The Association for Manufacturing Excellence

is difficult for smaller companies to keep up with the cost of changing technology. “Another major change has been on the style of successful leaders today. As the baby boomers move out of the workforce, the old command and control style of leadership has also moved on. Replacing that style has been one that we have labeled as people-centric leadership, and we define as ‘The awesome responsibility to create a cultural environment in which people can realize their gifts, develop and apply their talents, and feel a genuine sense of fulfillment for their contributions in pursuit of a common purpose.’ “For our members, this style of leadership resonates. Respect for people is fundamentally at the heart of lean. More and more, we see companies working to develop a culture of trust and respect before they begin tackling the tools of operational excellence. Once this culture is established, the tools go in smoothly and are much more sustaining.” BVM: What has stood out as essential over the last few years? Humphrey: “For the past 11 years, the AME Excellence Award recognizes companies that demonstrate excellence in manufacturing and business operations. This is truly the lean elite, and only 44 facilities have been recognized for their operation excellence efforts since the award’s inception. Our Lean Sensei tool provides a clear rubric to judge excellence and our assessors are well-versed in lean implementations. Past winners include Goodyear, Raytheon, Littelfuse, MillerCoors, Bombardier, AGCO, and HM Electronics, and we’re beginning the evaluation process for the 2020 nominees now. BVM: What does the landscape look like for the industry over the coming decade, and how will AME continue to be a viable voice for the industry? Humphrey: “Technology will continue to evolve at a faster and faster rate. Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) are establishing a firm foothold in manufacturing. We’ve had keynote speakers and practitioner presentations on Industry 4.0 at past events and see an increased interest from our members. Businesses must be able to keep up and change quickly in order to stay competitive. But for AME, the pillars of what we advocate – enterprise excellence coupled with people-centric leadership – will remain and apply within any technology landscape. These principles apply to any business of any size with any products or services. They directly relate to those three unchanging focus areas – quality, cost, and speed. And when AME exposes our members to the people component, it is a THE ASSOC I AT ION FOR MANUFACTUR ING EXCELLENCE