Most-read articles for January 2026: leadership, predictive maintenance, and smarter industrial safety

January’s most-read feature stories on Plant Services reflect the pressures, and opportunities, facing manufacturing teams as they start 2026. From practical leadership habits that shape shop-floor culture to clearer role definition for maintenance organizations, readers gravitated toward content that helps stabilize people and processes. Strong interest in retrofittable automation, predictive maintenance, and data-driven safety also highlights how plants are modernizing without starting from scratch. 

Top stories for January 2026

Seven leadership practices that transform manufacturing culture one week at a time

Organizational clarity for maintenance roles: A super quick run through

Case Study: Retrofittable robotic automation system modernizes existing warehouse operations

From compliance to prediction: How data is redefining industrial safety

Why predictive maintenance is becoming a core safety strategy for MRO teams