Using automation to fill the skills gap and keep workers safe
To stay abreast of industry trends, we, the editors, read countless articles and editorials written by experts from across verticals. We're always learning more about the people, technologies, and events that are making waves in the manufacturing space, and we want to share this information with you. In this brief, we’ll cite our sources and highlight columns and features that can help improve uptime at your plant.
Automation
How to Proactively Protect Your Industrial Networks [New Equipment Digest]
The idea that cyberattacks only happen to large companies is completely outdated. Any business is at risk of targeted or untargeted attacks, especially in the manufacturing sector. This article explores how creating zone-basis industrial network architecture can reduce the damage of cyberattacks.
Management
Supply-chain sustainability begins with a strong digital backbone [Smart Industry]
Supply-chain executives have had to overcome unprecedented issues since the beginning of the pandemic. This has forced many executives to delay planning for long-term goals, such as improved sustainability. This article outlines why supply-chain executives must prioritize a cleaner, greener supply chain before time runs out.
Planned Maintenance
How to get your project approved [Processing]
Getting management to sign off on a new project can be a daunting task. If you don’t have the financial information to support your project, your proposal, regardless of its merit, will probably fall on deaf ears. This article offers advice on how to collect and present the costs and benefits of your project.
Safety and Security
Improving Workplace Safety Through Warehouse Automation [EHS Today]
Working in a warehouse can be difficult, from on-the-job injuries like sprains and strains to hazards caused by machinery and falling boxes. It’s no wonder warehouses have a difficult time filling open positions. This article details how automation can be used to fill the gap and keep workers safe.
Technology
Manufacturers Can Swoop in, Benefit from Tech-Industry Overreach [Industry Week]
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies are experiencing some hard times, with layoffs and diminishing valuations making headlines. In contrast, many manufacturing companies have been using this time to invest in digital transformation tech and building their own SaaS ecosystems. This article outlines what manufacturers can learn from the disruptions in the SaaS space and how they can turn this knowledge into profits.
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
