Manufacturers Alliance Podcast

Top Takeaways of 2020

Join Kirby as he reviews the top best practices that he discussed on the Manufacturers Alliance Podcast this year. Catch the full episodes he features: Episode 10 - Capturing Tribal Knowledge Episode 14 - Getting to the Root Cause Episode 13 - Mistake Proofing Episode 4 - Leading Through a Crisis If you like the Manufacturers Alliance podcast, become a member TODAY with the link below and enjoy the benefits of membership for your first year at 20% off.  JOIN NOW 

Compensation for Manufacturers

Ann Bares from Altura Consulting joins Kirby to talk about how compensation can become a barrier to employee engagement and how to make sure compensation practices are fair. If you like the Manufacturers Alliance podcast, become a member TODAY with the link below and enjoy the benefits of membership for your first year at 20% off. https://www.mfrall.com/membership-podcast

Leading through Turbulent Times

Kirby talks with Bill Gray, President of Uponor North America about being challenged for labor, keeping your workforce safe and healthy and what leaders can do right now to improve their ability to lead. If you like the Manufacturers Alliance podcast, become a member TODAY with the link below and enjoy the benefits of membership for your first year at 20% off.   Become a member now

Learning Your Leadership Style

Join Kirby as he discusses the importance of learning your leadership style and how to effectively lead others with different styles.

Lean Product Development

Steve Stucky joins Kirby to talk about how to launch the right products for your market, improve development team communication and cohesiveness, and eliminate waste from the product development process.

Minimizing Cyber Security Threats

Tiffany Garcia from CBIZ talks with Kirby about cyber security threats you should be aware of, where most of the cyber security risk comes from and what to do if you have a cyber security breach.

Training Trends in Manufacturing

Brian Sallee, Co-Founder and VP of Sales at Dozuki, joins Kirby to talk about training trends in manufacturing including training methods, training technology and training strategies as well as his take on the single most practical step you can take to leverage these trends.    

Gaining Buy-In for Lean

Mike Grengs is on the show to talk about addressing barriers leaders face when guiding their team through change.

Implementing a Modular Product Architecture

Luther Johnson and Bill Kaelin from Modular Management talk with Kirby about how to add product variety without the added complexity, take the first few steps in your implementation journey, and avoid the typical problems you would face as your implement product modularity.

The Leader's Role In Sustaining The Gains

Michael Muilenberg, Operational Technology Manager and Strategic Planner at 3M, talks about the leader's role in asking questions, setting up rewards and recognition, and designing key systems.

Managing For Daily Improvement

In this episode, Ron Mrocek, Director of Operations at nVent, talks about how the systems within managing for daily improvement connect support staff with day to day issues so that teams can prioritize actions that will make the biggest impact.

3 Books For Your Book Club

In this episode, we help you and your team find a great book to read so that you can grow and develop into better leaders and problem solvers together.

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Getting to the Root Cause

I’m your host Kirby Sneen and in this episode, were talking about root cause analysis. Specifically, I’m going to cover two quality tools: 5 Why and Fishbone Diagrams. These will help you and your team get to the root cause of your problem, so you stop firefighting and having to address the same problem again and again.

Mistake Proofing

In this episode, we're talking to Meg Hanaman, Director of Quality and Continuous Improvement at IWCO Direct about mistake proofing including prioritizing what problems to solve, the process they use for strategic mistake proofing, and six examples of mistake proofing to which anyone can relate.    

Learning to Write Problem Statements

In this episode, we’re talking about Learning to Write Problem Statements with Leadership and Development Coach Jeremy Blake.  We cover the 6 components that every good problem statement includes; how to avoid common mistakes when writing a problem statement; and 5 steps to get to the root cause of any problem.

Getting Back to Work

Enjoy our conversation as we talk with Kara McPipe about how her  company has navigated through unemployment, the CARES ACT, and Coronavirus getting in the way of getting back to work.

Capturing Tribal Knowledge

In this episode, Benjamin Andrew talks about capturing tribal knowledge: Where and how to start the process; making it safe for anyone to want to share their knowledge; addressing the barriers of English being a second language; and ensuring that you don’t just capture the knowledge but use it as well.

Learning to See Waste

In this episode, Manufacturers Alliance President Kirby Sneen will share a straight-forward method for anyone to use so they can Learn to see Waste in work.

Creating An Academy

MPMA President/CEO Steve Kalina joins us in this episode to discuss their initiative in launching a skilled-training academy for incumbent workers that combines traditional machine tool technology training with self-driven training.

Why Invest In Marketing Now?

In this episode Jim Drennen talks about about putting your customer at the center of your business not your products, how reacting emotionally to our current situation short-changes the future, and how tying marketing activities to the profitability of your company will demonstrate how vital marketing really is. 

21 Safety Protocols in 21 Days

In this episode we’re talking to Katherine Syverson about staying current with safety best practices, layering your approach to keeping people safe and healthy, and overcoming problems with implementation.  

Navigating a Job Search

In this episode we are talking to Bruce Roles about how to navigate a job search in manufacturing. Enjoy our conversation about what steps you should to take if you haven’t had to search for a new job in a while, how best to prepare for a networking meeting, and resources that will help reduce the time it takes to find that next opportunity.

Leading Through a Crisis

In this episode we talk to Kelly Hansen about leading during COVID-19, balancing policy compliance with compassion, adjusting styles and approaches, and encouraging others.

Leading and Managing Remote Teams Successfully

In this episode we talk to Jeff Radichel about top tech tools, remote work cultures, and how to make the transition back to working together in-person. 

New York Salon Manager Turned Manufacturing Pandemic Specialist

Welcome to the Manufacturers Alliance podcast where we help anyone who works in manufacturing become a better leader and problem solver so all manufacturers can remain competitive. I’m your host Kirby Sneen and in this episode we are talking to Rachel Sawin a professional salon manager based out of New York turned MN Manufacturing Pandemic Specialist for sites. Enjoy our conversation where we talked about life in New York, changing careers, and addressing pandemic issues MN manufacturers are...

Preparing for and Responding to Business Interuptions

Welcome to the Manufacturers Alliance podcast where we help anyone who works in manufacturing become a better leader and problem solver so all manufacturers can remain competitive. I’m your host Kirby Sneen and in this episode we are going to give you 5 practical points to help you maintain business in tough times. Which will help all of us respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter in place order in MN.