. Whether you’re refining your digital strategy, strengthening your supply network or building the foundation for an AI-enabled future, these pieces offer the insights needed to lead with confidence in an era of transformation.
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2025
SMART FACTORIES AND DIGITAL PRODUCTION
AI-Driven Factories of the Future: It’s a Lot More than Just Autonomy
By Brian Legan
The future of manufacturing is about intelligently blending autonomous operations, augmented intelligence and flexibility to redefine production.
Unlocking Manufacturing Excellence with Digital Twins
By Jason Hehman
Manufacturing leaders can leverage digital twin technology to drive operational transformation while ensuring sustainable, long-term value creation.
APRIL / MAY 2025
M4.0 SUPPLY NETWORKS
The Foundations of Enabling an M4.0 Supply Network
By John Barcus
Today’s competitive supply networks are digitalized, responsive and flexible enough to adapt rapidly to changing markets, challenges and opportunities.
How to Boost Competitiveness Through Supplier Collaboration
By Ashutosh Dekhne, Chetan (Chet) Trivedi
Leading organizations consider their supplier networks for their contributions to innovation and overall value, not just cost.
JUNE / JULY 2025
SUSTAINABILITY AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Building a Practical Sustainability Management System for Manufacturers
By Mike Doheny, Roberto Migliorini, Ewelina Gregolinska and Justin Grover, McKinsey
Success with sustainability requires a new, strategic way of thinking about and managing the business.
Why Smart Manufacturers Are Betting on Sustainability
By Rodrigo Alves, Austin Locke
Industrial leaders are turning to digital technologies to drive profits and cut emissions.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER
AI IN MANUFACTURING
Maximizing Continuous Improvement with GenAI
By Saeed Haq, Brian Zakrajsek
Generative AI tools have the potential to raise continuous improvement to a new level – continuous intelligence.
The AI Divide: Manufacturing’s Pivotal Moment is Here
By Danny Smith
As artificial intelligence reshapes manufacturing competitiveness, organizations must act decisively or risk falling permanently behind their AI-enabled competitors.
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2024
DATA GOVERNANCE, MASTERY AND ANALYTICS
The Industrial Data Foundation Imperative: Building Manufacturing’s AI Future
By Ashtad Engineer
Manufacturing leaders must prioritize industrial data readiness and governance now, as the gap between data-ready organizations and laggards threatens future AI competitiveness.
5 Key Questions on the Path to Industrial DataOps
By Patricia Henderson, Rohini Prasad
Industrial DataOps enable manufacturers to be more agile, improve continuously, and move toward smart manufacturing.
About the author:
Jeff Puma is Content Director for the Manufacturing Leadership Council