How to build a more diverse and inclusive manufacturing workforce
The internet is a vast space that is filled with rabbit holes, endless search results, and adorable cat videos that will consume your entire day in a flash. Finding the information and insights you need to improve productivity and efficiency at your facility can be daunting. Luckily, Plant Services is here to help. We search the web and curate the industry perspectives, trends, and topics that will affect you and your industry. Here are a few of our favorite stories from this week.
Ready, Set, Integrate: Understanding Integrated Manufacturing And Supply Chain Operations For EV Makers [Forbes]
It’s not easy manufacturing electric vehicles. Upstart EV companies lack the established partnerships and supply chains of their traditional counterparts, so many are opting for an “end-to-end” business model. This in-house method allows companies to own the supply chain, manufacturing, and distribution processes. This article highlights the pros and cons of this new strategy.
Using Analytics to Solve 3 Key Manufacturing Challenges [Manufacturing.net]
What is your data telling you? Are you using data from your smart devices to create initiatives that can make your business more profitable, or are you just accumulating stacks of reports that sit unseen and unanalyzed? This article highlights three ways to utilize business analytics at your facility.
The New Faces of Manufacturing: DEI at Work [SME]
Cultivating a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion at your facility is the right thing to do. Whether you are interested in closing the skills gap, increasing revenue, or improving innovation, hiring and embracing workers of varied backgrounds is the only solution. This article, written by Sheronda Carr, Senior Director of Membership at SME, outlines the importance of DEI initiatives for manufacturers and what SME is doing to foster a culture of belonging in the industry.
Using AR and VR to Train Workers in Manufacturing [Design News]
The worlds of augmented reality and virtual reality used to be reserved for gamers, but these advanced technologies have the potential to change how manufacturers train their current and future employees. This article explores how companies are using AR and VR to train workers on the job and fight the skilled labor shortage.
Electrifying All Vehicles: A Guide To Maximizing Market Potential Through Supplier/OEM Partnerships [Forbes]
Electric vehicles are everywhere, from news headlines and tech events to local highways and garages. But this rapid increase in demand is causing supply issues. In this article, an EV parts supplier offers advice on how the industry can evolve and grow.
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
Connect with Alexis on LinkedIn
